In-Turned-Ship

"Ugh! I hate this seat," I thought to myself as I finally, after much pushing and jerking, managed to grab a seat in the bus. It was a sunny morning on a busy November weekday. True to its stigma, the bus was as crowded as the Delhi roads on which it ran. I realized I was lucky to have gotten a seat, yet I could not help being disappointed. I longed for fresh air in that suffocating bus, but the window wouldn't budge. After few minutes of brutal wrestling with it, I gave up on the idea and began pondering over the long day ahead.

I was on my way to work. Yes, work. Actually I was going for my winter internship in an NGO. Still I liked to think of it as real work. Three years back when my brother had started with his first internship I heard people tell him repeatedly, "The only work that interns do is make coffee for the boss." "No one cares if you actually go, the point is to get the certificate." My brother disagreed. So did I. That is when I made up my mind to take my internship, that is if ever I intern, very seriously and make all the difference that I knew I could make.

Today was going to be my third day at work. The wise words spoken three years ago had proven true so far.

My time at work would be spent ransacking their library, going through random magazines and news articles. Then I would Google the meaning of random words,check my mail, play pinball and check my mail again. One or two times I would rise up my from chair a little, peek around from over the partition wall of my cube to ensure that no one was looking and then log on to Facebook. When I got bored of that I would imagine different ways to murder Twilight characters in my head.

By the end of the day I felt like a desperate person, her ship turned upside down, slowly drowning in an endless sea of boredom.

At 4:30, when my boss (just trying to sound all business-like) would announce her departure, I would put on my life jacket, spring to my feet and dash out of the door, maintaining a safe distance behind her.

The best part of working there was the place where the office was located. The office constituted a tiny speck of a huge cultural center. The center housed many different offices, galleries, eating joints and had its own library, amphitheater and lawns. It was freckled by works of modern art displayed on the path and the widespread greenery combined with the exquisite architecture that gave the place a beautiful ambiance.

So after a hard day's work, I would trot around happily marveling at the place. There were always others about, busy looking people dressed in their stiff formal attire, walking in a quick pace without so much as sparing a glance at the beauty or the little girl that was jumping around them. I wondered how out of place I must be looking. An ordinary girl, dressed extremely casually, wearing a backpack on her shoulders, grinning stupidly in front of modern art statutes. I grinned wider.

Once I got weary of the suspicious looks the guards had begun giving me, I would gallop outside to catch my bus. And thus would end a rather dull and unproductive day at work.

Its my motto in life to always learn a lesson from what you do.

Lesson learnt from one week of internship - if you plan on traveling in the bus wearing sandals, you are a downright idiot.