‘Two buttons down!’
Struggling for leg room in the elevator is what AT reporter is doing this week, in disguise as a lift man!
PAARTH JOSHI
THE very same day when I decided to wear a not-really-cotton shirt during daytime, the weatherman called it 72 per cent humidity and the electricity office snatched away a citizen’s right to fan and television in the afternoon. And my right to travel uninterrupted in the elevator of a seven-storied building! The powerhouse’s notso-speedy ‘Dennis Hopper attempt’ inspired me to take up as an elevator boy.
And odds welcomed me with open arms as soon as I stepped in to the small elevator cabin. Odd one: the cabin could just accommodate four people in one go but overpopulation ensured there were five or more than five people (mostly men) inflicting undesired proximity on me. Second odd: the stool on which I was to sit was really low making it very uneasy for face value. Third odd: sweat ke saath stench free!
I had replaced Golden — the elevator boy for a while. When one of the employees of a firm entered the elevator, I started to press the sixth floor hoping I would be corrected. And indeed I was as he said with a smile, “Two buttons down”. I hurled several curses on his English teacher.
Post lunchtime, more people were opting to climb the stairs, which gave Golden and me an opportunity for small talk. Almost as old as I, Golden hails from Bihar and had scored 58.63 per cent in class 12, but had to trudge his way to Vadodara for a good job. “I’ve been working here for the last seven months, but I await the day when I’ll go back home and resume my studies in mathematics,” he says with aspiration. I tried to engage him in more small talk just if I could manage to get some ‘important’ news circling the building. But it was a futile effort.
On the sixth floor, five people were waiting to get down but of them all, the last one was a novelty. Of course, there was space constraint, but this one entered the elevator with his back facing the automated doors. And then, very soon, we reached the ground floor and they exited. It was time for me to return home. As for Golden, well, he’s going to Bihar on June 24. Perhaps he’s ready for some ‘calculated’ risks this time.
Struggling for leg room in the elevator is what AT reporter is doing this week, in disguise as a lift man!
PAARTH JOSHI
THE very same day when I decided to wear a not-really-cotton shirt during daytime, the weatherman called it 72 per cent humidity and the electricity office snatched away a citizen’s right to fan and television in the afternoon. And my right to travel uninterrupted in the elevator of a seven-storied building! The powerhouse’s notso-speedy ‘Dennis Hopper attempt’ inspired me to take up as an elevator boy.
And odds welcomed me with open arms as soon as I stepped in to the small elevator cabin. Odd one: the cabin could just accommodate four people in one go but overpopulation ensured there were five or more than five people (mostly men) inflicting undesired proximity on me. Second odd: the stool on which I was to sit was really low making it very uneasy for face value. Third odd: sweat ke saath stench free!
I had replaced Golden — the elevator boy for a while. When one of the employees of a firm entered the elevator, I started to press the sixth floor hoping I would be corrected. And indeed I was as he said with a smile, “Two buttons down”. I hurled several curses on his English teacher.
Post lunchtime, more people were opting to climb the stairs, which gave Golden and me an opportunity for small talk. Almost as old as I, Golden hails from Bihar and had scored 58.63 per cent in class 12, but had to trudge his way to Vadodara for a good job. “I’ve been working here for the last seven months, but I await the day when I’ll go back home and resume my studies in mathematics,” he says with aspiration. I tried to engage him in more small talk just if I could manage to get some ‘important’ news circling the building. But it was a futile effort.
On the sixth floor, five people were waiting to get down but of them all, the last one was a novelty. Of course, there was space constraint, but this one entered the elevator with his back facing the automated doors. And then, very soon, we reached the ground floor and they exited. It was time for me to return home. As for Golden, well, he’s going to Bihar on June 24. Perhaps he’s ready for some ‘calculated’ risks this time.
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