Wonderman - Part 1

He didn't want this. Not now. Not when the world he lived in didn't make sense to him anymore.

May be this is the ultimate truth. This is what God wanted him to realize. But this was the problem. He didn't want to accept this realization. This was not what he hoped to realize. Making money, earning temporary fame, leaving a legacy behind. Is this it? Is this what the world wanted him to do? No, he decided. No!!. There must be more to this life than all this !!! But the world around him was just this. This is what it expected of him. But he wasn't buying this argument.

Mid life crisis had hit Arjuna a little too early. He thought he was way too young to go through this at the age of 26. What the hell am I doing with my life, he mused. Facebook had turned into Marriagebook. Everyone around him were getting married. It was almost like the world would come to an end if they didn't go through the ritual of Marriage! People who were already married were now posting photographs of their kids! The world didn't make sense to him anymore.

He closed his laptop and rubbed his eyes. The weird sensation in his head that was plaguing him for the past couple of days was driving him crazy. it wasn't uncomfortable, yet it wasn't normal either. His mind was processing a zillion things at the same time and at 22:30 hours on a Sunday night, a loud speaker was blaring some crappy song outside his apartment. "Oh shut up !!" he thought and there was a loud noise (thud) followed by total silence. He walked out to check what the sound was. Smoke was emanating from the speakers. Looked like the circuits or whatever inside the speakers were totally fried. "Thank god for Small favors" he thought and returned to his room. 

"Another boring day at work tomorrow" he thought and retired to bed early that night. Weird dreams haunted him. He woke up in the morning having a heavy head. "Great" he thought. "What a wonderful start to the week" he murmured dryly. Arjuna got ready and started towards his office and was met with the Monday morning rush of vehicles on the road. He smiled to himself as he expected this and while being stuck in the jam, he called up his friend Krishna "How much did you run today morning ?" he asked. "4 km in 20 minutes" replied a beaming Krishna. "Well, this will definitely come in handy when you want to run away from your fiance, if you get one in the first place" said Arjuna, tongue in cheek. "Very funny dude. I will run towards her, not away" said Krishna, laughing. Arjuna, looking ahead on the long queue of vehicles said "Get a girl to at least look at you objectively buddy". "All in a good time bro, all in a good time" said Krishna. The banter continued for a while and Arjuna hung up as he reached his office.

While going through his mail stack, he came across a spam Visit Sweden. "I so wish" he mused. Rahul came across his desk and started chatting "I assume you had an amazing weekend" he said. "Yeah dude, totally amazing! It was like I was in the middle of an Indo-Pak cricket match and India was winning" he said with a straight face. Rahul burst out laughing. "It shows on your face. Come. Let's go get coffee" he said, dragging Arjuna with him to the cafeteria.

While sipping coffee, Arjuna got a call. It was his manager. "Oh boy. Wonder what's wrong now" he thought and received the call. "Hi Arjun, can you come by my cabin ASAP?" his manager asked. "Sure Suraj. Will be with you in 10 minutes. Just finishing my coffee" said Arjuna. "Sure. See you in 10" signed off Suraj. Later in the cabin, Suraj addressed Arjuna "There is a project kick off in Sweden in 3 weeks  time. Basic requirement gathering, meet and greet. You know the drill. Duration is for a month minimum and might get extended to 3. Interested?" Arjuna looked incredulously at Suraj and started thinking "what the hell..."
(To be continued...)