Five Strangers.... A Car Pool Story- Part-1

The one which i wrote for Infosys Chandigarh on request of Voice Five Of Youth- Chandigarh Infosys (the charector VOYci)
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"Hey, whazzup??" I put my bag on my desk and in meantime greeted my team mate.
"You're again late VOYci," Amit replied.
"Really?" "Just look at the time."I checked my watch and wished if it was out of order. Amit looked at my sad face and smiled.
"Chill VOYci, we're quite used seeing you at 9.30 am. I think the day you come on time, our team may require the Infy doctor."
I smiled back and sat on my chair. Amit is a nice guy. I remember the number of times he helped me escape my manager's fury when he enquired about my whereabouts. Amit always finished the urgent work on time.. He would also tell the manager that I stayed back late in the office to complete my assignment.

I opened my Outlook to check on urgent mail. Fortunately there was no mail from my manager stating an issue with the project which I submitted the day before. I guess I did the work perfectly. I need a hike.

It's a regular Monday morning, when you are wondering how Sunday went past so soon. When I was replying to the last unread mail, Amit asked me to join him for tea. I told him that I'll join him in another ten minutes. I finished drafting the mail and pressed ALT+S. I locked my system and headed towards the cafeteria.

My Group was waiting for me.
"Hey VOYci, you're late again for tea" Rahul, my team mate said as I reached.
"What can I do? I was late getting to office and got stuck with some urgent work."
"It's usual for him now Rahul. We're used to it," Amit added.
"But why do you always come late. You live in Mohali, and it's hardly 18 kms from office. It should not take more than 20-25 minutes."
"I love to watch TV till late as I can't get up early morning unless I've something very urgent to do," I say in my defense.
"Whatever it is, I think I can do something for you," said Rahul as we finished our tea and we disbursed.

I came back to my seat and started working. After around an hour, Rahul pinged me.
"I was just wondering if you really want to come to office on time?" Rahul enquired.
"Yes, I do!" I said in my most convinced voice.
"I have a plan by which you can come on time," Rahul replied. That raises my curiosity.
"Car pool!" said Rahul.
"Car what…?" I thought Rahul had made some kind of a mistake. "Pool" in my dictionary was some kind of water body!! I had no idea if someone put his car at some bridge and I could come on time.

But he then went on to say that he would take more about it at the cafeteria around 12.30 during lunch. We met for lunch.

He told me the actual meaning of that word which he used, "Pool" is an English word which means 'An organization of people or resources that can be shared' and Car Pool means sharing a car with people who share the same route as you.

Some people who have vehicles/ don't have vehicles get together and come or go together in the same vehicle and that's how they share the expenses. Apart from sharing the expenses they do well for the society too by saving fuel and not spreading much pollution. At the same time it helps as a stress buster, in time management, social networking etc. I listened from one ear and it unfortunately went out from another. I never believed in theory but since this concept seemed quite interesting I agreed to Car Pool. Rahul's friends lived in the same place so he asked one of them to pick me from my home at sharp 7:50 am. He warned me to get ready on time.

To Be Continued…