Thathasthu (Or, May what you say come true)

It was a heavy lunch and I and my colleague squeezed into the already over-crowded lift to go to our 7th floor office.

I hoped that the "over-loaded" alarm in the elevator will not go off.  Fortunately it did not, and to make small conversation I looked at my team mate and said loudly so that everyone in the lift could hear : "Have you ever used the stairs to climb up 7 floors?".  I basically wanted to start an interesting conversation on why young people (i.e. all the others in the lift) should use the stairs, rather than squeeze into crowded elevators.

Nobody reacted.  Everybody in the lift had a most disinterested expression.  It was clear that climbing stairs was not an interesting topic for discussion.

The lift reached the 2nd floor and then suddenly stopped.  A couple of people got off thinking it was because the lift was over-loaded.  But no luck - it refused to go up any further.  It was clear that there was something wrong with the lift, and the only option now is the stairs.

"Thathasthu - you got your wish to make us climb the stairs" said a morose looking guy to me. Poor chap, he had to get to the 10th floor.

This morose guy is unlikely to ever enter a lift if he sees me in it.