An evening I only heard you

6: 30 p.m.

'Piyush let's go,' Shishir told me.​ 

'Shishir, you can go. I have a presentation with Boss tomorrow morning,' I replied.

'Sir, I don't know what reminds you to start your day at 6 p.m. and now this is a daily ritual for you,' he replied in a sarcastic tone.

'Please leave,' I said with a wink.

'Ok, we'll see you tomorrow, but sir, I have a request and you can take that as a piece of advice, start with a little less work so that we can do something,' he winked and left.

'Piyush, Shishir has a point. Nowadays, things are not going well at all.' I muttered, because I always like to talk to myself.

After almost 2 hours of work on the presentation. I felt someone's presence.

'Sir, how long will you stay?' the office boy asked me.

'Not sure, Bhaiya,' I replied without looking at him.

'Ok sir, please turn off the lights and the air conditioning before you leave,' he pleaded and left.

After few minutes, I realised there was no one in the office and it was about 8 p.m. 'Do it quickly Piyush,' I said as soon as I realized it's getting late and I am losing the concentration.

'Why am I not able to concentrate?' I muttered. It seems like I have to take a 10-15 minute break to get some good ideas. I approached towards my phone to put an alarm and noticed phone's battery is low.

 Oops, but I don't have a charger with me today, and even the office boy seems to have left for the day. I started to examine the drawers to look for a charging cable and I found an old table clock, but it doesn't work. Battery problem, I think.

Looking for a battery, I approached Shishir's workplace and found an AA battery in his drawer. 'Thank God! I can finally close my eyes and think better for 10 minutes and set the alarm,' I muttered.

 Suddenly...

'No,' I replied to the sound as soon as someone asked me, 'Are you sleeping?'

'Who are you?' I questioned, worriedly. 'Can anyone speak?' I said again, with drops of sweat on my forehead rolling down towards my lips.

'What happened, Piyush, why aren't you able to concentrate on work?' I heard the voice again.

'Who are you, where are you and why can't I see you?' I asked in a surprised and in an afraid tone. I know I'm strong, but I don't know why I suddenly started reciting 'Sab sukh lahe tumhari sarna, tum rakshah kahu ko darna,' even though I don't believe in ghosts.

'Cool down, Piyush,' I muttered.

'There's no need to worry, I'm the clock in front of you, at your workplace itself,' she described and began laughing.

I rubbed the eyes, 'hey! are you kidding me?'

'No, I'm not in the mood to have fun with you. I've noticed that you've been a little bothered lately, there must be something that bothers you, so consider discussing it with you,' she continued.

'I didn't know you talk, and I've never heard a clock before,' I said.

'I do talk Piyush, I don't have the luxurious life that you guys enjoy with limited working hours. You must have heard the sound "tick, tick" whenever I work. Now, you tell me, have you ever missed that sound?' she asked me and in response I said 'no.' 

I took the water bottle, took some water and threw it in my eyes to make sure if things are fine.

'Well, tell me what happened,' she asked me, and continued. 'Look, I may sound weird, but I can only talk to you and you can only hear me because you are the one who made me alive.'

'Alive! Spirit! Are you a spirit? Please tell me why you are reciting the Kalyuga version of "Ram and Ahilya" from Ramayana. Are you someone from Treta Yuga whose soul has been captured in the clock?' I asked in dismay.

'No! you gave me the power when you put the cell in place and then I started working,' she said with a laugh. 'Anyway, tell me why you're so worried,' she asked.

While she was speaking, I took my car's key and kept in my pocket. I have heard that ghosts have a fear of metallic things.

With a little trust on her I said, 'Things are not going well in the office these days. People have started calling me Chid Chid.' 'Chid Chid' she repeated and started laughing.

'Congratulations! You've got a nickname, Piyush,' she replied. 

'Please! Don't talk to me like that,' I instructed her in an exclaimed voice, as if I were about to cry.

'I'm not surprised because I can't understand why your colleagues didn't learn about it earlier, you've been in the same office for almost 5 years,' she said.

'Right?' she asked very sarcastically. 'So people have to understand that something is wrong with you, maybe you don't like something that is reflected in your being.'

