7.01 AM
Travelling in the bus has become a common practice for Nithya, especially after finishing her graduation. She was hoping to get placed through the on-campus interview, but she failed. Here she is sitting in her favorite chair and thinking about her miserable fate after seven hours of travelling.
She tried to relax but her thoughts wavering about her mom’ health and brother’ education. Six months gone past like a flash since finishing college, still she is trying to find a good job here in Chennai. Last week she attended an interview for a Chennai based firm, Datapons, in her hometown, Coimbatore. She cleared every round, but in the final interview HR Uma said, “Nithya, we will get back to you as we need to discuss with our client”. This reply sounded as a “rejection”.
But after couple of days the HR called back her, “Nithya, we had to conduct a telephonic interview with the client”.
For her it was like someone hitting her head with a balloon filled with water.
“You will get a call on next Tuesday morning 7 AM, be prepared, all the best…”
Right away she took a bus and came down to Chennai, because this is where she can get help from her friend Sudha.
Here they are waiting for the call. Because of eagerness she didn’t sleep well in the bus and so she looked very tired and dull.
Half-an-hour had passed and no sign of the call.
Subha asked, “Are you sure today is the call”.
Yes, I am sure, the HR said they will route the call from California.
“Hey!, its evening there, how can someone call you after business hours” questioned Sudha.
Nithya gave a blind look. She was not aware of these timing differences. She saw her mobile- the time is 7.43 AM and kept it back on the table.
Wait did she miss something, she took the mobile back to find there is no signal!, she jumped from the chair. Subha got frightened.
“No signal, no tower signal”, yelled Nithya and took the mobile to all corners of the room. They did all sort of tricks, turned off, on, took the battery out, put it back, but still no signal.
“Heh, look even my phone there is no signal?” said Subha as if she invented ether.
What is your card?
Airtel, yours?
“Vodafone. What to do now Subha? “ quizzed Nithya.
“Come let us go out and try.” said Subha and pulled Nithya towards the door.
The only way to go out in that apartment is either go down or go to the top terrace. The two girls opted to go up. They were surprised to find few of their neighbor’s already there. It was unusual to see some elderly who don’t like to climb four floors, also a new married couple who were very late raisers.
For a while both the girls can’t figure out what their neighbors were doing. They were holding their mobiles, like a cricket umpire who would check for the light using a lighmeter. The apartment romeo Rajesh who is always proud of showing his thirty-two teeth to Subha came running towards her and said “You know, mobile phones are not working, hehee hee, from midnight no cable TV and also landlines are not working, eehhh”.
“Rajesh, Nithya got a telephone interview today from US.” informed Subha.
Oh! Is it congrats, all the best, have you..
Subha stopped Rajesh “hey, close your shutter-mouth, phones are not working, how she will get the call? “.
“Yes, correct, may be they would postpone it”, told brilliant Rajesh.
There entered the eldest man in the apartment, Rajesh’ grandpa came with an old TV antenna.
The grandpa said smilingly “I knew this day will come and that is why I didn’t discard it”. The girls couldn’t find the difference between the smiles of grandpa and Rajesh.
After few moments, the whole apartment were inside Rajesh’ grandpa room. The only channel available was the state run DD channel. It was two minutes for 8 AM news. As seconds passed by, Nithya thought this problem should be everywhere in the world. The news confirmed the same and everyone were amazed as it was a new occurrence.
Nithya and Subha later went to meet the HR. Datapons was nearly empty only few were available. The security said the cabs were not able to pick the employees as the phones were not working. Around noon Uma came, she said they don’t have any information, but if this problem is not rectified soon then they won’t recruit at all.
Afternoon passed; evening came- Rajesh’ grandpa is now the hero of the apartment, while Rajesh’ iPhone and Alienware laptop were useless. People were still not coming into terms about this phenomenon. The government had no clue and the telephone companies were not sure about what they are missing. Aunties missed the TV serials, uncles missed their favorite female newsreaders, husbands missed wives, wives missed cats, lovers missed themselves, kids missed cartoons, eligible bachelors missed internet for bad, single guys missed Facebook, celebrities missed their tweets, networms missed Wikipedia and Nithya might miss the job.
Thinking of her mother and brother, Nithya was sitting on her favorite chair in front of her computer and wondering if all this is a dream.
7.04 AM
Nithya got a jolt and tried to get up suddenly.
“What happened?” asked Subha.
“Nothing, it is a dre..”, Nithya swallowed words and took the mobile, as she took it started to ring, it was Uma. "Nithya, we are connecting the call to California, hold on.".
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Note: Pictures are used for illustration purpose only.
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