Almost

I almost missed the train.

I almost cancelled the plan.

I almost lost my money.

I almost escaped a deadly fate.

Such situations bring us a sense of relief every time we walk down the memory lane. We all have been there. The almost has been a saviour. Yet the other day this almost, almost shook my world to the ground.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

It was a bright sunny day. A day after a mid-week public holiday. You feel like it’s a new week, a Monday. Yet it’s a sweet Thursday taking us to the weekend we await almost every Monday, only this time around it’s a lot closer.

I woke up fresh, almost. Almost because I had a piercing pain in the back of my neck. Ignoring it I went ahead with my day only to save my leg from the bed, almost. My leg hit the corner of the bed leaving a long trail of scratches that later turned into a wound.

NEVERMIND! The rest of the day should be fine. Or so I thought. My vehicle’s fuel tank was running low. I planned to get fuel on the way. Now here’s the thing. There are two petrol stations on my way to office and for some odd reason I prefer the one closer to office (or maybe because the other one did not have petrol once and I had complete faith in the one closer to office to not disappoint me). So I happily skipped the first one and went ahead to the one closer to office. I was almost there, going to get the petrol and then, right there, the petrol station chose to disappoint me. With a heavy heart and stressed mind I wondered every thing that could have gone wrong had I come at the last drop of petrol in my vehicle. Most of the times my overly imaginative mind chooses to jump to the worst case scenarios. Overthinking much? Yes, very!

The rest of the day went on smoothly. Much like the upward ride on a roller coaster right before it descends. The worst was yet to come.

As I was leaving office for the day, I was mentally making plans for dinner. On my way I came across the dinner combos sale counter. I was tired to go home and cook so I decided to take the combo. By the time I reached the basement of my apartment I was starving. As excited I was, the excitement turned the other way when I saw the condition of my dinner combo. Thanks to the uneven roads, my food made it safely to the destination, almost. With what I could access without probing much, the raita was all over the place. I was hoping only a little would’ve spilt. Later when I opened it, only half was left. And that later came really late.

I took the combo and hurried to my apartment, ready to place it on the kitchen counter and examine the damage. Everything else could wait. I reached the front door, inserted the key in to the lock. I was almost there. Yes, ALMOST!

It’d been fifteen long minutes since I’d been battling with the lock. A neighbour of mine even came out of her apartment. All I could imagine was she might think of me as a burglar, trying to break in. Overly imaginative yet again! Tired, I placed the combo on the floor and went downstairs to get help from the security. Meanwhile I wondered if they’d have to break the door. I couldn’t imagine how that would turn out to be. Calming myself I asked for help. He directed me to another who directed me to the maintenance incharge. He sent someone with me. Hope was beginning to rise. And it shattered in a matter of another fifteen minutes.

Stress was building up. I had two meetings to attend. I hoped it wouldn’t take long. To my dismay it wasn’t happening any sooner.

The guy wanted to try with some oil. With all my courage, I rang the doorbell of my neighbour. I explained the situation and he was happy to help. More so he invited me inside to wait till the situation gets resolved. I am forever grateful to him and his entire family for helping me out because it took longer than expected.

To top it off, my phone was running out of battery and I couldn’t find an iPhone charger anywhere. The one I knew was behind the door I was locked out of. And then it hit me. I am locked out of my house.

I AM LOCKED OUT OF MY HOUSE.

The guy who was trying to unlock the door gave up and left to call for help. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take. All I knew was today I can certainly not make it to the meetings. So that’s what I did. Informed my team about my absence. Smart right? Fortunately I could connect to my WiFi. That helped in communication. I would’ve attended the meeting if I had means to charge my phone.

Next I called my dad and informed him about the situation. We discussed a few backup plans. His words of encouragement gave me the courage to face what was ahead. The entire situation was funny yet serious at the same time. I had always been careful with the key to not lock myself out without it. And today though I had the key it was rendered useless. So is life sometimes. I was careful , almost, yet things got out of hand.

Anyway moving forward, two more guys came to the rescue and tried their best to unlock the door. All in vain. Meanwhile we arranged for a locksmith. An hour and a half had passed by then. Now all of us were awaiting the locksmith’s arrival. I was relieved with one thing, the door needn’t be broken. All this time I was hoping for a miracle. Somehow the door would just open. I was praying I would get it fixed as soon as possible, just let me in this one time.

Miracle did not happen!

When the locksmith arrived my phone was down to 6%. Still alive. Way to go! By the time he broke the lock I had been locked out for almost three hours. Thanking everyone I finally made it into my apartment and the first thing I reached for was the power bank. It was time to make the calls.

At the end of it all I didn’t enjoy my meal as much as I would have but I surely enjoyed the adulting experience. And there it was again, the moment of realisation. I was locked locked out of my house.

I WAS LOCKED OUT OF MY HOUSE.

I laughed at the situation and also at the fact that I’ll be sleeping in a house without a lock. I was there, almost safe and sound until the next morning when the new lock gets fixed. Till then I’m locked, this time it's inside. To a day of almost(s). Cheers!