Everyday, I drive to the university parking lot and catch a school bus from there to my department. Mostly I am carrying a school bag with all my notebooks etc, my cellphone, my wallet and my keys(a single bunch for all possible doors - yes, a single point of failure, I know). Also, during the days it's really warm, I have a bottle of water with me.
As Murphy's law goes, the bus never turns up on time. Either I have just missed it or it is late. Btw I am a punctual person and have a zero-fail track record of being at places at the right time. Same for this one. To make things efficient I even have a log on my cellphone to record the timings of the bus arrival every single day. The subsequent data analysis has been in vain with the following conclusion- The bus arrives at any time despite the scheduled timings. So in my case, the worst case delay possible if I just missed the bus is 20 minutes, and even more if I missed the previous bus and the next one is late. But I have made my peace with it.
This incident is from around a few days back. I was waiting at the bus stop. I had already parked my car. There were others too waiting at the stop for the same bus (nice supportive feeling). Things seemed right. As I reached out to grab my phone from my pocket I suddenly realized that I had left it in the car. I have a habit of keeping my phone plugged in to the charger whenever I am driving. I made a quick reluctant dash to my car hoping and praying that the bus be delayed. But in a hurry I left my bag at the stop. Luckily my car wasn't parked too far and within a minute I had my cellphone in my hand. Starting to run back as I turned my head around now I realized it was time to be Muhammad Ali -I saw the bus speeding into the parking area. I ran waving my hands hard, trying to make all possible gestures to catch the driver's attention. The bus came, stopped and then started moving. I kept making gestures while frantically running towards the bus. Finally the driver saw me and although the bus had moved past the designated stop, it slowed down to a halt. I felt so happy and lucky and ran towards it.
It was then that I remembered that my bag was still at the stop, which was now behind the bus. So here's the funniest scene of the century- I am hurrying towards the bus with my hand-waving and all, the driver patiently waiting for me, and then I run past the bus! There is utter confusion on the driver's face and the bus starts moving again. And there I am grabbing my bag and running after the bus again hysterically yelling to stop. The bus finally stops again. The door opens. I board the bus catching my breath while trying to give out a beaming smile. The driver gets it and is laughing. I say "Thank you" with a lot of gratitude on my face and he smiles back, nodding his head in acknowledgment and then finally comments, "I am sorry, I had NO idea what the heck you were trying to do!"
