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Today is public holiday to celebrate the installment of president and vice-president in their respective office. We only need a reason to get holiday because government knows there is no work to be done and anyway the employees will gossip, take nap, wander around, litter places and exhaust the scarce fuel so it legitimized the ‘no-work’ by stamping public holiday. After getting accustomed to frequent bandhs even we office goers feel something is missing from our life when there are no bandhs at interval. More than that there were no other holidays apart from weekends last two months and the ever generous government officers who were themselves dying to stay at home, play cards. Even sleeping stretched in a bed after sleeping in the office chair for a long time is quite a change. They have declared public holiday and with no vehicles in the road due to fuel scarcity and students agitation its not different from the beloved bandhs.

I couldn’t go to office yesterday. After stuffing enough meal to survive till lunch time, I hurried to Chabahil to get into whatever I could find to be at office before 10:15. The drizzle, turned into a shower before I was at Chabahil. Surprisingly the road had few vehicles which came from its end and then took an U turn and returned to the place where they had come. After fifteen minutes desperate wait in the flooded road a tempo came and I hurried into it just to be told by the driver that the students are protesting for something and no vehicles will ply beyond Chabahil. Errrgggg…. I was disgusted. Now I knew why many people were walking. There was no point walking all the way to office amid heavy rain so I waited if the rain will stop but no. So at quarter to ten I backtracked toward my home completely irritated. Before that I had asked a cab if it would take me to Thamel, the driver took a thorough look at me top to bottom as if he were picking a prostitute to sleep with and said I would have to get four hundred. I wanted to yell ‘f’ and ‘k’ with ‘u’ and ‘c’ stuffed between at him but as a chicken I pulled out. I wanted to catapult a gob of spit at his eyes and make him blind but then making one blind for mere four hundred rupees so spared him.

I was irritated like a husband whose wife had just ran away with a filthy tenant with all the money and jewelry. My irritation was not for the fact that I couldn’t go to office (what do you think I am Bill Gates that if I take one day leave my office will turn upside down), but because had I known about the strike I would have stayed at home, wouldn’t have ached my legs to come to Chabahil all through that muddy, yucky road with my pants dotted with mud which I needed to wash after getting to office.

At home there were movies to be seen, books to be completed and started, nap to be taken, tv to be watched, I even hadn’t read the newspaper properly. The experience of staying home lonely when its raining outside has a fun of its own. I already have three movies pending and as I marched toward home I doubted if I will watch the movies. I was however certain that I will finish the book as only nine pages remained. I knew I might even start a new book and I was true this time.

Now since it is again a holiday today same plans have prevailed. I have after quite some time have found a book which I want to finish in one sit, only three hundred and sixty seven pages of which fifty is already completed. So, today just a book day for me, an e-book day to be more precise. May be I will write something but there are already more than five cribbles queued to be posted but this one will exceed the priority due to its dependency with date. It will serve no purpose if posted later. Lucky post!!!