Mr, Alfredo Borges had been reminding me ever so often about sending some cartoons or at least an article for “The Hextonian”. Unable to play hide-n-seek, I decided to pull out a leaf from my daily diary, which I am sure is nothing short of a cartoon. It will also give an insight into the life of the people in the Administration department at Hoechst House. Here we go:

Friday, July 13, 1984

9.00 a.m. Sipping my morning tea at Hoechst House, I felt relaxed. The weekend was near and I was thinking of the evening movie I had promised Daxa, my wife. I remembered I had even promised to chop the vegetables and make the dough for chapattis before she returned from her work. I was looking forward to the movie.

9.30 a.m. Wg. Cdr. Pawar, my boss, called and briefed me as follows: A truck was about to leave Factory any minute, bringing Dr. Rosha’s furniture to Hoechst House. The same truck would be carrying few parcels from Hoechst House and some furniture from a shop at Vile Parle en route to Ankleshwar. My job was to check the quantity, quality and safe loading of the furniture in the truck following which I could proceed home.

Obviously overjoyed, I accepted the job willingly. It meant I could keep my promise to Daxa. It also meant I had to increase my pace to finish the routine before the truck arrived.

11.00 a.m. I postponed my afternoon programme including one appointment with my doctor. I told my colleagues that I was about to leave any minute. I couldn’t help telling them about the movie.

12.00 noon The truck had not yet arrived. But the routine came in quicker deliveries which I managed to square cut to proper boundaries. Before I could realize it was lunch time.

2.00 p.m. The bombshell ! The truck had not left the Factory yet, but was likely to leave any minute. I wish I hadn’t postponed my appointments. I rolled up my sleeves for more boundaries.

3.00 p.m. The truck was still at the Factory. I wish I hadn’t promised Daxa about helping her in the kitchen. I apologized over the telephone. However, the movie was still on.

3.30 p.m. The truck had, at last, left the Factory. It would reach Hoechst House by 5.00 p.m. The movie was still a possibility. I turned to routine work. I must have undertaken three times the normal routine (one and a half times the normal routine is a routine in Administration).

5.15 p.m. The truck had not arrived. My colleagues whom I had told I would be leaving any minute, left me, sarcastically wishing me a happy weekend. The movie was becoming doubtful.

6.15 p.m. The truck arrived at last. By now, the movie was out, worse, I could not inform Daxa before she left her office. The unloading of Dr. Rosha’s office furniture began: One…. two….three….times....four….. parcels started flowing. Dr. Rosha’s delight (he was personally present) was my sorrow. Everytime I wished it was the last parcel there was one more. I telephoned the furniture shop to keep it open till we arrived.

7.30 p.m. The truck started after a push (starter not working). Parcels from Hoechst House were loaded. Before I could heave a sigh of relief, I was told there was no diesel in the tank. Irritated I had to show them the way to a Colaba petrol pump for fuelling. To add fuel to the fire, I was told that the truck would stop en route at their workshop for ten valuable minutes. All my protests didn’t prevent them from doing so.

9.00 p.m. Reached the furniture shop. It was open. However, luck was not on my side. There was an urgent message from Wg. Cdr. Pawar to telephone him at his residence. I had to walk one block away for a telephone. After three wrong numbers, when I finally got the number, Wg. Cdr. was not at home. However, he had left a message (by an error, some parcels belonging to Baroda Rayon were also loaded in the same truck at Hoechst House). I was to telephone one Mr. Zaveri , which I did. Finally, it was decided to send them also to Ankleshwar. From there, BRC men would pick them up.

9.30 p.m. I returned to the shop. Wrote appropriate notes to Ankleshwar about the error, checked quantity, quality of our furniture and saw to their safe loading. I was so happy to see the truck move out at last ! (After a push!)

10.15 p.m. I took a rickshaw to Andheri station thinking about Daxa. Going further, the rickshaw joined a long queue at the petrol pump for refueling. But, by now, I was indifferent to things going haywire against expectations. I wondered if my birth date (13th December) and time (13 hours and 13 minutes) had any relation to the strange incidents of this Friday, the 13th.

11.15 p.m. I entered my flat. My favourite TV programme ‘Pop Parade’ had just ended. I could see Daxa was still dressed for the movie. Both of us were trying to avoid looking at each other, unsuccessfully, and when our eyes met, the atmosphere was tense. Though no words were spoken, her glistening eyes spoke volumes.Somehow, at that particular moment, I burst out, laughing most unexpectedly.She followed suit.

It was nearing midnight. The date was changing and so was my luck ….