Reflection

“Amma” screamed Radha. Why you did not wake me up early? See I have to go for walk and get ready and go to office on time. Now everything is spoiled.

“You slept late Radha that’s why I did not wake you up. See you look tired even now!” , said Amma with a worried look on her face.

“Now don’t give that sorry look Amma.  You just have some excuse for not doing what I say. Thanks for that great help. I would go get ready now and know that you have spoiled my day.” saying this Radha stormed to get ready.

“Why can’t you just leave a message to your boss saying you will be half an hour late and get ready calmly”, said Amma. But Radha did not pay any attention.

“Can you help me connecting the laptop” asked Appa.

“Appa can’t you see I am getting late. Please don’t ask me anything now” said Radha

Radha got ready and came out said bye to amma. Amma said eat and give me some time to pack your breakfast.

“Not required, you will take your own sweet time to cook. I can eat outside and for your information I am getting late”. Saying this Radha ran outside to catch an auto.

“Say bye to all Radhaaaa”, screamed amma.

“Oh am already late and I have to comply with all the formalities. Bye all”. Radha screamed back.

What a way to start the day! All because of mom, thought Radha. If only she could have given me a proper wake up call, I would not have to go through all this irritation.

With these thoughts in her mind she went to catch an auto.

She stopped an auto asked the driver stating her destination which was 3 kms away.

You need to pay me Rs. 200 to get there said the auto driver (well welcome to Chennai, where auto’s run well but their meters don’t!)

“Whattttt!!!!!!... Rs. 200”, screamed Radha.” Don’t you guys ever change? Why do you cheat and loot the general public?”

“Petrol hiked madam and why are you shouting at me in the morning? I am not the only one to ask. If you can, you give or catch another auto. You won’t get any and you would suffer” retorted the auto driver.

“Just Get Lost! I would rather walk than paying you” screamed Radha

And she started walking. Nothing seems to go right today. I hate this life thought Radha

She walked after some time she got an auto and grudgingly paid Rs. 100 to get to office. Useless auto drivers spoiling my mood and day thought Radha.

Once she reached office she opened her office mail. She saw she never got replies to all those reminder mails she had sent last week.

“Oh my God, brilliant, now I have to keep a reminder list to send second reminder mails to all those folks who just can’t reply to one single mail. No courtesy, no sincerity. Irritating” thought Radha.

**Tring Tring**, rang her extension flashing the name of her colleague Geetha.

“Oh the drama queen has now called” thought Radha and picked the call.

“Hello, Radha. I just saw your reminder mail that I have to complete certain work. Who are you to say that?  I have served more number of years in this company than you” screamed her colleague.

(Well this lady had all the energy to shout but did not have enough energy to complete her task!!)

“Hello Geetha, listen it’s my job to track the progress of the work and I am just doing my duty. And if you have concerns you speak to higher ups why are you shouting?. I would send reminder mails. And you don’t have courtesy to reply to any. And you would not give any explanation and who is being questioned. Remember that I would be the one who has to answer those questions ” said Radha

“I don’t have to report to you Radha. You don’t set my priorities. I can’t be replying to all mails” retorted Geetha

(Well yes, Geetha does have other better works like cribbing about her mother in law at office! Well if one has such interesting works how would they find time to reply to office mails at office!! )

Radha was now on the verge of losing her temper, “See you are not getting the point Geetha. Am doing my work and I am being questioned. So you need to give me the details. That doesn’t mean am setting your priorities......”

And the conversation went on for another 45 minutes.

“There is no point. Am just ending this call Geetha” said Radha and ended the call.

This day is JUST NOT FINE.

Radha stormed out of the office finally with heavy heart and severe head ache. She rushed back home. Amma welcomed her back with her beautiful smile as ever.

“Dinner is ready” she said.

“Ok Amma” said Radha in a dull tone. She saw her mobile while her dinner was being served and saw her mother’s message this morning

“Dear daughter. Don’t worry the day will be good sweety. Keep smiling”

“Amma, sorry I did not see your message this morning. Are you angry with me?” said Radha hugging her mother.

“No sweety, I knew you had a hectic day” said amma. Then she said “see had you given this hug this morning your day would have been better” J said Amma smiling.

Radha was taken aback.

 “I will do that tomorrow amma. “ said Radha

“Sleep on time today Radha. I would wake you up early tomorrow” said amma with a sweet smile.

Radha went to bed thinking of her day.

She cannot stop the running time

She cannot change the auto driver’s attitude.

