Alarm

ALARM





Being a late riser, catching an early morning flight is always a botheration.

To make sure that one is up and ready in time, one has to take so many precautions; ring up the automatic alarm service i.e. wake-up call number of the service provider, as a backup set the good old alarm clock, keep the spouse, and sometimes even children, informed about it; just in case the alarm system failed…….!

Yet, today you are already running late for the first flight. The colleague who is travelling along has already reached the airport. He just rang up, as he was about to reach the departure terminal. And you? …. You are just into the bathroom yet! But the geyser doesn’t seem to be working or did you forget to switch it on? All you have for bathing is just lukewarm water. These are wintry days! But, you have hardly any choice. Then there is this cut on the chin you had while running the razor on it in a hurry. Luckily, not much bleeding but irksome all the same.

By the time you finished and come out to wear your shirt & jacket, it is almost ‘check-in’ time. You don’t know if the driver has arrived to ferry you there. Just as you are getting dressed up, you heard the car being taken out of the garage by the driver and you are thrilled. He is revving up the engine at full throttle disturbing the entire neighbourhood this unearthly hour!

You are about to go down the staircase to the podium. Suddenly but luckily, remember that the folder containing the air tickets was left behind at the dressing table. Go back, grab the folder and run down the stairs into the waiting car.

Driver is still wiping the mist off the windscreen with a cleaning cloth. Rush him to finish it fast or abandon it halfway. It is almost time for announcing ‘security check’ at the airport. The driver doesn’t realize! Summon him to his seat and command him to move the machine. He searches all his pockets for the car key. Doesn’t find it! You ask him to look everywhere; wherever it was that he had kept it while wiping the windscreen. He gets out to see if it was on the bonnet of the car. He also switches on the garage light and looks around on the ground to see if it had not fallen down from his pocket. You, sitting behind, notice that the key is very much in its own slot, by the side of the steering wheel! You shout at him. He mercifully responds with some alacrity this time. In due deference to your cries, he comes in and even before closing his side door, turns the key to start the engine.

Trrr..….. Trrr……Trrr…….Trrr……. No life! The engine doesn’t start. It only sputters. You start worrying. It is well over a thirty minutes drive to the airport even at this early hour in this city. When it finally picks up, you heave a sigh of relief and ask him not to get out again to close the gate behind him; afraid that something else may go wrong if he did that.

At last, he gets on to the main road. Soon you grow weary of his speed. You ask him to hasten up a bit but of course, with due caution. ‘Careful at the crossroads and traffic signals, you never know what danger lurks around!’

On to the ‘VIP road’! Cruising smoothly at a steady speed. Not much traffic on the roads. Road is smooth. Air is nippy but refreshing. You are about to doze off. Proverbial forty winks! Suddenly you stir up. Something amiss? What is it, car, road, destination or airline? Yes, you want to make sure about the date and time of the tickets.

You nervously fumble for the folder. Luckily, it is there in your jacket. You wear your reading glasses and carefully check. Yes, it is today. But time? Just about thirty minutes for ‘take off’! And you are still somewhere here, at least another twenty minutes away from the airport. Then, to your surprise, why surprise, shock, you find both the tickets, yours and your colleague’s in your folder!

You take out your mobile phone to ring him up; just to reassure him that you will make it to the counter at the airport before they closed it. Alas, his phone doesn’t ring! Have they installed ‘Jammers’ at the airports of late, just to ward off the nuisance to the flight monitoring system of their ‘ATC’? You again start worrying! You switch off for once but cannot remain detached for long. You try again. No response! You keep repeating the exercise every half a minute or so. And then, suddenly there is the ring of the telephone. It is ringing all right but very feebly. After all, it is ringing at a great distance! One ring, two rings, three, four…no response yet. What happened? Why isn’t he answering? Has he left his mobile in the car or what? ‘Please, pick up the phone my good friend….please….for heaven's sake!...’ No, you never knew that he was so stubborn. Or, has he gone deaf?

The ringing volume seems to be rising slowly and then suddenly ‘you’ wakeup! Your own telephone at home is ringing violently and you are actually still on your bed.

Your spouse is quite annoyed but suggests politely ‘why don’t you lift the phone; after all it is on your side of the cot….’ You are yet to acknowledge the wake-up call from the phone company. You get up, collect yourself and reach for it immediately.

You are indeed to catch an early morning flight today!