I heard the flies first. They were buzzing around my face. It was strange. Comical, in fact. There, in a dream about Alpine valleys and orchids, I suddenly hear flies. Instinctively, I waved my hand to drive off the flies. But they were back a few minutes later again. Was it few minutes or few seconds? Couldn’t say. I became frustrated after the first few wave offs. The Alpine valleys in my dreams weren’t looking so promising anymore.
I opened one eye. Dark and dingy room. I was on the floor. Bare back. My shirt was missing. As in, I didn’t wear it. I quickly raised myself on an elbow. What the hell? Where was I? What had happened? A minute passed as I took in my surroundings. Okay, it was my office. But why was I on the floor? Did someone conk me out?
Evidently no. Because I was still having a nice non paining head on my shoulders. The only throb was from a crick that resulted from sleeping on the hard floor without a pillow. But groggy I was. As if, someone had given quite a few pills for slumber and I didn’t have a chance. Knock out it was. I turned my head towards the window that looked out at the sky. Wow! It was as if the sun had never risen at all. Dark outside. I tried to remember when was it that I had conked off.
It slowly came back to me. Twenty-eight hours work on the trot on a project that was completed at four in the morning. Deciding not to venture out on the Pune streets in my completely exhausted state. Drinking a whole lot of water after having a cold vada pav. Leaving the vada pav wrapper on the table itself and lying back in the chair to go to sleep.
An hour later. Felt grimy in the shirt that was on me. Removed it. Looked at the floor. Inviting. Very pleased to move myself from the chair to the large expanse of the carpeted floor. Ditched shirt in the chair. Rather, on the knob behind the chair. Spread myself completely. Entire torso behind the office table and so probably no one had ventured into the darkened office throughout the day to even check where the hell the man was. They had actually thought that I had gone home and was resting in my own bed.
Whoa! That was massive. I had never done that kind of a thing. Ever. Before. Why, I was such a law abiding citizen that I did not piss on walls or throw plastic bags out of the car on the expressway. And then this. Gross misconduct. Utilising office floor for other things than walking. Tried to remember if there was anything in the HR rules and regulations about it. Not that I remembered. I remembered barely anything in that shape.
I needed a bath or at least a wash. I had slept through a working day and my watch told me it was 7.25 pm in the evening. Must have slept around 14 hours straight. So what was to be done? I had a hand towel in my drawer. Fished that out. Wore my shirt. Tucked it in. Got out of my office. Slinked along the corridor to the washroom. One basin. Lit up the sole bulb. Opened my shirt. Gazed at the horror in the mirror. Red eyes. Hair in disarray. Like Shakti Kapoor on a bad day. I started watering myself. Face. Shoulders. Arms. Pits. Everything. Everywhere. Water would bring me back. Three minutes of watering. Felt like a human. The hand towel transformed into a soggy mess as I wiped. My belt and trouser front were soggy but that was fine. They would dry out in no time. Wore my shirt again. Combed my wet hair with my fingers.
Home wasn’t far off. That was the saving grace. I could have just walked it for 10 minutes. But I chose a passing auto. Arrived at my door. Patted my pockets.
Oh no! The keys.
They say don’t overwork. Helps no one. Quality goes down at work. Personal life goes for a six. Especially, a trudge back to office for a key at eight in the night. And another trudge back at eight thirty. Sad!
- Beta MBA nahin kiya? - November 23, 2016
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- Indraneel Majumdar: Roop Tera Mastana - November 8, 2016
