Yet Another Friday Ordeal ..

roopa — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:40:11 +0000

It was the usual mundane work at office midst of the dark, wet, cold gloomy weather in the peak winter of Brussels. I was getting fidgety about doing something exciting, so decided to take a long walk in the woods to grab some fresh air. I had long heard people talk endlessly about the woods close to my office, but I had never got an opportunity to explore it.

I was, rather waiting for the spring to set in to explore the woods. But the boredom got to me and decided to take a walk into the woods. I pulled over my overcoat, a woolen cap and geared myself with enough warm clothes as if I was going to the alps!

I plugged in my favorite numbers from my all-time companion – my ipod, and set my foot towards the woods. The temperature was around 3 degrees Celsius and the wind was howling as I stepped into the woods. There was a beaten path that I decided to take. I carefully watched the caution signboards with drawings of deers, some wild animals that resembled wild dogs or something at every few meters from the entrance. I had a secret conversation with God and thought to myself, how I only wish I witness atleast one of these animals!!

Well, I just to move on and walked deep into the woods to witness some spectacular scenes – from huge wide green trunked trees to little flowers on the trunk. It was getting to be lot of fun while I chased little butterflies, saw some slimy worms crawling on the tree trunks and yellowed leaves lying all over the place.

The only sound I could hear was my own steps, deep and clear. However, as I was walking close to a turning, I could hear something – the crushing of leaves and deep heavy breaths. My heart sunk, again had a close conversation with God and told him I was just kidding when I wished to witness those animals. To my surprise, it was someone who was jogging in the woods! We were both surprised to see each other in the middle of nowhere. We exchanged a quick smile and carried on.

I walked till I started to feel thirsty, but didnt want to take the same way back. Trusting my sense of direction, I decided to take another route which I hoped would lead to my office. I got back to the mode of enjoying the nature again and kept walking. After a while, I noticed a large area to my right. Curiosity grabbed the best of me, and I trekked through some wet, slimy, slippery leafy path to landed myself at a race course pitch! I was astonished and looked far into the field and noticed buildings on the other end of the ground. I thought this was my best chance to get to civilization, and crossed the ground. All the offices were locked and looked like there had been no operations for quite a while now. Just then, I could hear the horses and walked towards them. They were all locked in stables, which opened to a busy street.

My next idea was to find an opening into the street and walk back to the office. Unfortunately, I noticed that there was fencing all around the race ground. My attention was grabbed by the stables, where there was an opening on the top. I must tell you – those horses are one smelly creatures! They looked nothing like how they are pictured in movies – clean, fluffy hair and nicely groomed. Anyways, my goal was now to get back somehow. To my luck, I found one stable which was empty, but the opening was pretty high. I gave a nervous smile to all the other horses, and pulled myself up to the opening and jumped on to the street. People passing by the street stopped to give me a weird look. Well, I just got up, and started walking as if I never noticed them

As I followed the street to my office, I found that there was this huge gate which directly opened to the race course grounds!!!! I had a hearty laugh and finally got back to the office, as good as new.

The Friday Ordeal

roopa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:02:48 +0000

This is one of my first experiences in Brussels and I had written about it long ago. I was just going through my diary and found this one hilarious. So thought of sharing with you.

Date : 12th October 2007.

Place : Brussels.

It was a typical Friday morning on a gloomy winter day in Brussels, the streets buzzing with people on a run to work with umbrellas in their hands. The traffic was jammed with cars making roaring noises at almost every intersection. I could see elderly people standing at the bus stops with mugs in their hands, sipping a drink as they caught up on the early morning news. While others wore high heels, fashionable dresses, hair neatly done, and chatting on the street with a friend or colleague.

Not being left behind, I was on a run to catch my train to work as well with a half eaten apple in my hand, and a heavy laptop backpack. Just in time has always been the way I work, right from catching a train to applying for a university, where luck does plays a vital role. Well, today was just not my day though.

Huffing and puffing after the long run to the railway station, I missed the train on the platform by just a few seconds. As always, I made yet another resolution that I would wake up early from the next day and get organized in life. In the meantime, I settled on a bench in the platform and pulled out a John Grisham novel from my bag. Occupied with the suspense, I could wile away time till the next train appeared. Noticing, the train goes to the required destination “Ottignies” I got on to the train, still occupied in my novel. Subconsiously, I kept a note of the number of stations after which I had to get down. I also noticed that the train was unusually fast today. I was happy that I could make up for the lost time at the station, waiting for the train. But again, unusually, I could see the train pass by the station I had to get down at, but the train never stopped. Little did I know that it was an Express train to Ottiginies instead of ‘Ottiginies Louvain’! Realisation now dawned upon me that I was the only person in the cabin!! I could see myself get out of the city into the everlasting green fields of Europe. I must say, it was a breathtaking sight with little houses located in the midst of vast green fields. But wasnt really in the mood to appreciate nature at this point. I pressed the panic button and made a call to a friend at work, who takes the same route to work.

I reached Ottignies, which is a university town after an impatient wait of 20 minutes in the train. Filled with anxiety and shame, I got down at the station to see a deserted place with a few old men on the platform, converse to what I had expected, for it having been a university town. It was biting cold at the railway station.

Luckily, the train schedule was put up in English. I observed that next train back home was in about half an hour. I settled again on the platform engrossed in my novel, but being conscious to board the right train this time! I received a call from the office from the admin lady asking if I was doing fine. My colleague had informed her that I had lost my way to work.. I thought to myself that I would get ragged as soon as I reached office. Nevertheless, the novel kept me occupied for a good amount of time till I saw a train approach the station. Hoping its the correct train this time around, I got into the train and watched pass by the same set of green farmlands again and back into the city. It was like rewinding a tape in my head. Just that the time had passed by. There was a sigh of relief as I saw the train stop at my station. I thanked my stars that the ticket collector did not come by as I later learnt that I had to buy a separate ticket from Ottigines to Brussels.

For the first time ever, I was glad to enter the building of my office, settle in my cozy little corner and to have a look at the familiar faces.

Roopa Chadaga » Brussels

Yet Another Friday Ordeal ..

The Friday Ordeal