Enna satham indha neram...

A few years ago, I was working as an intern in a company for my final year project. Appo dhan naan first time Bangalore-la kaal eduthu vachu, parents vittu thaniya stay panni, mobile vangi..so it was a lot of first time things.

Nanga erkaneve academics-kaga oru threat-laye constant-a irupoma, thanks to my Mom threatening me every semester that if I don't score 80 and above, she wont pay the next sem fee, so vizhundu vizhundu project-kaga velai senjindhen. Podha kuraiku, indha company-la Dallas HQ-lerndhu thaane thedi vandha project vera, and I was dreaming of joining the company too. So irukara arva kolarellam serndhu night out ellam panni work pannindhen.

On one such night, I was so seriously working on my project, and a few other colleagues were with me. Avanga ellam regulars, unlike me, so avanga avanga office velaiya parthutrundhanga. Appo thideernu *scratch scratch*-nu oru satham. Normally engaloda office-la windows kitta sila pura koodu irukum, adhudhan-nu vittuten. But then it sounded so different from the normal sound of the doves, and then I realized that it was the sound of a mouse or rat scratching on something. Adhuvum en desk-lerndhe andha sound!! Ada kadavule, en desk-la naan irukardhu pathadhu-nu oru desk partner veraya-nu ore tension enaku. What if it comes and bites my foot, or damages something when I am not around? Seri ok, naan irukumpodhu mattum enna, adhai partha odi dhan poga poren-nradhu vera vishayam.

This sound continued, and soon en colleagues-kum andha sound kettu they came over to my desk. Enna idhu repeated-a satham kekkudhu, evalo eli iruku-nu yosanai engaluku. And since we all leave our official papers at the desk, we were all the more worried. The other colleagues were freshers from college, so not forgetting our talents honed at college, desk mela ellam eri we started searching for the rat(s). Cube-kum wall-kum nadula iruka gap-la, desk adi-la...kittathatta veerappana TN and KA police thedina range-ku thedu thedu-nu theda arambichom.

Enga cube-la nadakkara excitement parthu, pakkathu cube-lerndhu ellam makkal vara arambichuttanga. We told them that there are rats in the office, eniku edhu gaali aaga pogudho-nellam pulambittu, we were continuing our search operations. Suthama onnum kidaikkala, but by now the sounds had stopped. Seri ok, night eli ellam thoonga poirukum poliruku, disturb panna vendam appadinu we suspended the operations, and decided that we'll report it to the facilities the following morning."Ennangada idhu, MNC-nranga, facilities ellam super-nranga, oru office-a ozhunga vachikka mattenranga?!"-nu oru nyayamana kobathoda kaalaila puratchi pannanum idhuku-nu decision eduthuttu we resumed work.

Idhu mudinjappuram the following morning, I took out my mobile and called up my friend whose call I had apparently missed in this thedal koothu. 'Sorry yaar, inga oru eliya thedindhom, and in that excitement, I hadn't taken out my mobile from my bag, so un call-a miss panten last night adikaradhu theriyama'-nu vazhinjappuram, my friend said she'd call me back a couple of minutes later as she was busy with something.

Oru rendu nimisham kazhichu...a familiar sound emerged from my mobile which was set to vibration mode in an experimentation spree - *scratch scratch*..

(..and my colleagues ennai anniyan range-ku parkka...the rest is history..)