'Ms. Ghadi, I mean Ms. Clock, remember you told me you existed because of me, now you are forcing me to end your life again,' I told her angrily.

'Oh! Wow, thank you for calling me respectfully, Mr. Chid Chid,' she replied humorously and began laughing.

'Please tell me what happened, seems like this chid chid thing doesn't allow you to focus on your work or is there something else?' she asked again curiously.

'Oh! not really, I'm not able to figure out where I'm missing these days and too much of thinking hinders my work. Work isn't going well at all and now it's also affecting my personal life as well. I need to find out the cause soon,' I said.

'Hold on,' she interrupted me. 'Talk a bit slowly Piyush, I have to understand too.'

'Oh ok, I'm sorry,' I replied.

'You know Piyush, the biggest problem with you is you think a lot, but you can't solve things by just tapping your finger. It's good that you have to focus on everything, but you don't have to get to the level of micro-management at all,' she said.

'Haha! Ms. Watch, you sound like a management guru, but you can't even imagine what kind of pressure I'm dealing with,' I said.

'To understand you, I need to know a little more,' she said.

'Ok, let me tell you one by one. You know, I'm in a leadership role, but I don't understand the culture nowadays. Everyone feels superior, nobody follows the hierarchy. People try to prove their existence and they don't care what's good or bad for them and frankly, that bothers me.' I explained.

'Oh, my dear friend, it's a very small thing to understand, so let me give you a few short lessons,' she said.

'Tell me one thing, in the clock which one has the biggest arm, hour, minute or second?' she asked.

'The second arm, everyone knows that, but why did you ask ' I asked.

'I'm just trying to answer your question in your language, don't you think the hour arm should ideally be the bigger one?' she asked.

I'm speechless and before I say a word she starts again.

'Piyush, you have to understand that as we grow in life, our responsibility grows and over a period we have to learn to ignore it. I can't expect my arm to complain that I'm not going to work because I'm smaller but have more responsibility to deal with it,' she told me to encourage me.

'Hmmm!' I replied, nodding.

'She has a valid point,' I muttered. 'Ms. Watch, Ok, I agree with you, but don't you think that can trouble the work, how can you treat someone like that?' I said.

'Ha! Ha! Ha!' She laughed, 'No, Piyush you can't. Tell me, have you ever seen a watch without a minute or a second arm?' she asked.

'No, I don't. It's not possible at all. Hour arm doesn't move until minute does and so as the function of second arm.' I replied.

'Well said, Piyush, you answered your question yourself,' she said.

'It's always teamwork, second helps minute, minute helps hour, and because of all of that you can track your daily activities, but it's also a truth that's a clock is of no use without an hour arm.' she continued.

'You don't have to think much about it, they will learn over time and so will you, but first you learn to ignore things,' she said.

'You sound too good, Ms Clock,' I said.

'Help me with another thing, I understand what you said is right, but don't you think there is a possibility that work will be hampered and that will create a backlog if I don't go into micro-management?' I asked.

'Good question but tell me Piyush what you do when a clock stops working,' she asked.

'We change the battery, easy' I replied.

'Exactly, you change the battery, not the clock. Just put the battery on, reset the time, and we're back on track. That's what we must do,' she said.

'Thank you, Ms. Clock,' I said.

'Always welcome, Mr. Chid Chid,' she replied.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...

The loud beeping of the alarm clock disturbed the unplanned power nap.

'What just happened? Was that a dream?' I looked at the clock with astonished eyes.

I honestly can't understand whatever has just happened

'Yes! I guess it was a dream and thank you Ms. Clock, for the lessons. I promise to put them into practice.'

'I am sure I'm the first person to get management lessons from a clock' I muttered, with a smile.

Time to leave, I will work on the presentation as soon as I reach home. I switched off the lights and air conditioner.

While walking towards my car, I am still thinking the whatever has just occurred was amazing. Kept the bag in my car and started the ignition.

'Sir, we have requested you several times to switch off the lights and A.C. before you leave' the watchman said.

'I know Bhaiya, see you can't say that today. I have switched off all the lights and A.C. as well.' I said and turned back to show him.

But..

The lights are still on and the only thing clicked my mind is. 

"Miss Clock"