Best-Laid Plans...

She heaved a sigh of relief as she got off the elevator. She dipped her hands in her handbag and fumbled for the keys. Her purse was always in a mess and as she found the right key and opened the door, she once again resolved to get her purse organized. When was the last time she had cleaned up her purse? or cupboard? or ...? Oh! Never mind! She thought to herself as she dumped her heavy bag and purse on the bed as she switched on her PC. She looked at the clock. It was only 6.05 p.m. she still had 25 minutes before she could pick up her son from the bus stop.

She smiled to herself when the connection to the Internet fell through. She clicked on her favourite browser and typed in her URL, “My own URL” she said proudly to herself. It took forever for the page to load. Ah there it was! Her very own blog! Her world! She checked and responded to all the comments posted on her blog.

Ding-Dong! The doorbell rudely shocked her out of her reverie. She looked at the clock. It was 6.40 p.m. Darn!!!!!!!!!!! She had forgotten to pick up Shivam her son, yet again. The 2^nd time this month! She hurriedly opened the door and smiled sheepishly at Mrs. Gupta, who had obliged her once again by bringing her kid back home. Mrs. Gupta responded with the slightest of nods and walked off in a huff before she could thank her. Hmmmph! What does she think of herself? The dumb woman! I bet she hasn’t even seen a computer in all of her stupid life. Oh well! That was a bit of an exaggeration. She had all her sympathy for Mrs. Gupta and her likes that devoted all of their waking time in their kitchen and pleasing their husbands and in-laws. She now turned her attention to her 9 year old who was showing signs of bursting into tears. Brat! Drat! Now she would have to pacify the kid before his granny came home. She and her son! Together they had spoilt the kid rotten. She tried to pacify him and when nothing worked she threw in her trump card. She promised to take him to the new McDonald’s that had sprung up in the local Mall. Sigh! There goes her plan to write a new post in the weekend. The thought of The weekend brought back to her memory the spat that she had with her husband this morning.

He had wanted them to visit his old granny and she wanted to rest. “Weekend is the only time that I get to myself! Surely you are not gonna take ‘that’ away from me!” “All you need to do is to stay away from that darned computer of yours, and then you will be left with all the time in the world.” He quipped back.

“Oh get off my case! Stop bringing a machine into all our squabbles, will you? If you had the time to talk to me, I wouldn’t be looking for solace in cyberspace.” “I’m tired of hearing the same things again and again,” he snapped back. That was last week. This morning they had had yet another spat.

Weekends and Shivam’s impending summer break were fast becoming a bone of contention between the two of them. Harsh’s favourite cousin was getting married in April in Bhatkal, and he insisted that they attend the marriage. It had been such a long time since they had taken a long vacation. He had already got his leave sanctioned and had their tickets booked. They were going away for a month. Wait a minute! For a month? That too in a place where computers or the internet were unheard of? Or at least uncommon? She couldn’t stay away from her computer for that long.. and that too for a stupid wedding? How she hated attending those oh-so boring weddings. The wedding hall would be divided into two sections arranged with those plastic chairs. Even in this day and age one section would be occupied by women and the other by the men folk. All the women could talk and discuss about was their latest acquisitions in jewelry, sarees and kids! In a place like this she would always stand out like a sore thumb. AAAAAAAAArgh!! No way she was going to let hubby talk her into it. This was not her idea of an ideal vacation. She had other plans. She smiled conspiringly at herself.

She had begged off by lying about not getting any leave from work. He could see through the lie. That was followed by yet another heated exchange of words. After she had exhausted all her tears, she started looking at the bright side of things. Now she could take that much needed break from work as well as family. She drifted off into a pleasant flow of thoughts and started making plans. Yawn…

The next morning she called in sick and helped in packing away their stuff neatly in their archaic suitcases. Atlast, the trio left and she plunked herself onto the sofa. She would miss her son a lot but at the same time she needed a break, some time for herself. Besides she took comfort in the knowledge that her son would be well taken care of. She could only manage a bowl of instant noodles with a few veggies added in the name of nutrition. She had already applied for a month’s leave and it had been sanctioned.

She was feeling a school-girlish excitement that was growing by the hour. From tomorrow there would be no work, no nagging hubby, no cold wars with mom-in-law for a whole month!!! Fun uninterrupted!!! She reached out for her cell-phone and dialed the familiar number. She heard the deep voice of a male at the other end. She smiled …

[To be continued]