Much action and excitement in multistorey apartment complexes
Multistorey apartment complexes are a delicious microcosm of human life all over. There is much merriment and entertainment running alongside petty fights and baseless arguments.
I derive my daily dose of amusement by merely being a passive member of the community email and WhatsApp groups. The exchanges are sometimes so silly and funny that I double up with laughter inviting strange looks from the rest of my household. Watching the constant bickering about trivial matters gives me perspective. If people have time to rant about such tiny issues, I guess all is right with the world.
Then there are days when there is such wholesome entertainment that I wonder why anyone bothers spending on Netflix and other such subscriptions.
Recently, there was an urgent message in one of the WhatsApp groups. I say urgent because it was in all caps.
NEED URGENT HELP! MY WIFE’S SAREE FELL DOWN.
The person who sent the message was clearly in a hurry. He hit send before he provided any further information. Since I know the guy, I realized he lives in my block just a couple of floors above me. I think he is on the 5th floor. Let’s call him Vijay.
Naturally, I rushed to my balcony to check if I could look up and…well, I don’t know what I expected to see. Apparently, I was not alone in this line of thought.
I had just received the message and I was on my balcony in under a minute. But imagine my surprise to see a huge bunch of people gathered below our apartment block craning their necks and looking toward’s Vijay’s home. I could sense the excitement of the folks on the ground. How did they get here so fast? What did they expect to see?
Someone had just sent a message saying their wife’s saree had fallen down. Did these people expect to see the wife standing on her balcony without her saree? Look at how all our minds work! At the first hint of a sensational news item like this, we are off to check. I doubt any of us were good Samaritans trying to help find the fallen saree!
Not once did any of us pause to think if the saree fell with the poor wife in it 🤣🤣🤣 We humans are a terrible race 🤣🤣🤣
At the end of 2–3 minutes, the crowd’s enthusiasm began to wane. There was nothing to see.
Meanwhile, Vijay took time and posted a clearer update oblivious to the excitement his previous message had generated.
Hello
My wife had washed and hung a costly red Mysore Silk saree on our balcony. It seems to have slipped and fallen. Can the floors below please check your balcony and let us know if the saree is there? Appreciate the help.
Bah! That deflated all the excitement. I carried out a cursory check on my balcony, in case the garment had slithered in. Nope.
The crowds went home unsatiated. I moved on to other messages and emails craving more excitement.
As for Vijay’s wife — the innocent and fully-clad woman was probably weirded out by all the strange looks that must have come her way for the next day or two.
Anu Anniah Writes 
One thought