The Day the City came to a Standstill...

well..almost..at least for about fortyfive minutes...today.

coz the Electricity Board dared to cut off electricity in that part of town where the Ambanis and the Tatas stay...

so kaput! there it goes..just like that..at 6:15 a.m...manage to run down fourteen floors and catch the bus to Churchgate...but wait a minute...have never seen Churchgate go standstill...i mean i was kinda overwhelmed...everyone looking expectantly at the indicators as if waiting for divine intervention...

and then suddenly as if God did say, " Let there be light"...the fans in the trains whirred back to life and the lights shone bright...and Churchgate almost witnessed a rebirth...

i know i am jara overdramatizing the whole episode...but what to do...once in a way when something unimaginable happens...something that the rest of the state has almost accepted as a way of life...it tends to stir you...

in case you are wondering what i was doing so early in the morning at Churchgate station...please do not fail to note that i am high on motivation right now with my new found occupation...

and of course June 14, 2005 will go down in my personal version of history as the day that I almost became Superwoman!

moi decided that confidence is not my forte...hence provisional admission in our very own mumbai university is a must...hence set out early in the morning loaded with all the requisite documents bright and shiny at Kalina campus at 9: 15 am...which by the way happens to be about one and a half hours away from home...and what do you know..i have everything but for proof of residence...why would they want that? and the damned office opens only at 10.30 am..so no way of collecting a form until then..hence vibha turns into superwoman and makes arrangements with sanyam to pick up a form and wait in the queue until she zooms across the city and jets back with her ration card...except that i didn't have the required costume for doing the 'up, up and away' bit...so back to the humble western railways...trudge all the way back...and finally reach kalina at 12.30 pm...

good ol' sanyam was right there waiting with a form..and i filled it up and stood inthe queue to stake my claim to a masters in the hallowed university, when at 12.45, precisely fifteen minutes before the desginated lunch hour...so decide to stuff my face as well..after all Superwoman needs refuelling as well...and it makes sense to taste the fare at the place that has the possibility of being my regular hangout a couple of months from now...

so back at action at 1:30 pm...and finally get done with form 1 at 2:00 pm...now the bank where the fees have to be deposited is located outside the campus (which by the way is quite extensive and the heat at 2:00 pm (especially after having travelled more than 50 kms already by various modes of transport since 7:45 am) makes the jaunt to the bank seem like the Tour De France...fortunately happened to meet an old acquaintance (and a pretty one to add) offers a car ride...coz she too was rocking in the same boat as mine...so off we go after filling the second form...and the bank official asks in all innocence.." challan kuthe ahay?" (which for the marathi morons is " where is the challan") so we stare like idiots and ruch back to the admissions office and blurt out, " challan kuthe ahay?" the officials have a hearty laugh and hand us the challan...and off we rush back to the bank which shuts by 3:00..and we are there by 2:55 pm...

finally after paying up our fees rush back to the campus for the fee receipt and by 3: 30 we are finally MA students...hey..but Superwoman decides to go to work...and reaches work at 4:30 pm...and works till 7 pm and reaches home spanning 35 kms across the city at 9.30 pm...

and phew! what a day! but ma makes it worth it when she looks and me and beams..." so you will finally be doing an MA after all!" yes ma..i will be...and hopefully more than that as well...