Plates turned for once. Over a conversation during lunch at work, the room filled with talks about “who can handle spicy food”. And somehow the conversation was dominated by people who could handle spice and they felt superior! And I casually mentioned too that I have inclination to spice. Not in a “showing-off” style but mentioned I generally like spice and don’t prefer bland food. That is when my male co-workers (Male and Female should be classified in different species-well that calls for a different blog altogether!) to my surprise got all competitive and challenged me if I could eat the greatly feared “Habanero Sauce”. I retorted casually, “Well I have never tried it but would love to.” End of the chapter.

The next day came and guess what? I was welcomed into the lunch room with sneers and jeers from my peers! They held the grail filled with the only and only…oh dare I utter the word…The formidable- “Habanero sauce”!

I do have to admit, I did feel nervous with eyes gawking over me…eyes that begged me to fail…eyes that longed me see me cripple down suffering the burn from the spice! Well, one of the guys was a little sympathetic and offered rice to eat it with sauce (Glad he was!). I mixed it with mixed feelings and closed my eyes and took a deep breath and reluctantly ate it. Guess what! It was not bad as I expected. On the contrary, It was home calling! It was awesome!!! Wasn’t I glad they made me eat it! It was super hot super spicy! I ate some more and left the room feeling pleased and soaked in pride. The guys looked shocked in disbelief that I liked it. You think they accepted my prowess in the field of karam? No way, its ‘guys’ we are talking about- they accused me of eating it just to prove my point. But do I care, Nope. I felt victorious!

Long forgotten, after a couple of hours, all of a sudden I felt a pang of pain in my abdomen. It deepened and the pain consumed me. I knew what caused it – of course the notorious “Habanero” sauce! As my head awakened to that very fact my worry of pain turned to shame. What is wrong with me? Why did I have to eat more of the sauce? Though I got to see their lovely expressions of shock when I tasted it, it is definitely not worth the pain in my tummy! I let the pressure get to me. I am not a teenager. I am in my mid 20s and nothing stopped me from feeling competitive to prove my point. In a weird sense all of a sudden I understood why kids get caught in alcohols & drugs succumbing to pressure.

Moral Of the story:

3.3 Oz of Habanero Sauce-$1.19

Look of Shock on coworker’s faces – Cost of a severe tummy-ache

Lesson learnt- Priceless!

Well, let me give you the background picture. I had not heard from this guy for months now. I have always supported him through all his mish-mash of his life. He always came to came to me to cry about something or the other.

So coming back to the story, I tried to do justice to my public image and lent my shoulder to cry on as usual. We did have several sessions and one day when he felt better and things were returning to normal in his life he calls me to say, “Vaish, I can’t thank you enough.”

Sigh!!! Another “I can’t thank you enough…”line in my life.

Seriously, why cant people thank you enough? Why do people think that just by saying “I can’t thank you enough that they have thanked you enough? Doesn’t “Thank You” weigh much more than “I can’t thank you enough”? If people feel indebted, they have to thank or atleast thank enough.  There is no word “can’t” in the dictionary , if you try hard I am sure you can thank enough. Its just sad how people give up just like that. Hah! “Can’t thank you enough!!!” Maybe some day it would be illegal to use the phrase, “I can’t thank you enough!”

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Years rolled by and blogging grew enormously. I was bowled over seeing all the creativity, feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas that people shared. What was overwhelming to me was that they were all so original. I understood why many wanted to blog. And I want to be a part of that. And I wanted it to be a part of me. I am ready to say good bye to paper and pen. Why not? Let me go green!

I welcome myself to blog-zone!

A long anticipating wait, the embarrassment of being the one with the rotting tooth (especially if the dentist’s evil elf is a cute one!), the agony of opening your jaw forever (You wonder-has the time stopped???), your appeal for clemency (on the sight of tiny but powerful looking diabolic munitions), intimidating light glaring at your face) which you don’t understand why is enraged at you), gushing and drilling din… Sigh!!!!!!! The endless list! It is a frightening war you can’t escape. It is a battle between you and the persistent dentist!!!

The after-thoughts of the entire ordeal made me tumble upon one hell of a realization- Man! I am not surprised that it was the dentist who invented the electric chair!!!