The 6 p.m chore

On a Pedestrian day in July, I open my eyes to the blinding morning sun and realize the hangover of the terrible headache and sore throat from last night. I had gone to bed crying last night because of my chronic tonsil from the past. Few years back in a cold September night, this same monstrous tonsil had me admitted in the hospital. After that it had been dormant until yesterday. The terrible pain while swallowing anything is too dreadful. 

And today, Pedestrian Tuesday and I had the best excuse ever to stay at home. I had wanted to go to work but the unfriendly scorching sun was too discouraging, so to avoid falling sick again, I called in sick at office and took rest at home. On an average, there must be many cases like mine on Tuesdays which would mean more absenteeism at work. And the outcome? Calculate it for yourself: P. No wonder, numerous reports in the media says about the alarming poor attendance at school on Tuesdays. Somebody should find about the absenteeism at workplace on Tuesdays also, I thought to myself.   

It was unusually quiet right from the morning till 6 p.m in the evening. No honking of the cars. The place where I stay has unusually large number of cars, so there is always a parking crunch. You come after 8 p.m and you had to park your car on the road and stay alert the rest of the night in case you hear some vandalism by some nocturnal high spirited teenagers. Thimphu is no longer safe :(. And I never stay out late for this very reason.

Thus, my Tuesday was spent watching Olympic on Tv and reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The Fountainhead, a modern classic tells the story of the desperate battle waged by architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite…of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy…of the frantic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. Its theme is one of the most challenging ideas ever presented in a work of fiction-that man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress.

                                                                                                            - From The Fountainhead

I heard the screeching sound of the tyres and honks of the cars outside my window. I orderly folded the page of the book I was reading, set aside my cup of green tea and looked at the clock hanging desolately on the wall. It was exactly 6 p.m, it marked the end of another Tuesday in Bhutan. It was as if everybody has been waiting for the clock to strike 6 p.m, like that in Cinderella’s story save that the people were beginning their normal activities. And from my window I watched people going about their Tuesday chores. 

A view from my window, I love watching the activities from here :)

A view from a moving car, how clear the sky is yet the pelting of the rain on the glass of the car is harsh.