MOUSE IN THE HOUSE

First of all, my apologies to everyone for not updating the blog more frequently. The past few weeks at office have been pretty uninteresting, with trainings and exercises taking up all the time. However, a weird thing happened at office on Friday, the 13th. Well it was not anything tragic or unlucky ( as you all might have thought after reading the day and the date ). In fact, it was one of the most hilarious and memorable incident for each one of us at the office.

This Friday was also like any other normal Friday morning. I woke up in the morning and the first thought that came to my mind was TGIF !!! So, I got ready earlier than usual. Surprisingly, I am always excited to reach office ASAP on Fridays..:) Well, I left home at 7:50 am, wishing and hoping that I beat the Delhi traffic and reach Noida by 8:30 am. So, I drove 30 Km., all the while yelling at and abusing anyone and everyone who came in front of my car. Finally, I made it to my office building and rushed up to my office and punched the card. While punching the card I glanced at my watch, 8:37 am. DAMN !! I cursed under my breath, now I won't be able to get out at 6:00 pm. See, my workplace has a policy that each employee must spend nine and a half hours in office everyday. So, by that calculation I would be able to start for home at 6:07 pm only. Anyone who travels on that route is aware that even 5 minutes make a hell lot of difference in the amount of traffic one encounters on the way. After catching my breath and cooling off my anger I started working. Here I would like to mention that my workstation is close to the Cafeteria.

Everyone was engrossed in their work when suddenly there was a loud shriek from the cafeteria. Before anyone could understand the reason for the shouting there were a few more shouts from that direction and people started running around. At that moment I saw a big, fat and gray coloured mouse running out of the cafeteria and into the main office. Behind the mouse were 5 of our office boys, each of them holding a special weapon for it. One of the boys had a dustbin in his hands, another one was holding a broom, the third one had a polythene with him and the other two were following the mouse wherever it went. All of us in present in the office started running helter-skelter, some of us were actually scared while the others were just having fun. The girls started standing on chairs, tables, basically any elevated place they could find. The guys, on the other hand took out their mobiles and digicams (yeah, people in my office keep digicams in their drawers) and started shooting the chase. It looked like a scene straight out of a hindi news channel, probably Aaj Tak or India TV, and I could almost hear the correspondents shouting on top of their lungs: Yeh dekhiye ek anokha nazaara !!! Iss office mein ghuss aaya hai ek chuha jisne yahhan ke logon ki zindagi mein uthal-puthal kar di hai !!! 
Lekin, kya yeh ek maamuli chuha hai, yaa doosri duniya se aaya hua aliens ka bheja hua ek jasoos hai jo dharti pe base insaano ke raaz jaanane aaya hai !!! (ok, I confess I have had an overdose of these alien programs on TV)


For the next half an hour this ugly and fat mouse created havoc in the office. After every 20 seconds there used be a shout from a new corner of the office and the whole mouse catching army (including the photographers) would rush to that place, only to find nothing there. Ultimately, all the employees had dustbins in their hands and waited with baited breath for that creature to cross their workstation. Finally, after much running around and burning of calories by all the people, the mouse was caught with great difficulty. After being caught it was displayed by the catcher as if it was a prized possession.

The office resumed its work after sometime but the mouse sure taught me a few lessons. First, who says my office doesn't have recreational facilities ? We don't even need treadmills to run on in order to lose weight. Second, never make fun of someone else's workplace. A few days before this incident happened, my mom was cribbing about the presence of rats in her school. At that time I mocked her and said," This is the state of Govt. schools. Yuck !! Look at my office, you can't even find an ant there. It's so clean and hygienic."
Lastly, teamwork is a value instilled within all the employees of my office. Whether it's solving a major work related  problem or catching a little mouse, everyone's always ready to help one another.