Have a Mice Day!

                                    Junior Year. I’d gone to Poona with no expectations, unlike sophomore year when I was more than sure about the year being awesome, which obviously, did not happen.

                                   But, barely 2-3 weeks into the first month of the year, and I had already resumed my seat in the ‘Why-the-hell-am-I-studying-in-Poona’ convention. A terrible first day, followed by a hectic schedule that wouldn't allow me to make for home, and being smothered by assignments, horrible sheets, seminars and projects just came as the icing on the cake (read: ‘dungcake’). But what happened this morning totally became the cherry on the icing!

                                  After spending 5 continuous hours with the not-so-amusing AutoCAD, I woke up at 6 AM, still irked from the 3 hour sleep I’d somehow managed to get. After spending another hour in front of the vile software, I headed for breakfast with Siddharth, and what followed, well, let’s just say what followed will leave me sleepless for tonight for sure.

                                 I opened the rear seat of my motorcycle, to remove the rag I use to wipe the morning dew off of it every day, and had a not-so-“brightening your day” moment...

                                2 mice, pretty small for their size, greeted me with open arms, well quite literally.

                              Their tiny, cerise arms outstretched, for a fraction of a second we just stared at each other, shocked – me, who had not once seen, heard, read, not even dreamt of bike seats being friendly abodes for mice; and the mice, who seemed pretty upset about how what seemed like a cool, dark place to make out wasn’t that secluded as such.

                               One of the 2 was a small, grey mouse, who at once fled into the smallest breach it could find, while the other was bigger, whiter and couldn’t hole up that effectively, and even as he took cover in a bigger slit, his ugly, whiskered nose was still visible from where I stood, frozen.

                                I yelled the F-word involuntarily, and shot a disgusted look at Siddharth, and yelped “MICE!”

                               “WHAT?!” he shot back, probably thinking I was messing with him.

                               He took a few hesitant steps towards my bike, peeped from as much a height as he could, and uttered the B-word (Indians will understand).

                              Clueless about any further action necessary, since this mice-in-a-bike-seat thing was novel to both of us, we just stood there for a minute, after which I whacked the bike a few times with the rag (a lot of good that did), also smacking it, but of no avail!

                              Finally, after discarding every plan that seemed brilliant only in my mind, we decided to let the mice be, and left for college, with that sight still vivid in my mind!

                             The next 2 hours were possibly the most excruciating college hours for me. Every time the hair on my legs twitched, I’d flinch. Every time my toe crinkled, I’d flinch! I kept thinking about the mice in my bike, wondering if it was symbolic, with the Ganpati festival just around the corner. (For non-Indians, Ganpati or Ganesh is a Hindu God with an elephant head and a mouse as a vehicle) I made a mental note to recite all the Ganpati verses I knew once college was over. From a mere rodent situation I’d gone to divine intervention. Damn you, my over-imaginative brain!

                            After I got home I laid my vehicle flat on the ground, ready to face the 2 little demons. I opened the seat valiantly, only to find nothing.

                            No squeaky sounds emanated from the shallow depths of the seat, no whiskered noses reached out from any opening, and as much as I was relieved about not having to tussle with the little rascals, I couldn’t let go of the thought of them abandoning so easily.

                            I took the bike for a short spin, just to make sure they’d really surrendered, and checked the indicator, headlights and everything else to avoid any unwanted expenditure on bike parts. But nothing popped or uttered a squeal!

                            And like all such pretty-dull-to-read-but-gruesome-to-actually-experience incidents my life bestows upon me, the ending was another epiphany.

                            There are times when we find some things in places they’re least expected to be found in. Most of the times, they turn out to be pretty nasty. It’s natural to feel completely lost at first, but sooner or later, you DO come out of such situations. Or the problem may be uprooted on its own, like it happened when I got home and found no mice.

                             However, if you take it for granted and get used to it, well, just know this... Karma has a way of reminding you again and again!

                             After lunch Sagar asked a much relieved me to show him where I’d found the foul creatures. And just when I opened the seat, I jumped; as a familiar squeak greeted me...the smaller mouse was still inside! We forced it out with a twig, and as it turns out, it was female! We watched as it disappeared into the darkness of a nearby gutter.

                             We thoroughly searched the rest of the bike for the other rat, presumably male, but thankfully didn’t find him. (Well, I won’t know till tomorrow morning, will I?) Needless to say, his little one-night stand gave me two mini-heart attacks in a matter of mere 6 hours!

Just an artist's representation of the incident. In reality, mice aren't that cute!

                          I’m not scared of mice, I’m really not. I’m just not a big fan of surprise visits, one of the drawbacks of being a city mouse I guess! MOUSE! Oops!!!