a normal day unlike any other (part 2)...

My bad luck has continued late into the night. i guess, the setting sun didn't take away all the miseries that have been plaguing me since morning. the blogging Gods seem to be the latest to join the vendetta against me. an entire hour of working on yesterday's post all disappeared in a minute as i tried to publish it last night. fuck. anyways, here i am at it again and hope that this time around a new day brings with it new luck and that the Gods are kind to me.

yesterday was one of those days when nothing seems to go your way and when everything is out of control and heading in the wrong direction…pretty ‘unmemorable’ and ‘wish-that-this-never-happens-again’ sort of a day. so don’t get your hope set to high on this post.

i managed to set a new record yesterday. i don’t know when last had i managed to get ready so quick. but yesterday certainly saw me scrambling and racing through the usually hour long routine. so this is how my day began…

normally i set an alarm for an hour before the time that I am supposed to get up (some people who have had first hand experience of being disturbed early in the morning due to this have confirmed the fact that this drives them nuts) so that i don’t miss out on any of my precious ‘only 5 minutes more’ of sleep and can snooze the alarm and snore extra. so for the 9:00 am Public Finance class, i have to leave the house by 7:20 (to catch the express on my 1 hour & 45 minute long journey to the Uni) and hence get up at 6:30 and therefore set an alarm for 5:30...but (this i am assuming) i accidentally hit the shut button instead of snooze yesterday, and this is when all the troubles started. it resulted in a weird conversation with dad early in the morning. this is how it went (English translation to the Bengali dialogues are in brackets)...have fun Nafiz dada and not a word from you.

dad: "aajge school jawar aache ke na? (do you have to go to school today or not?)"

i: "hmmm...ki? (hmmm...what?)" *pulling the sheets over my head and turning over to face the other side*

dad: "deeri hoy gele aamake bolbi na. (don't tell me if you get late)"

i: "oof baba, kota bajlo? (oof dad, what time is it?)" *stealing a quick glance at my alarm*

i: "whaaat?? 7:04?? iski to..." *cursing and jumping out of bed*

dad: "so aajge class miss hobe ki? aajge kota class cheelo school e? (so you are going to miss your class...how many classes do you have at school today?"

i: "nah, aaekhono time aache...aar aami University te podi, school e noi. (nah, i still have time...and i study at the Uni and not in a school)"

dad: "oitaiee. (it's the same)"

and in the next 10 minutes i some how managed to get ready and set a record in the process. actually it was a desperate attempt at rushing in and out of the shower and the WC and throwing a random T-shirt on top of my jeans and brushing my teeth simultaneously while packing my bag and wearing my shoes. i even managed to leave the toothpaste in my room in the hurry (this resulted in a very surly Noella since she had a hard time finding the toothpaste once she woke up). well i rushed out of the house and ran all the way to the bus stop. phew, at least this time i made it in perfect time for the express to PL.

if at that point in time i had thought that everything was going smooth, i couldn't have been more oblivious of what was in store for me. so i manage to get to Port Louis as per schedule and then after a brisk walk from the North Bus terminal to the South-Victoria terminal i see it, 141- Bord Cascade via Reduit, my ride to the University and economic salvation. well, the bus was almost full and all ready to leave and hence i had to rush in and try and find a seat. so i find an empty seat right at the end of the bus and curse my luck, it was directly in the glare of the blazing Mauritian sun (no wonder it was empty!) and Jesus, yesterday was hot. but better hot than standing. so i grudgingly took my place.

so by now i am sweating and also trying to prepare for the class ahead while trying to block out the sun from killing me with the help on a notebook held up against the window. and then the bus started to make funny noises. it seemed that the bus driver was having trouble taking the bus up the incline from Pailles to Moka. he would stop and then start again and ground his foot on the accelerator and race ahead and then stop again (can't even blame it on the weight of the students in the bus considering the fact that Mauritian hardly weigh any at all). so finally the conductor had enough and he made the driver stop his desperate attempts and got everyone off with the intention of flagging down another NTC bus that was sure to pass by. so down we all got. 10 minutes of standing along the motorway with no other bus in sight, the driver (who had been tinkering with the engine all this time) was able to convince the conductor that the bus would be fine. and so back we all marched into the bus (this time i stole someone else's seat that was no where near the sunny side). so the driver starts the bus. it sounded fine and we were moving forward, but then so very predictably there was this loud thudding sound and the bus finally broke down for good. man, you should have seen the look on the face of the conductor. malicious, that's all i'll say. by now i was laughing so hard thinking about how i'd have to recollect the entire incident in class when Dr. Sobhee would demand an explanation for my being late. it wasn't even funny. still i was laughing. so we all get off the bus once again. this time though there was another bus right behind and we didn't have to wait along the motorway. so we all boarded the other bus and finally made it safely to the University (albeit 10-15 minutes late for my class).
i rushed to my class only to find that the lecturer had not yet arrived. so very University of Mauritius!!

