Arranged and Well
"Hey, have you seen my phone?" I heard the breathlessness in the voice and looked up. The vision was blurred but I already knew who it was. Mayank had always been this way, this time it's his phone, other times it's his key.
"Really, again?" One could sense the sedate tone, I was almost asleep when he barged in. I heard someone rushing outside, somewhere I knew it was him but why would I bother to take a look? After the long wait, I was finally back in College. I have only a few months left and the exhaustion of thinking about what to do was driving me insane. The only break I get is between classes, that's when I lay my head on my desk, close my eyes, and try to take a nap.?
"I had a class in this room before yours. I thought I might have left it here." His forehead had lines that explained more than that- he had no idea where the phone was.
"Why don't you keep it inside your bag when you know you lose it?" My drowsiness was fading as I got up from the chair, it creaked the way chalk does on a blackboard--shivers! That fastened the pace of my evaporating laziness. "Anyway, let me see in the back, you check the front ones."
He did as I told him to. While rumbling through the back benches I found many things, notes and pages with some formulas scribbled on them, notebooks that were probably forgotten by someone like Mayank, pen with a broken lid, but what caught my attention was a neatly folded chit. On top of it was written 'to do'.
I pulled out a chair, this time with caution so that I didn't hear that sickening sound again. While opening it Mayank shouted, "Did you find anything?" Shaking my head, I kept my eyes on the note. I wondered whose it was because I knew many and very few of them kept a list. It was odd for me. In the day and age of technology, when one can set alarms and maintain a checklist on phones easily, why would someone go to the extent of writing it on colorful paper just to leave it behind? I chuckled at that thought. Mayank seeing me grin approached me to see what was so amusing for me to halt the search and look at.?
"What's this? " He stretched his right arm from behind me, taking the note as if it was some kind of antiquity. While he read the contents in it, his head was restored to its original form but a small frown had placed itself amidst his eyebrows. "This is some kind of to-do list. That's rare. I guess I need to do something like this too, don't you think?" He leaned on the table in front of me while laughing in a way that said he was serious but at the same time knew his bounds. We left the note there and started skimming through the place to find his phone. Fortunately, it was there, under the desk that was beside the window.
"So Mayank, you said you'd like to make to-do lists or something. Isn't it better to just take care of your stuff?" Half sarcastically and half curiously, I put up the question. He is a smart one, maybe not in academics but he has everything sorted except his lack of sense of organisation.
"Honestly, I do want to do that and of course, I try to keep my stuff from getting lost." His face had turned serious and his eyes were determined. I was good at reading expressions and that's why I knew he needed some aid. Not financial or anything but in case of keeping up with himself.?
"You just need to pay more attention to your surroundings and belongings." I was walking beside him and we were going towards the canteen to eat something. I wouldn't want to be alone there, it seemed awkward so I was leading him there. Quite clever I am.?
"Not in that way. That, believe me, I've accepted as it is. But in the professional sense. I keep on mixing similar documents, even books sometimes. I know I have the material but I waste my time finding it because I didn't keep it the right way. Actually, what is the right way to keep something?!" He exclaimed, his voice moving from disappointment to frustration. I looked at him and couldn't control. I put my hand on his shoulder, his extremely tall and stout shoulder, and patted while hysterically laughing.?
"Don't laugh. It's not that easy" He was smiling in a rather embarrassed way. "Do you have any suggestions, senior?" He calls me senior because I don't like the trend of being called 'sir' and he doesn't want to call me by my name.
When we reached the canteen, crossing the bustling streets inside the campus for the classes just finished, I went up to the counter to order two servings of pasta. While waiting it caught my eye how well they had put up the snacks stall, the shelves were large and spacious and I don't know why it struck my mind that our whole life is that way - large and spacious - and yet we keep it messed up and hence it becomes exhausting. To sort it out everyone needs to arrange things properly. It seemed like the whole Universe was telling me to focus on it; first Mayank's carelessness and concern, that to-do list, and then this exquisite display of perfectly arranged snack items.
"Hey, I've placed the order. So, you were asking me what you should do, right? See that snack counter, how nicely it's organized, don't you think?"
"Of course, it's convenient that way and presentable too. But what's your point?" He was genuinely confused, I looked at him and his eyes were big and sparkly (maybe I'm exaggerating, or am I? Aren't the eyes sparkly all the time?).?
"Mayank, you need that. You need to get a hold of your things, what to do, what's priority, what not to do, what to do to achieve the task, what'll be convenient, you know, like these snacks. One shelf is filled with Lays, separated by flavours and price. Similarly, you need to arrange your work in folders - important work, assignment material, personal documents, etcetera… "