Leave Today

Whah! Whah!, I’m on leave. I managed it by noon. Morning I went to school and got a half day- that is till noon and left at 10 to 10. Then I went there by eleven, made it a full day and escaped by lunch time. Problem was that My Boss, The Principal’s Boss, The Local Correspondent was on a visit and he caught me. He is a trade union leader. Leave register will close on 30th April and all the balance left for all employees will be converted to those many days of extra pay. I said en-cashing the leave is not of my nature. I don’t have to sell my leave and get some money, I told him. So I exhaust my leave. After all I have only a half hour of exam supervision today. That is arranged with another teacher. So I go to drop my wife in her bank. Then I have to pay the phone bill, get a recharge coupon for another, buy a notebook, get bananas for mother and so on. What to do? Saturday was the trip to relatives, nearly 100 kilos of motor-cycling which ended at home by ten at night. Sunday to Fort Cochin, 25 kilos up at noon and back soon in the sun and back soon to the city for Mass and a meeting and prize distribution which I had to cover partially. About 30 snaps. Dinner there and reached home by ten at night. Repetition Eh? Yes dear, in between these repetitions, the days went by and I took two days leave from my blogging schedules. Sorry. I shall try to be punctual. This diary form seems good. There are novels, poems essays and umpteen such forms. But this one seems charming for its immediacy, the nearness, the sort of a belongingness which otherwise is fast vanishing from the hurly burly world.
My son said it is great to know that someone remembers him when I greeted Happy B’Day in the morning. Today he turns 21. Working in the back offices of British Telecoms. Old ladies and retired gentlemen find time to call them with little little complaints. They want to feel some belonging to good old BT and find the complaint cell an easy entrance to a hearty communication. Like in some other BPOs, Infosys does not encourage impersonisation [CPR some number]. He is coming this week. Have to do some assignments for a college which he intends to join. 4 things – one in event management, another advertisement, then the study of an NGO and 4 references from ad or PR people whose firms this boy is to be familiar with. All for 1:5 chance of getting a seat! I buy a few publications and a notepad and talk to an old student’s husband about it. The fellow is with an event manager. Then I clean. I took leave to do a project on housekeeping. So I do this keeping things and dusting and all and the rain comes. The first serious rain of the year. Let me cover the compost and cow-dung and firewood and keep the vehicle in the shed.