Mondays Ain't That Bad After all.........

Arya was getting ready for office at a lazy pace on a gloomy Monday morning. His life had become way too monotonous for him to expect something new this week. Arya worked as a S/w engineer in a MNC for a client named Trust Financial and had a very successful but dull life. It was at least 2 years since he had been to an actual party, apart from the usually boring and artificially sophisticated project parties. He was lonely most of the time, not by choice though; he somehow always managed to get himself stuck to work.

As though in a trance he was thinking of all the good times he had had as a college student and during the unforgettably enjoyable training days.He thought of all the coffee shops he had been to and the different people he had been with. He sighed loudly just as his cell phone brought him out of the trance. Arya's friend Srivats was on the line.

"It's getting late, today the clients are coming, what's taking you so long?", asked Srivats in an inquisitive tone. "I just got up late. I'll probably drive down to office today" said Arya in an unsure and hazy way. "Are you Ok today?", inquired Srivats. "Ya", replied Arya curtly and hung up. It was a drive that would take him around 2 hours to complete.

Srivats was one of the very few people Arya spoke to in office as he was his classmate from high school times. Arya was mistaken by the others as a very serious person for he was sincere at work and never used to gossip, unlike the others.

Arya took out his Honda City from where it was parked and started driving towards office. He was driving at a good 80kmph when he saw a stalled car in the left hand side at quite a distance. He saw the driver of the car dressed in glaring white, signaling him to stop for some help. "I am already late for office, and someone wants me to stop for help", he thought to himself. But, some part of him made him flip the indicator to the left and slam the brakes just behind the stalled car. The driver came running and said in a quite broken english "My car's tyre is punctured and I don't have a spare. Madam has to reach ITL. Can u drop her if you are goin that side?". "ITL is where I have to go too, but your Madam should be willing to come." said Arya in a somewhat egotistically deep tone.

Arya waited impatiently as the driver went and said something to the lady in the car. Arya kept looking ahead as the driver nodded in the affirmative from a distance, meaning she was coming with Arya. She got down from the car, and walked at a brisk pace towards the car. She was using her palm rested against the forehead, to protect herself from the sun. She was very well dressed in business formals and a laptop bag hung from her side. She was the prettiest girl he had seen in a long time now. The chivalrous man inside him got him to get off from the car and open the door for her.

She smiled subtly at him and said thanks as she got into the car. Arya sat in the driver's seat and watched her with admiration(;)) as she settled herself in the seat. "I am Mia Fernandez. Thanks for the help. I am in a hurry", she said sounding very thankful. Arya thought she looked very Indian, but her accent sounded very American. She was the typical dusky kind of beauty that Arya liked. He was a big fan of Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz and similar people because they were all dusky and very Indian looking in some ways. "Hmmmm..You are welcome. I am Arya Vishwanath and you are lucky I am going late to office", he said and chuckled. She had a confused look on her face. "I would have been in the office bus if I had been on time", he explained. She just complained that she found Mondays very boring too.

For some reason this put Arya in a mood to crib. "How boring is office on a Monday or for that matter any other day. First of all, the idea of coming to office on Monday is ridiculous and beyond that some dumb client sitting a few 1000 miles away comes for a visit just to tell us that we had all the requirements wrong." Mia was smiling at him with an acceding look on her face. Arya just went on and on rambling about how much he hated Mondays and how clients should be clearer on what they want.

He then swayed into his personal life or the lack of it. He knew he was rambling and could not control it when he had found someone to listen to him. He just wanted to let the steam out. Arya even told her that the last time he had dated any girl was back in his college days with a tone of sadness. She just kept nodding and giving out exclamations as he went on.

They reached the destination and Arya parked the car. They both got down and started walking towards the gate. “How do I get to building 6 from here?” she asked Arya. “I’m heading there, why don’t you join me?”, said Arya and they walked towards the workplace. She went ahead into the building and enquired the security about something and went into the elevator with Arya. Arya asked her where she was heading. She replied with extreme composure “I am heading to the Trust Financial work area.” Just then Arya realized his whole mistake and before he could attempt to explain they reached the floor and she walked briskly out of the elevator and into the work area. Arya couldn’t work at all. He was sitting in his cubicle and his body was shaking all over, he was sweating profusely and was cursing himself, when a call came in from the PM’s extension.

He picked it up with his hands shivering. He barely managed to hold on to the phone, he heard the PM say he had been promoted and he will receive official communication through mail. He half fainted in his place after he heard it, thanked his PM and hung up, still shivering and shaking. It was lunch time by now and he was still in his cubicle with a great deal of fear still in his head. He decided to go to lunch alone, just as ever, he stood up and turned to see Mia standing there smiling at him divinely. With a shamefully regretful look he said “Errr……..I am….” and before he could complete she interrupted him “Care to join me for lunch? I don’t know anyone here.” They had lunch together and had a hearty laugh about the morning. Out of the blue Arya asked her if she would like to look around the city and she agreed. During the rest of the week Arya was out with Mia, showing her around the city and having a nice time himself. Somewhere during the course of their ‘meetings’ they fell in love with each other and got married. At the wedding party Arya stood up, tapped his glass of champagne and said “Mondays aren’t that bad after all, and the evidence is what I am married to. I love you Mia” and he hugged her.

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