The Pony Express - Part 7

It finally rained on Monday. Not the drizzles, that have been permeating the air since the past one week, but real hard rain. It rained hard enough to drive people indoors. There was no more joy in walking in the mild drizzle as the temperature plummeted to below 10. A haze lingers around the trees just ahead of the office parking lot. It never rained cats and dogs, perhaps due to the fact that dogs are already superfluous in the USA. Somebody (maybe Joshy or Subhakanth) mentioned that the people over here are more sensitive about their dogs than their children.

The pouring rain meant that we could no longer walk to lunch. We were forced to take the inter-office shuttle. For most of you, the mention of the term "inter-office shuttle" would bring to mind that white-blue Swaraj Mazda with torn grey seats that used to terrorize motorists in the EPIP Area, as it made its rounds between the SAP Campus and GR tech Park. The shuttles out here have the name "King" emblazoned on their sides. They resemble a decked up school bus - in fact, on Friday, they even used a school bus as a shuttle. Yesterday, I got into one, and was completely blown away by the insides. It looked like a business lounge and a discotheque combined into one. The black cushioned seats ran along the sides of the bus (as in a limousine). It was all dark inside, with small coloured lights shining down from the roof. Periodically, they changed colours. A huge mirror looked down on us. I spotted something akin to a mini-bar, but that turned out to be a small wash basin. Perhaps SAP Labs India should take notice.

Sandil seems to be crazy about zombie and psycho movies. On Thursday, during Subhakanth's farewell dinner, we ended up watching one of the kind - "28 Weeks Later." Compared to its much appreciated predecessor - "28 Days Later" - this one was thoroughly awful, with an excess of blood and gore put in. Subhakanth immediately declared that he did not have the stomach to sit through the movie. Immediately after the movie I retired to my room. "Don't turn into a zombie on the way" declared Sandil. That was it...I began to feel afraid.

Kormann Communities does look scary at night. The place is situated on a hillside. Looking down, one can vaguely spot US202 speeding by. To the right, amidst the woods, stands a hospital. The apartment buildings are set into the hillside like little building blocks, with huge parking lots spaced in front. At night, the place is lit up by faint neon lights, lending an ethereal feeling to the surrounding. A single white light shines on from the sides of each building. They remind me of our home in the Cochin University Quarters, complete with the woods behind our building.

Walking back, i was wary of the shadows cast by each light. I felt as if someone was watching me from within the woods. I hurriedly stepped inside my apartment. I was already past 10:30, and I had promised to login late for some work. Unfortunately for me, mentioning the incident about the zombies to Snag was not a nice idea. She's been needling me about them since then.