I will always laugh

At a time when I’m already swamped with work, a colleague comes and says, ‘Can I ask you a favour?’

Not another of these, I groan. Within, of course.

I pull my earphones off my ears and smile. ‘Sure, what can I do?’

I periodically nod, and diligently take notes to make sure I don’t forget anything.

Why me, and why today, I wonder. I had been quite jobless the last 3 days at work. Today, I had planned to work on my university research project. And I’m piled with work.

Why not the new intern, I wonder. I had started doing all this work within days of starting the internship, and she’s already been here quite a while. And poor thing, is quite jobless as well. Why not her?

And I put my earphones back on, and ‘Alaipayuthey kanna’ plays.

‘Idhu thagumo, idhu muraiyo, idhu dharmam thaano,’ the song goes.

I burst out laughing, much to the surprise of the others in my cubicle.

As I started out on the new work, juggling it with the old, I know, I’ll survive as long as I manage to laugh for the silliest things on planet earth.

11 more working days.