Life in #314

Its 8.30 in the morning and I am late... really late.. i was supposed to be there at 8 and now im done! I just hope Boss wont catch me tip-toeing to the lab. By the way, did i tell you he doesnt like being called "Boss"? Yaa.. he doesnt. He is more of the modest type. But if it was me and I was one big (not literally!) boss in one big institute, i really wouldnt mind students running behind me yelling "Boss! Boss!" ;) lol! The word is very masculine and gives you an authoritative feeling (even if you are an absolute zero) :) . But i wouldnt like being called "Madam" this, "Madam" that. Blah! I dont know if it crossed your mind (coz it just did on mine) coz No, im not getting operated this sunday for a sex change.. :P

Anyways, here I am walking towards the lab and on my way there, I manage to strain my eyes (he just got his glass door tinted) and peek into his room. Hmmm.. is he there or is he not?? The worst thing that can happen is me running into him in the lab! In that case, consider me dead. I insist. I kept walking towards room #314, gave a mild push at the door, and through the 1" gap space I very well make out "the" man, hands on hip, fingers on chin, talking animatedly to one of my labmates. Next thing I know, I'm in the common room hastily dumping my backpack onto a nearby couch. Off I rush to #314 and there he is, making his way out of the lab. "Hello Ema*!" (*name changed [;)] ) to which i pantingly reply "Good morning, sir". He goes back to his default posture of one hand on hips, other on his chin, and asks me expectantly, "Where have you been?". I thrust forward the notebook I was carrying and artistically played with the pen between my fingers as I innocently replied "In the computer lab, sir.. Searching for articles." "Aaahhh!! Good good. Please water those plants in the lab will you? I keep telling it to you and the plants keep drying up". Trying to look as tired and helpless as possible, I nodded my head and walked briskly off to #314.

"Oye!! where were you??!? Boss was looking for you!", anxiously shouted my labmate from behind. Bashed my eyelids, gave a pathetic grin, and replied "Woke up late". "Keep smiling eeeeeeee! Just you wait and watch!!", she teased me amicably. "If you'd only show me, I'd keep watching you 24x7..", I teased her back.... followed by more teasing and gossiping and "whats up?" talks.

The phone rang. "It has to be the boss.", one desparately stated. "I hope its not for me!", whispered another and spoke for us all. "Kevin?- Yes, he is here.- Ya will do." spoke the one who had answered the call. He placed the receiver down and after double checking that the line was cut, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Kevinnnnnnnnn!!!! Boss wants youuu!!". Twenty minutes later, Kevin returned to #314 with a grim look on his face. "arre yaaar! maar daalo mujhe!" he whined and went on to describe what was conversed for the past one- third of an hour. When he had almost come to the end of his narration, he looked at me and said, "Ema, why are you still here?? You were next." By lunch break, every member of the lab had had got a long lecture on What to do, What not to do, Why did you do, and Why did you not do.

As I dawdled through lunch and forcibly brought myself back to #314, there he was again!! For once I had thought that today's session was over, but i guess i was wrong. As he saw me walk through the door, he called out to me and proposed, "Ema, could you please help your colleagues in cleaning up the lab. Its a mess in here." Aaahhhh!! So he was on a cleaning spree! He hurried off outside to attend a call. "Bhelcome! Bhelcome!", Ana grinned at me from behind rows of reagent bottles. "Cleaning? again?!?" I asked astonishingly. "I'm not surpried." grimaced another friend from another corner of the lab. He goes into that "mode" quite often, our boss. Infact i like that part of him, as ours is one of the few tidy labs in the building. He is very down-to-earth kinda person and not the kind people would talk behind the back of. He always knew what to say, how to say it and when to say it best. We respected him coz of all these aspects. He was always calm and composed even at trying times, but he always knew how to get things done. And we adored him. But this?? Cleaning a lab that is already clean?!?? This i never could understand.. But by the end of it, we looked contently at the ever-so-sparkling lab #314 and one of us thought out loud, "Well, atleast we did something today that made sense!!".

Atlast I was done with my bit of work for the day. That too, after having fought over the laminar hood, which somehow everyone grows fond of at precisely the same time. I looked at my watch and realized it was already 5.15!! I had not yet done the most important job of the day!- Networking!!! ;) I ran upstairs to the computer room and found it poorly populated, thankfully. Went through the mails and orkut and managed to chat a little with friends. NOW, I was happy. ;) My room mate gave me a misscall, indicative of "time out!". Hesitantly, i logged off the system and took the lift to the ground floor to find her there, waiting impatiently for me...