One fine day, when one expects everything to follow will be just as fine, i found myself in hell. Whether i died under natural or mysterious or peculiar circumstances, is an answer for a question i am least bothered about. I am sure the doctors on the earth above are doing what they are paid for. Then i noticed that I had my night clothes on, that answers the question and thus ends the nascent investigation for finding the cause of my end. Wondering if i would have to die a second time on witnessing the copious devilry of hell, i moved on to explore. Corpulent giants, fire-breathing skulls, hooded demons were the ingredients of my notion of hell. But apparently, it didn't look that inhumane after all. There in front of me, obstructing my vista , was the fiefdom of the devil, fenced by 15-foot long fortified walls. A huge gate made the fortified walls' end's meet behind which, i mused, should lay the manifestations of the vicious crimes committed in my lifetime. On getting close quarters to the gate, It opened on its own accord. And lo! Sobeit my fears of getting trampled, mauled, tossed into pits further below by the beasts, were rudely shaken off by the nauseous sound of the clunking and beeping machines, those ubiquitous computers. Sobeit the land of the devil, who called himself the The god of Good Times, was segmented into cubicles which housed its inhabitants, each looking at the blue screens, the black screens, the multiple screens,. Sobeit, I have returned to my sedentary job of the plain old days. If this is hell and if this is what I have to do, its not going to be sobeit. The devil is going to have many questions to answer. The devil, the engineer of the engineers was seated in his cubicle and was not even remotely grotesque from any angle. I went straight ahead to talk to him, to plead for a bailout from this horrible place. This is getting too bad to be untrue.

Devil:(On meeting me)Welcome to the..
Me: Cut the crap, bozo.(The line that cost me my job back on earth.)
Devil: What enrages you, my son?
Me: Why? Why Me? Why Again? Havent i gone through all this on earth itself? Dont I deserve a better comeuppance?
Devil: So what makes you uncomfortable? Havent years of monotony made you non-chalant to the proceedings of the software industry?
Me: (By now, i figured out that the aural vibrations between us were completely discordant. So i plan for an escape route) Grant me a wish. Then i'll do whatever you say.(As if i had a choice to do something else!)
Devil: So be it. But first you must convince me that you deserve it.
Me: Thats easy. Employing the deepest gloom to the gravity of my tone, I said "My Cab... My Cab used to arrive at 7:15 A.M. At the unholy hours when sun was blanketed by dark clouds, i had to wake up. At a time when people were cuddled under bed wraps like tortoises in their shells, i had to dress up. At a time when..

The devil let out a sigh of shock that forced all the birds around to abandon their perches. At once, the devil raised his hand and the birds froze in time and space. I have seen this only happen in old tamil movies, when after every tragic incident the birds and the waves froze in time. Whatsoever it might be, the god of good times acknowledged my dire straits and granted my wish.

The goddamned soporific bangalore weather..