Thursday, December 23, 2010

With sheets, stones, and air

Well-wisher.

The word has many connotations and implications as well as ramifications. Looking out for others, caring about what happens to them, and so on. Being unable to watch them self-destruct. Feeling the need to step to stay the sometimes inevitable end.

But then people being the way they are aren't always wont to play along. Denying help, ignoring advice, turning a deaf ear to well-meaning arguments are things that seem to come rather naturally to the majority.

Well-wishers. Probably the biggest blessing and the greatest curse at the same time.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Regarding things physical and abstract

Life doesn't run out of surprises quickly.

A turn of events. Incidents can turn out interesting in more ways than one. No, not just the actual happenings themselves. A lot can happen from a few things, other than the way everything turned out. What is taken away from the episode can matter much, much more than the event itself.

A vacation. A simple holiday. A break from work, intended to release oneself from the rigours and routine. Freedom from the tension of answering a hundred mails daily or from having to worry about your cellphone ringing every other minute. Freedom from staring at a computer screen for the better part of the day. Freedom from nagging colleagues who don't know the first thing about their work. Freedom from superiors always asking for your assignments yesterday. Freedom from having to wake up on time for the bus that insists on observing Murphy's law and therefore always beats you to the office, come hell or high water. Freedom from cold food and machine coffee.

Or just a glimpse of things you are missing out on? Family. Friends. A social life. Someone to receive you at the door. Peace of mind. Not having to worry every second about watching your health because there are people to watch over you if you did fall ill.

How can something that is supposed to be therapeutic turn into something bordering on traumatic?

Sunday, April 26, 2009

On the importance of rooms and roofs

A roof above our heads is what we all want and require. It is a symbol. Of safety. Of stability also to some for when a certain roof is above your head for a lengthy period of time, it becomes something more.

So when it must be replaced by another, it can be more painful for some and less painful for others depending on the level of attachment. A solitary occupant living in a single room for a little over a year finds it not too hard and not too easy if the room hasn't been all it promised to be. Hard because it was the sole solace in the big city. And yet, it could have been so much better.

A new place that has a lot more space can actually be a bit unnerving at times. Because all that space seems so empty. Oh of course there are two beds now when earlier there was only one and there are stools and chairs and all the other things used to fill up spaces but to what end? There is still only one solitary occupant and that will never change.

While being the lone resident between the four walls means having your own space, it definitely is not a bed of roses.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Of softboards, markers and staplers

Something feels weird. Something not quite right. This is not the matrix so it is probably just normal paranoia. And yet it is not.

What is it then? Is the chair not right? Is the AC not quite the correct temperature? Are the people all wrong?

Bingo!

It appears that there is an unwritten rule to come into office or work in general with a facade fully in place that will not be taken off until one leaves. A mask that will smile at every person who sits in the general vicinity even though there is no real emotion in the action. A voice that will laugh loudly at the most idiotic jokes. An action that indicates friendship although it has a different meaning depending on which side of it one is. Something is definitely missing in this picture. And it just so happens to be people.

Perhaps the company's terminology of "resources" for employees is not so far off after all.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Something to ponder

"The station for the fatafat generation."

"Your orders served in 30 mins only."

"Faster than anyone else."

Sounds familiar? You would have definitely heard these slogans or something like them in day to day life. "Life in the fast lane" is no longer just a hit song by the Eagles, it's an extremely relevant truth about the current state of affairs we live in. A time where it is expected to get work of 28 hours in 24 hours or less. Where everything is wanted double time, yesterday in fact.

Slow down. Maybe you will find there is more to life than you knew or even realised.