"sahib, aaj toh aap baal baal bache."

last week was an extended weekend for me. i distinctly remember goining to office last on thursday. then on i was on official holiday! the person i report to was on leave....and so was i! extremely eager( read extremely late) to get out of home, i had a quick bath and ran off to catch my bus. it was a luxurious ride to office. i spent half an hour there before starting my routine site visits. an engineer had volunteered to show the construction site around. i had just put on my helmet when he suggested to rest the string of my helmet on my chin. it was hanging loose near my ear. "as if anything's going to happen." ( though i am witness to an accident, i thought it was not that kind of a day). he enquired if i wanted to climb up the vertical ladder to the upper levels. "oh yes! lets utilise the helmets!"
with a grin i started climbing up. it was a long ladder. i reached the top,out of breath and my palms scrathced. i sat there till i felt blood running in my head. as he was explaining the type of construction i realised that i was a foot away from the edge of a beam, 25m high. i stepped back. it was then that i saw what i had missed the last 10 mins. what a view that was! clouds high up in the sky, the yellow blot on the clouds marking the sun and trees on both sides of the road. it was good!

when i went to the other end of the beam, a hissing noise took all my attention. the engineer had stepped on a rubber pipe attatched to a gas flame cutter with an lpg cylinder right behind us. the nozzle was a defective one. i was scared shitless! 2 labourers present on the beam tried there best to close the valve of the cylinder, then of the gas cutter but all in vain. running away from the pipe, a labourer, an elder, started shouting that its goining to blow! phew! "so this is it then." i thought. i had just put my foot forward for the dash when suddenly the hissing faded away. the other man had temporarily repaired the pipe. i wiped the sweat off my brow. i tried to breath deep. i inhaled lpg. when my heartbeat reached normal, i climbed down the ladder. we both sat on a bench a few metres away.
"sahib, aaj toh aap baal baal bache." i almost cramped my neck to see a labourer smiling at us.
" so how are you?" the enginner asked.
"better."
" these sort of things are normal, but yeh toh kuch zyada hi tha. i thought this is my last project."
" nah. they say your life flashes back when your moment arrives. mine is yet to come!"
we laughed and ordered a dosa from the shop behind us.
a friend of mine says "do second main duniya badal jaaati hai."
i agree!