The Eight O’Clock Cab
It is fifteen past eight. One look at the clock and I know I am late. I am going to miss it today for sure. In a flicker of seconds, I send the mail I am supposed to, lock my workstation, switch off the monitor and pick my bag up. I rush through the doors of the bays to reach the lift area, press the lift buttons and wait for it to come. Sometimes it may just take a minute but it will seem to be taking hours. As soon as the lift stops, I just get inside, smile at the people I know and press zero for ground floor. The lift opens and I just rush through the doors out to check if it has left. And just one glance of it brings back a smile on your face. You are relieved to find it still there. I am talking about this incredible eight o’clock cab which usually leaves daily from my office to drop people home.
The scheduled time for this cab is eight o’clock but it leaves by fifteen past eight usually, unless the driver is in a real bad mood and decides to leave most of us behind. So if it is still there you just relax a bit, sign out, get your bags checked by security and fill a cup of coffee which you can carry along. So we just stroll near the cab in the campus for some time catching up, with people and as soon as the driver climbs in, you know you have to get in fast. Why I call this as an incredible cab is because of the experience you can have only while you are in it.
Everyday you would find same faces, employees; driver and other staff people will be same with an exception of few new faces. So the moment you get in you greet each other and then settle down. Most will prefer a window seat. Some want to sit alone at the back to sleep. Some like to sit next to the driver. Some would catch a seat for their friend waiting for them to come, calling them on cell phones to hurry as the cab is about to leave.
And then it starts. The traffic usually at this hour is lesser and the cab manages to zoom through the most traffic. With it starts the usual routine of people….some narrating their amusing experiences at work they had, some about the inconsiderate attitude of team members, some about their managers, some about food provided at office, others about projects and some will be simply tired or wondering what to cook. But all will be attentive to the radio FM being played. So if there is a sad song or a regional song playing, the moment it starts people would go crazy and ask the driver to change it. So the rule is no regional songs and no sad songs. What I like most about this cab is , people in it may have slogged the whole day through but once they are in the cab they forget their frustrations and relax. The people in the cab have found great friends in each other and managed to hang around, even after office, during weekends.
The driver knows us all and all our stops. We may fight with him over which FM channel to put on radio but he likes it too because if you are absent one day , next day you will surely be greeted by him with a smile . Isn’t it wonderful to see how this non living cab manages to bind all living creatures travelling within it. It has managed to spell its charm on the people in it .That is how the moment it is fifteen past eight you see a swarm of people rushing to catch it and be a part of it.
The scheduled time for this cab is eight o’clock but it leaves by fifteen past eight usually, unless the driver is in a real bad mood and decides to leave most of us behind. So if it is still there you just relax a bit, sign out, get your bags checked by security and fill a cup of coffee which you can carry along. So we just stroll near the cab in the campus for some time catching up, with people and as soon as the driver climbs in, you know you have to get in fast. Why I call this as an incredible cab is because of the experience you can have only while you are in it.
Everyday you would find same faces, employees; driver and other staff people will be same with an exception of few new faces. So the moment you get in you greet each other and then settle down. Most will prefer a window seat. Some want to sit alone at the back to sleep. Some like to sit next to the driver. Some would catch a seat for their friend waiting for them to come, calling them on cell phones to hurry as the cab is about to leave.
And then it starts. The traffic usually at this hour is lesser and the cab manages to zoom through the most traffic. With it starts the usual routine of people….some narrating their amusing experiences at work they had, some about the inconsiderate attitude of team members, some about their managers, some about food provided at office, others about projects and some will be simply tired or wondering what to cook. But all will be attentive to the radio FM being played. So if there is a sad song or a regional song playing, the moment it starts people would go crazy and ask the driver to change it. So the rule is no regional songs and no sad songs. What I like most about this cab is , people in it may have slogged the whole day through but once they are in the cab they forget their frustrations and relax. The people in the cab have found great friends in each other and managed to hang around, even after office, during weekends.
The driver knows us all and all our stops. We may fight with him over which FM channel to put on radio but he likes it too because if you are absent one day , next day you will surely be greeted by him with a smile . Isn’t it wonderful to see how this non living cab manages to bind all living creatures travelling within it. It has managed to spell its charm on the people in it .That is how the moment it is fifteen past eight you see a swarm of people rushing to catch it and be a part of it.
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