So there I was, tired from the long hot day's work, back to the tiny 10x7 room I call my bedroom for half a year. The day was hotter because of the rising tempers everywhere. I tell you, one bad apple does rot the rest. Tempers, voices, hands, skyrocketing in every direction you look. It's fun. Really. Lots of fun. Watching red angry eyes and heavy tools in their arms, and that too over petty issues. Well, matters don't remain so petty when they happen to you, do they?
Having finished the day, I cleaned up. Every day after the shower I feel like I shed a layer of my skin, all greasy and mucky and sweaty, and I feel like I walked out of what felt like an hour long shower.
Dinners are light. Today they attempted to make an Indian version of Quesadilla, with chicken sausage stir-fried stuffing. A helping of juice to wash it down works wonders everytime. Conversation is always light at the Galley. Half of them are getting off workafter a long hard day. The other half grim at the thought of the day's work ahead.
I came back to my room, was very sleepy that particular night. Changed into something comfortable, turned down the lights, hit the bed, pulled on the quilt.
Going to bed always puts me into a pensive mode. My mind whirls into life and images and videos from my past flash by. An open door, & no one beyond it. A dark movie theatre, A watch I saw the other day on Flipkart. The F-22. NOS. The Monalisa. Mad. Appi. Rob. Yaush. Juu. Resha. Vibs. Sam.
And then suddenly I see, what looks like a Firefly inside my room. The chain of thoughts was brought to a screeching halt.
A firefly. In my room. Aboard a Drilling Rig. More than an hour's ride from Mumbai city. On a Chopper.
Blinking at me at a steady pace. I almost reached for the light when it lit again. Jonakee, as it is called in my mother-tongue. It just stood there. Still. And what followed, I can only hope to write in full here.
It felt like the temperature inside my skull plummeted by at least 10 degrees. And in slow motion Isha Deol started running towards me in her bare essentials towards me, bouncing everything (that is whatever there is to bounce) after a bath on a sea shore. Oh wait, that's the scene from Dhoom that I put on repeat the other day I was in the Recreation Room on the rig, all alone.
Mount Abu. The Bullet trip I made with my 'gang' of 40. We were on a night-trek. Unlike all camps in movies, ours unfortunately, did not have a guitarist. Nor a guitar. Only hoarse and detuned biker rumbling. Lots of fun. Fireflies we would see, we were promised. Sadly we saw none.
Monsoons will soon hit the Arabian Sea. Work becomes pretty challenging during those 3-4 months. Work never stops on a rig. Never. 24x7. Literally. What else do you expect the work would be like on a giant oil rig like ours that charges over 12 Million rupees a day as rent?
But monsoons remind me of pipping hot Chai and Aloo/Pyaaz Pakodey. Hey, they named that movie Kaminey. Maybe Shahid should feature in a movie named Pakodey - releasing this Monsoon.
And fireflies. Monsoons remind me of fireflies. I remember when I was a kid, and I was told that that glowing insect was called a firefly, I instantly knew where Fire came from. But biology ruined my life, seriously. A chemical that lights on the insect's ass? Sheesh!!
Temperatures kept plummeting inside my skull. I guess I was getting groggy. Another day's work ahead of me after I wake up. And then 25 more days. The hitch had just started. But there will be a lot of time to think about that. Lot more stories will take root on this Rig in that time. Now, it's sleep time.
Oh and did I forget to mention, what I thought was a firefly in my room, was only the smoke detector.!!
Till next then.
Ciao
Having finished the day, I cleaned up. Every day after the shower I feel like I shed a layer of my skin, all greasy and mucky and sweaty, and I feel like I walked out of what felt like an hour long shower.
Dinners are light. Today they attempted to make an Indian version of Quesadilla, with chicken sausage stir-fried stuffing. A helping of juice to wash it down works wonders everytime. Conversation is always light at the Galley. Half of them are getting off workafter a long hard day. The other half grim at the thought of the day's work ahead.
I came back to my room, was very sleepy that particular night. Changed into something comfortable, turned down the lights, hit the bed, pulled on the quilt.
Going to bed always puts me into a pensive mode. My mind whirls into life and images and videos from my past flash by. An open door, & no one beyond it. A dark movie theatre, A watch I saw the other day on Flipkart. The F-22. NOS. The Monalisa. Mad. Appi. Rob. Yaush. Juu. Resha. Vibs. Sam.
And then suddenly I see, what looks like a Firefly inside my room. The chain of thoughts was brought to a screeching halt.
A firefly. In my room. Aboard a Drilling Rig. More than an hour's ride from Mumbai city. On a Chopper.
Blinking at me at a steady pace. I almost reached for the light when it lit again. Jonakee, as it is called in my mother-tongue. It just stood there. Still. And what followed, I can only hope to write in full here.
It felt like the temperature inside my skull plummeted by at least 10 degrees. And in slow motion Isha Deol started running towards me in her bare essentials towards me, bouncing everything (that is whatever there is to bounce) after a bath on a sea shore. Oh wait, that's the scene from Dhoom that I put on repeat the other day I was in the Recreation Room on the rig, all alone.
Mount Abu. The Bullet trip I made with my 'gang' of 40. We were on a night-trek. Unlike all camps in movies, ours unfortunately, did not have a guitarist. Nor a guitar. Only hoarse and detuned biker rumbling. Lots of fun. Fireflies we would see, we were promised. Sadly we saw none.
Monsoons will soon hit the Arabian Sea. Work becomes pretty challenging during those 3-4 months. Work never stops on a rig. Never. 24x7. Literally. What else do you expect the work would be like on a giant oil rig like ours that charges over 12 Million rupees a day as rent?
But monsoons remind me of pipping hot Chai and Aloo/Pyaaz Pakodey. Hey, they named that movie Kaminey. Maybe Shahid should feature in a movie named Pakodey - releasing this Monsoon.
And fireflies. Monsoons remind me of fireflies. I remember when I was a kid, and I was told that that glowing insect was called a firefly, I instantly knew where Fire came from. But biology ruined my life, seriously. A chemical that lights on the insect's ass? Sheesh!!
Temperatures kept plummeting inside my skull. I guess I was getting groggy. Another day's work ahead of me after I wake up. And then 25 more days. The hitch had just started. But there will be a lot of time to think about that. Lot more stories will take root on this Rig in that time. Now, it's sleep time.
Oh and did I forget to mention, what I thought was a firefly in my room, was only the smoke detector.!!
Till next then.
Ciao
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