She cannot make all her colleagues learn what courtesy is

She cannot control or change Geetha’s behaviour

So what can she do?

The only thing she could do and was in her control was her own way of handling things. So as of now let me try to sleep early and get up on time thought Radha

Next day Radha got up early. She went for her morning walk hearing her favourite songs.

When she came back she saw her dad struggling with connecting the laptop.

“Appa, I will do it” said smiling Radha.

“Thanks Radha” said appa smiling.

“Amma, I will go get ready. Is the breakfast ready?”

“Oh I am yet to finish the sambar. I got up late Radha” said amma.

“It’s ok amma. No problem I will eat outside. “, said Radha hugging her mother.

She came out to catch the auto. Well yet again there was this auto driver who asked Rs. 250.

Radha smiled and replied. “Great brother, you are really better than the driver yesterday who asked Rs. 200. But unfortunately am not that rich to pay you. You will get a better passenger who can afford to pay you what you seek. Have a good day”

The auto driver was taken aback. And started to go away but changed his mind.

He called back, “Sister, I am sorry, I know I asked more. I will put meter. Can you please give me some extra. You are my first passenger for the day.”

“Sure”, said smiling Radha and went to office.

She reached office and saw that some of her colleagues had still not replied to their mails.

“Wow interesting now the late they reply,  the stronger is my position because I have done my work” thought radha mentally thanking her colleagues for giving her some buffer time in which she can do other tasks.

She smiled and drafted a common reminder mail, “Dear Colleagues, I understand you are too busy but I am sure you would complete this and intimate me. Thanks for your support in advance and wishing you a good day”

She pressed the send button and with a smile started her work. She found she could complete her work much faster than yesterday because she was peaceful.

**Tring Tring** rang her extension flashing the name of her favourite colleague “Ms. Drama Queen Geetha”

Radha smiled thinking that this is now going to be fun.

“Radhaaaa”, screamed Geetha. “Despite  telling you so much you have the audacity to send a mail to me today”

Radha said in a calm voice. “I am doing my work Geetha”

“You don’t teach me what to do. You cannot mail and I just don’t care about your mail” started Geetha

“Sorry to interrupt you Geetha. I can understand you have not completed the work and you can take your time and intimate once you have done it.  And you would definitely get my mails because it is part of my work profile to ensure things are going in the right phase. So I guess we should not be wasting our time on discussing these things. Because anyway I am not going to stop my mails so why you should waste time discussing that with me? Why can’t you take it up with your boss and remove your work areas from my tracking list if it is getting into your nerves? J. And by the way on a lighter note if you really don’t care about my mail you would not be calling my extension. Have a good day lady J and please check your BP.  You really seem to be stressed out. Take rest. Take care”

And with a broad smile Radha kept her phone back.

After some time another colleague came to Radha and said “Do you know, Geetha  is talking bad about you. She is telling a bunch of people in the canteen that you are trying to be authoritative and you are trying to impress your boss to get promotion. I think you should confront her and put her in place”

“Well if she is talking about me then it means she obviously finds my life more interesting than hers. And this really confirms that I am a step ahead of her” J

Saying this Radha went to the white board placed in her work area and wrote the Eleanor Roosevelt Quote

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

When she finished writing and turned, she saw Geetha and her friends walking in. Geetha’s face turned red with anger when she saw the quote.

Radha flashed the victory smile at Geetha and walked away with her head held high.

(How entertaining it is to smile when the other person expects you to be enragedJ )

This was indeed a good day. Life is beautiful thought Radha

Back home she had dinner in peace and went to sleep.

She was thinking about the day. The characters whom she met yesterday and today were same. The external situation had not changed a bit. In fact she even  had some people gossiping about her but still the day went perfect.

“How come?”, thought Radha

Morning breakfast was not ready, but the way she handled it made the difference.

Appa was still struggling to connect the laptop, but helping him made the difference.

The auto fellow still asked exorbitant fare, but the way of handling it made the difference.

(The auto driver turned out to be a good fellow but what if he had just left? “Well I would have just found another auto. But at least I did not let that spoil my mood” thought Radha.)

Did all her colleagues learnt courtesy and replied to her mails? No, but the way she handled it made the difference.

Did Geetha change? Absolutely not! But not allowing it to disturb the inner peace made the difference.

“Why are you smiling Radha” asked amma smiling back.

“To get your smile back Amma. Goodnight” said Radha hugging her mother with a final realization that how she perceive or take the incidents around her is purely a reflection of her own inner state of mind

After all what we see is a mere Reflection J yes a mere reflection !!!