The News at Six!

Time: 11:56 am IST

Hello! And welcome to the morning news!

Here are the main stories:

• I woke up at 6:26 am today. It wasn't a bright sunny morning. And the thought of what I'll have to face in the next two hours made it all the more less brighter than it was! Right enough, as if on cue, an assortment of black clouds arrived and began to cry!

• Cheese sandwiches and tea decided to form part of my breakfast at 7:15 am IST. The tea wasn't Earl Grey, but I did survive that adventure. After all, I am old enough these days to weather any brand of beverage that sails down to my stomach!

• I wore Timberland all-weather shoes at around 7:58 am IST. I bought them at a sale and yet, the price I paid for them sailed way above the hole that I had permitted myself to blow into my pocket for the purposes of footwear! Needless to say, that will be the only hole in my pocket for my foot and its wear this year!

• The bus driver was a full ten minutes late. I had to suffer the traffic, the newspaper stall, and what not at the junction where I usually stand and await that despicable fellow. He's new - this fellow. The previous bus driver resigned a month ago and left us - me, rather - at the mercy of this new brat. This brat doesn't quite welcome criticism. And he is definitely not open to suggestions either. Were he to be working for me, I will have had to use those 'characteristics' of his to not hike his pay!

• Traffic was in no mood to catch my bus and throw it into a jam. The only time it thought of doing so was at Bhumkar Chowk (a junction rather close to my place of work) near Wakad. But then it gave up on that and denied my bus--and consequently, us--a chance to huff and puff about how much we have to go through to get to, and back from, work.

• Mother Nature has painted the town green. Her art is on display everywhere - along the road, down and up the hills that put their arms around my workplace, and even near the mounds of rubbish that automatically term themselves as dustbins. One particular stretch of land wore a lovely pleasing carpet of velvet green that Mother Nature let slip from her garden. I am not quite sure how long the carpet--or the land for that matter--will remain that way. Father Construction is forever running around in Pune with his tractors and cranes and God knows what else! It won't be long before he grabs the land and turns it into a sea of grey and white Lego blocks.

And that' all for now! We hope to be back with the evening news, which, if all goes well, will only tell you that I:

1. Finished work at 6:30 pm IST.
2. Reached home after an hour and a half
3. Sat at my computer
4. Dined
5. Bathed
6. Crashed into bed!

See you then! Buh-bye!