I am a lazy person and I often say that to people I know. It is an excuse I use for getting away from something I don't like to do. It is not exactly the best excuse but serves the purpose when I can't think of anything better!
And laziness shows up in me first thing in the morning. Waking up is probably one of the biggest challenges I face in life. And it doesn't look any good when you have to do it again and again, day after day, without fail! Each night when I go to sleep, I decide to get rid of this habit of getting up late. Ambitious that I am, I set the alarm to 5am, no later! But the idea would not be to get up at 5 am, but at least to pull myself out of the bed by 7. The alarm starts ringing at 5am and when I don't turn it off, goes off to snooze and shouts again after 10 minutes. In the first 30 minutes since it starts, I would not even have heard the alarm and still be in sleep and then move to a half asleep mode where I still ignore the alarm. Finally when I wake up, it will be as late as 7.30am.
You might think that 7.30 is not late at all, but a reasonable time to wake up. At least that's what I feel. But the trouble is, my office bus comes to my bus stop at an un-earthly time of 7am to pick me up! Chances are I make it only once, or at the max twice a week. In the days I make it to the bus stop at time, the conversation with my colleagues at the stop goes usually goes like this.
Colleague 1: Hey long time no see! What's happening?
I mumble a good morning, cheer myself up with a wide smile and respond to him.
Colleague 2 walks in: Hey! Surprised to see you! What brings you here so early today?
Me: You see, it's been a long time since I saw you guys. I just wanted to meet you guys and say hello!
We all have a good laugh at the end of this standard conversation and then move on to chat about all other things in the world.
But sometimes I wonder if this drama is just because I am lazy or there or other reasons. May be I am just unwilling to pass another day hurrying to work, making my due contribution to the rat race and return home at the end of the day. May be my mind tries to postpone the beginning of my 'ordinary' days.
To prove that, I never get late or complain about waking up in the weekends. If I am going birding early morning or heading for a photography session, I am never late to wake up and never late to reach the place. Even when I am out somewhere travelling, I take every trouble to ensure that I wake up early to feel the new day in the new place and immensely enjoy it.
So, may be I am not lazy after all. But I would rather keep calling me so, just to escape myself from all things I would rather not do!
Here is the desktop calendar for April 2007. Click on the picture below to get the image in 1024x768 size.
About the Image This image was made at Auli, Uttaranchal, India. The mountains seen are the Garhwal Himalayas and far below in the valley flows Alaknanda, one of the tributaries of Ganga. The farthest mountain in the image, a little to the right of center is Mt.Nanda Devi, one of the tallest mountains in India.
Getting cleaning done for my teeth was long overdue. Just thinking of dentists and their tools gives me shudders. I kept postponing it as much as I can. But fearing the goodwill of my teeth, I had to give up the resistance and finally decided to face it.
I chose a dentist, a senior doctor based on my friend's reommendations. But lady luck was not by my side - doctor was not in the clinic when I went there. The only person in there was a young girl, probably fresh out of college sitting in the reception and chatting over phone. I presumed she would be manning the front desk but was not exactly confident when I realized she is the one who is going to have a go on my teeth! I tried to put my doubts and worries away unsuccessfully, but nevertheless decided to go ahead and get the cleaning done.
There were two dentist's chairs in the clinic, each facing the other without any partitions. I wondered if the arrangement is meant for two patients to look at each other and feel a little better after seeing the pain in other person's face!
After she made me sit on one of those chairs, her preparations took nearly fifteen minutes. And each of those minutes, I was not sure if it was wise to be sitting there or I would be better off running away! She would pick a few instruments that looked like axe or knife and seemed to be ready to plunge them in my mouth, and the next second she would walk away as if she forgot something and return with something more. Each time she did that I silently suffered, imagining the agonies that are going to come to me in near future.
Finally the ordeal begun - she did not start with the note that I would love to hear - she said "if you are feeling any pain, raise your left hand. ok?" and I meekly said ok. My hands, folded till then involunteerly freed themselves and the left hand reached a 'ready-to-raise' position! Her sharp and fearsome tools entered my mouth and started torturing my teeth and gums mercilessly. I suffered in silence working hard to convine myself that it is all for the good of my teeth. She kept repeating once in a while - 'Are you OK?' and I would nod silently. Do you think I would be ok when I have weapons of mass destruction operating in my mouth? Obviously not. Each time she withdrew her tools, I would realize that I havent breathed in a while and my body is getting stiffer! "Breath", I would say to myself and try to inhale some air before her tools returned to work.
The ordeal lasted for 30 minutes and to the doc's credit she did a decent job without inflicting too much harm. She improved my mood slightly later by mentioning that my overall oral hygene is good! I would have been mighty pleased if she had said that at a time when my oral system was not in pain, but in any case it was a good way to end the whole thing. And more important - thank god I can stay away from the dentists now for some more time!
I had been pretty busy for last 3 weeks, and hopefully busy days are past. A new month is just beginning and here is the desktop calendar for March 2007. Click on the picture below to get the image in 1024x768 size.
About the image
The reservoir in the picture is Matupetty Dam in Munnar, Kerala, India. This image was made on a late winter morning four years ago.
