Caught with pants down (the conspiracy)

CAT is approaching, yes it is. I can feel it after every spent, rather 'wasted' day. And I do not want this attempt to be like the previous ones after which everyone said "Oh that one section let you down." Feels like I was almost there, but was I? Isnt this the word which we generally use to differentiate success from failures. Anyway, thats not the thing I was going to write about today. So without getting carried away, let me come to the real story.

Ya, to make sure I get myself enough time to prepare for the exam ahead I thought of taking a week leave which was pending in my account since I had worked in the shutdown week of June. But what reason am I supposed to quote? Preparing for CAT, are you kidding? Thats something I am supposed to hide from the people at office. What could be a safe reason. I didnt want to go for a jaundice or some disaster at home. Those sound too fake. What else? Some festival at home, yes Chhath. Its something Biharis observe religiously and exclusively. Everybody knows about it. And there isnt another Bihari in my dept (nor in the division) so no one can say that he is not going why are you? Anyway no one was against my going on a leave. It was just me trying to prepare myselft with answers to all kind of (unlikely) questions and queries which could come my way. Fortunately the planned duration also coincided with a particularly lean period in some recent vehicle trial activities.

So after all the planning I decided to ask for the leave. And then it occurred to me... How about actually going home instead of staying here alone? I could spent 3 days over there and come back still having 4 days with me. Serves all the purposes. I checked for reservations. No doubt seats were full. Even tatkal bookings were in waiting list but they could get confirmed. I decided to get the leave approved before booking them. I could manage to go by air, but checking the available fare levels, I realized I wasnt that eager.

Next day I got the leave approved, no problems there at all. In the evening the extended tatkal waiting list killed my hopes of going home. So the next evening I bid goodbye to my colleagues and left the office for a long time to come. My plan was on track.

(To be continued...)