MARRIAGE DAY
That Afternoon
Work is a never-ending process.
The more you think that you have done enough, is when it
starts to creep on you. But the question is, how much should you really do? And
would it be worth it?
And so, if the idea of the work done is proportional to the
idea of no backlogs or seemingly nothing to follow up on, after one activity is
completed; then would it be called incomplete if we add on to the activity or
update the task altogether?
My supervisor disagrees with me on this but considering the
same person believing in the art of the binary
life; it is hard to grasp on the disagreement between us.
“Everything
in life is either zero or one” is what he said once.
Office can be tedious at times; new deadlines with change in
business plans can upset anyone on any given date. To be fair, business people
upstairs are not the comrades of Satan, they are humans too! With the dynamics
of the world changing with every second, it gets very hard to keep up with these
ever-changing trends, and those are the poor souls who have to come up with
ideas and countermeasures to keep the business relevant and competitive.
But well, hey, everyone has their problems and we face it
head-on. The developers, working and slogging hours, taking extended work
hours, to get a feature completed, sometimes also gets completely taken aback
and left in shambles when it comes to their realization that that feature is no
longer needed as the business focus has changed and we need a new one to look
into.
The binary line is zero here perhaps!
Perhaps the world is conspiring against them. For them, the
devils don’t come from the hell beneath, but from the level upstairs.
Back in the café, while sipping my afternoon chocolate milkshake,
I canvassed the area close to the glass wall, where the developers made a
comical retreat back to their desks, coming back from a meeting perhaps. Felt
like they received some updates that they were not happy about; some major
changes? Or forecast of extended work hours to scrape though building a product?
No clue while sitting here. I sipped in the milkshake some
more to think of who they were though. It is very weird that I don’t even know
what they work on or which team they belong to, even though we work on the same
floor!
Janice from the
café added some chocolate in the usual milkshake today, and she didn’t charge
me extra!
She has been at the heart of the café for five years now,
cheering up associates with those wonderful cups of coffee and engaging with
them in a tone that will destress any situation. There were discussions among
the facility team to have a coffee and vending machine instead of the café; but
upon noticing the impact that she had on the well being of the associates that
came to her joint, they decided to drop the idea.
I guess, those developers near the glass wall did not have
any inclination towards coffee.
I was elated with her hospitality when she offered the
chocolate in the milkshake. I never preferred the chocolate milkshake as it was
costly and I never fathomed why would an innocent coffee mixed with milk with
cost so much than a simple milkshake. Now that I have tasted it, I presume why
is it so.
“This is for
your career anniversary today” is what she said when she handed over
me the milkshake.
I smiled. But felt embarrassed as well, as she remembers the
date but no one in office do! (as for their
defence, I don’t know many of them as well)
“You know
my friend is getting married today” I told Janice adding “It’s his anniversary as well”
Janice replies(smiling): “Well,
good for him”
“Yeah…(pause)…yeah” I said
“So why are
you here today?” Janice enquires.
“Excuse me?” I
retorted as I was taken aback by the question. Perhaps I did not expect that.
In fact, it came out of nowhere.
“I mean,
shouldn’t you be in your friends’ marriage today?” said
Janice as she tried to reframe her sentence.
Inception, the movie, has shown us that an idea can be planted
deep inside a subconscious mind and that idea when seeded, it grows in a tree
of such magnitude that it tends to destroy the sanctorum of stability and
sanity.
Yes, the question even reframed, caught me off-guard and kept
me thinking. Of all the seemingly meaningless
conversations she had till date, this one has hit the right but unwanted note.
Yes, shouldn’t I be really attending the marriage by now,
instead of being here?
I recall that I have work to do, deadlines to take care of.
The poor souls from upstairs are counting on us to deliver the product that
they can sell in the market with full vigour.
So why am I in doubt? The product has already been running in
stable condition since early this week, a week before the deadline. So, isn’t
the work being done already?
Perhaps I am here to ensure the last-minute safety check. No
one wants a zero at the end anyway.
The binary life sucks!
I need variation in my life, a life of full of diversity with
tons of adventures; and certainly today, I want to be free, considering that today
is special; and since almost half of the day is washed away already, there is
very less time left to rejoice.
Suddenly a plan came into my mind and I acted on it promptly.
Though there was nothing new or grand about this plan, but just that it works
every time.
I took out my phone to call a number and then saw a message to
pop up on my screen. A message from the airline informing a delay in the flight
timing.
“Dear 6E customer,
due to air traffic congestion at airport, flight on 17 Jan is
delayed and your revised departure time is 0125 hrs”
Wow! Just wow!
I hung my head down for some time looking at the message and
then went on to call the number I intended to at first.
The number rang for some time and then a voice of a man from
the other side spoke in a soft tone.
“Good
Afternoon. I am Stan from
Barbeque Nation; how can I help you?”
“Hello,
Good Afternoon, I called to book a table for tonight” I replied.
“Sure sir,
let me check” replied Stan as he took a brisk pause and then continued
“Yes sir,
we have eight thirty and nine thirty slots available for tonight. Which time would
you like to choose?” said Stan.
“Eight
thirty would be perfect” as I replied
instantly.
“Ok sir, please
may I know your name and phone number, to book the slot?” asked
Stan.
It is a general practise for the restaurants to ask for
personal information for booking. You can also provide your email address to
get regular updates or notifications on their various offerings over time, if
you opt for it that is. For me, I have become a regular customer for some time
now. I gave Stan the information that he as seeking for, upon which he replied
“Glad to
have you back sir. The usual?”
“Yes, the
usual please!”
I disconnected the call and tried to surf through Facebook
for some time. Upon checking my friend’s timeline, I found several tags with
lovely pictures of the preparations to marriage.
Well someone looks handsome! Ha!
Looking at those pics made me smile. The mild bulge in his
stomach was quite apparent. Perhaps, he hit gym a bit late. But I felt
happiness in my heart.
When someone’s else’s happiness gives you joy in your heart;
you know the value of those people in your life.
While checking some more pictures of the preparation, I
remembered one important thing. It’s more like I forgot this crucial set of
information. Toggling screens in a jiffy, I typed frantically. There was no
need to hurry but it felt that if in that moment I didn’t act sooner; I might
forget it altogether.
I sent it out anyway, feeling a bit stupid as it panned out
in the end.
“Hey, where
would you be hosting the reception anyway?”
***
The story continues!
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