well anyways, it was Siven's birthday and he had brought a bag full of chocolates. so i sat in class having a breakfast that consisted of chocolates...mmm, mint and strawberry toffees...anyways, i finally handed in my membership form for the Economic Society to Rajeev (and yes, i am the president of that very society) and was going through the Constitution for the same. the Constitution had to be handed over to the Student Union and the task of making the necessary changes had been delegated to Jossy (the Vice President and a 2nd year student). but it seems that the bloody fuck face decided that he was the boss and put down articles and clauses as per his whims and fancies. the entire thing was a piece of shit. 2 auditors...imagine having 2 full time auditors. as if we were embezzling millions. anyways, so i have to redo the entire constitution by tomorrow. and now that dude is in my shit list and i really want to give him a good piece of my mind and tell him what i really think of him in the next executive committee meeting. internal organizational politics within the University of Mauritius!! sweet.

so finally the lecturer makes it to the class and the reason that he gave for being late was that he was setting our test paper scheduled in 2 weeks time. guess, i would have believed him if he said that he was making out with Pam Anderson in his office, or at least that would have been creative and a laugh (we all think that he was smoking weed)...whatever, don't ask. and yes, he made us sing Happy Birthday for Siven in class. afterwards he proceeded to lecture us on Public Financed projects and their appraisal techniques and the difficulties in doing so (in short we revisited Leontief, Hurwicz, Bayersian, MiniMax and MaxiMin) and we had a short but interesting discussion on taxation and its macroeconomic and microeconomic effects on different markets and individuals (for the economics uninitiated, a lot of messy diagrams and equations).
so i guess that i would rather pay an income tax instead of a sales tax or VAT, or at least that's what theory tells us. let me know what you guys prefer (i.e. if you ever intend to pay any tax).

the day seemed to be getting better by now. i ran into Kevin (the German) right outside my class and then we both managed to catch hold of Alex (the Italian bitch) and the new Belgian Rasta guy. the Belgian dude is here doing research on lettuce growth in Mauritius for his paper back home (what's wrong with the world?? lettuce growth??). anyways, guess what? it seems that the Alex and the Belgian are big fans of the dholl puri like you all (yes, i know you don't like it Gordon. i am not counting you). and so we headed off towards James's and grabbed a couple of dholl puris each from our fav dholl puri guy. Kevin who has incredibly managed to remain unaware of the addictive potential of dholl puris 3 months into his stay in Mauritius finally had a dig at one. so there we were, 4 guys from 4 different countries, sitting on the grass eating dholl puris and discussing about the Kamasutra and the influence of eroticism on ancient Indian Sculpture and Temple Architecture. in other words, i told them about the temples and stone carvings of Khajurao and the Belgian (sorry i can't remember his name) told us of his experiences in Nepal. nice. Kevin wants the German church's to adopt similar architecture and sculptures, say's it would make attending Sunday mass more fun. but i don't think that our dear old Pope would agree, however benevolent and benedict he might be!! maybe you should move to India, Kev...

so after our healthy & filling lunch we boys all went our separate ways, Kev to the gym, Alex towards Flic n Flac, the Belgian to meet his lecturer and myself, i headed home. Dad's going to India today for 10 days (actually he just left 20 minutes ago. his flight’s at 5:00 pm today evening and he should be in Kolkata by 9:00 am tomorrow morning). this sudden trip's thanks to some family business (this is a regular feature of large Indian families with lots of relatives and lots of property. someone or the other is always creating problems for all and dad being the eldest has everything falling upon his shoulders. it gives me the jitters when i realize that i am going to inherit all that and more in due time). 

Dad's leaving and that means that Noella and i are going to be alone at home for the next few days. now then, don't get your minds racing folks (especially you, mom), that does not mean that it's going to be a 10 day long party. i have quite enough on my hands with 4 class tests and 3 assignments due in the coming 2 weeks. so i guess that i am going to have to study this time around. can't say the same for Noella, she just finished her exams today and her school doesn't re-open till the 17th of January. shit, that's a long break. but Gordon's coming on the 4th and Uma's leaving on the 8th. so there are bound to be some good times.

so cheers to that!!

anyways, guess that it is a real pain having to re-write the entire post again. i must really like you guys. and why not? you guys are all awesome. so keep up the good work in life and keep blogging and commenting.

miss you all...

~ the last guy left on the sunny isle of Mauritius, the land of Phoenix beer and Green Island rum. ;D

ps: hey mom, was nice to know that you had a good time in NY and got to see everyone in the family. guess that now thanks to you i shall have more regular readers (Sunil mama, Bihua mami, Pratima masi and the rest, welcome to my blog)...my regards to all, especially to Ba (my maternal grandmother).
and to Sahil (my cousin whom i have never met), a very Happy 5th Birthday (7th October). also birthday shout out’s to my dearest Shashrik (8th October) and Sachika (11th November)...

:D