Eustress

I walk into the building and go to the reception. The pretty lady guides me to the appropriate department in the basement. As I walk down, I feel nervous. This is a building where people are rarely cheerful, except on their way out, if there is one. I walk up to the waiting area. And that’s when I see Him.

Its difficult to miss Him. Its safe to say half a billion people will not ever miss him. Not while he is doing what he does best; make people ride the roller-coaster of Eustress (Euphoria+Stress). I look around the room. I have rarely seen a smile in such a room before. But today is different. He is there.

A round of cheers brings me back to Him. It is going to be a special day. He is inching towards a place no man has been before. Another round of applause follows. My eyes fall on the cash counter. Its not a place where people are patient, and long queues usually mean a lot of irritated rants. Today is different. The cash lady is looking at Him. And so are the five persons in the queue. I take my eyes off Him as I get summoned inside the chamber.

A short discussion later I am sent upstairs for some tests. I pass a man being rolled in a stretcher and hooked up to an IV unit. As they pass the hallway heading towards the elevator, the group stops. I can’t suppress a smile as I see the man on the stretcher craning his neck to look at Him and asking for the score. I hope he smiled through his pain. When I reach the new waiting room, the same scene greets me. Man with a broken arm, quibbling with his wife that he is not ready to leave the screen to get X-rayed until He reaches his destination. The radiologist himself is darting between patients to see Him practice his art. Its going to be anytime now that He will get the double ton.

After the tests, I head back to the previous waiting area. I am glad to see that in the short time that I was inside the austere room, I did not miss anything. I am holding the tests in my hand and I am nervous. Nervous about what the tests mean. Nervous about whether He will be able to go where no man has been before. And then the chamber beckons me again. In a few minutes, I come out. I rush to the screen, and thats when he scores that last run. I join in with the cheers. The stress is over and its euphoria that is flowing through my body. He has created history and the tests have gone well. I have nothing more to worry about for now. I see strangers hugging each other in joy. The sick and healthy are all smiling.

As I walk out of the building, I realize, to be where He is, is to lead a blessed life. To have the power to make the hearts of a billion people swell with joy, to make them forget about their pain and smile through it, is the closest a mortal can be to God. I entered the building nervous, but I come out with hope and happiness. And my joy is shared by all the poor souls who did not walk out of the building with me. I hope they do soon.

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