How luxury inspired me to write this incident.

“I wish I had….”

“I wish I had….” These words are a fragment of our colloquial language and regrets are a part of life. “Lavishness” is one cake which everyone loves to eat with a cherry of “laziness” added to it. Technology has pampered us to the infinite extent and I feel I am one of those who make complete use of it.

“Central Block” the most sophisticated and eminent building of my college. The gigantic structure is lionized for the ten storeys it possesses. It is 11am and concurrently is a Saturday afternoon. The time when my mind plans what I would do after 12pm. Saturdays are my favorite primarily because I have college just till 12pm and the secondary reason being the next day which is a day when I can plan my schedule independently.

In colleges you’d better get habituated to Continuous Internal Assessments (CIA s). Not even two weeks since college re-opened for the third semester.  I think I had a rough idea regarding the statistic of work that would increase in the second year. So we had to rush to the Sky View room which is obviously the utmost floor of Central Block.

“Lift ….lift ….lift ….” we uttered these words and rushed towards it and in twenty seconds the lift was overloaded. Of course, a few of them got out and obeyed the instructions provided by the machine and the security guard. However a few others thought they could take the risk of remaining there even though the lift said “Overloading”. And we were set to reach Sky View within an estimated time which is less than two minutes. Technology and its pros and cons! “The lift might stop”, said my classmate Siddharth.

“Bang” and Siddharth’s words turn into reality. Around twelve of us in the lift and were stuck. I suggested the fan be switched on which initially helped us reduce the effects of claustrophobia to some extent. Pavit who is also in my class was not as tensed as Harshita. I smiled and laughed; you must be thinking why would I smile in such a situation? That’s because I am a stern believer of the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine”. And also because the situation appeared like some Bollywood film’s scene to me. Deep within the gene of fear did affect me though.

All the possible buttons were pressed and we could hear the alarm ringing outside. We yelled “help..help” and Siddarth managed to open one door of the lift while the second one remained a target. Finally I could see two men who were standing on stools like the Indian Superhero “Krrish” and waiting to rescue us.

The claustrophobic experience came to an end and all of us predictably said “I wish…I had taken the staircase”.

I was panting when I reached the destination. I think it was the first time I utilized the staircase to reach the tenth floor. Well, the fear of lifts vanished within an hour as the hypnotizing cake “Lavishness” just evacuated it. Fear wiped out but the memory of the incident still remains buzzing in my mind.

©songbriti