A Typical Day

8 A.M. in the morning

The alarm clock blares to life

Still half asleep

I shuffle out of bed

Up to where it sits screaming

I take a good look at the time

Class won’t start till 9

I resolutely, shut it off

And climb back into bed

Promising myself to be up in 15

My slumber abruptly ends

And I gape across the room

At the clock which

Now shows half past 9

Seeming to smugly convey to me

‘I told you so”

Springing onto my feet

As though bitten by a bee on my bottom

I rush to the washroom for a quick bath

But somebody’s already inside

Singing away to glory or so he thinks

Finally he emerges from within at 10

With an air of satisfaction

Which gives one the impression

That he’s had a bath

For the first time

In at least a couple of hundred years

I enter and am out in a jiffy

And rush back to my room

Getting dressed as quickly as I can

I head to where my transportation awaits

Halfway to the garage I realize

That my keys are absent

Already half past 10

I rush back and another 5 go by

Before I finally manage

To lay my hands on them

On my way to the garage again

Something still looks amiss

And I return to my room once again

To gather my head gear, cursing

A quarter to 11

I reach my vehicle

Don the helmet and

Somehow manage to bring to life

The old junk I call a bike

On my way to college I begin to muse

Repentant at the dismal state of affairs

I finally gather enough courage

And promise myself to put my life in order

Once and for all from this moment hence

I finally reach my destination

Park and enter

The proverbial hallowed ground

Of my apparently esteemed institution

But am fairly perplexed

Not to find a single soul around

Except a stray dog basking in the sun

Who seems equally puzzled to see me

And suddenly I realize

“O shit! It’s a Sunday!”

-Kartik Shastry