Brain Rusting

After finishing up with college life what i call a roller coaster ride from childhood to youthful tears to an adult ,I took up a profession which is no better than separating chaff from rice.Work life as they call it isnt easy for a few reasons.You dont have anyone around to whom you could say "Abbe chup baith yaar,jhila mat",you wont have anyone around who would say "Comeon dude,cheer up.It happens".The monotonous regime your body gets programmed to can sometimes be so unsettling that you wish you had gone back to those good old days,you wish you could experience those tender infatuations towards random people,where there are grudges,sweet revenges,laughing converstaions that liberate your heart.

But like they say Life moves on..This too shall pass..One thing is for sure you learn to cope up with the inertia you had with your past.The inertia of not making new friends.The inertia of not finding people like minded.The inertia with people not sharing your similar taste of music,sense of humour.Soon you find yourself cracking geeky jokes to which you would have puked before.Am sorry to sound so brutal.

If you look at a typical four turned six seater cubicle of a software company for which i work for and want to know the kind of people,let me give you a sneak peak.

The fllirt:This chap gives you that flirty look when you step in on the first day.Given enough freedom he would say"Hey babe wanna join for coffee?".That word babe hammers a nerve right there,right away.You are reminded of Avril Lavigne's song "You try to be cool, you look like a fool to me". There are again two classes of people in this.Flirty dude,flirty uncle.Flirty uncle is moody.He ends up being atleast 3 levels above you, has his manager over his ass most of the times.Flirting is just a stress buster for him.

The geek:This dude gives you a cold emotionless stare from his specs.Starts off with his character analysis.Analyses for 3 seconds and gets back to coding.If by mistake you ask him "Can i pull that chair next to you(which was meant for his geek friend)" trust me you would get to listen to the freakiest,creepiest answer.It goes on like "Actually Mr Padmanabhan is coming over to have an appraisal talk with me.He would be here for half an hour.The chair is free after that.Meanwhile you can pull one from the next cubicle".You need to tell him you are going to crack a joke so that you could orient his brain properly and he understands it.

The Bootlicker: Call him for any doubts.If you dont get the answer,your query atleast escalates to the higher level.Thanks to him.He can coax the PM into anything with the ease of a melting cube of butter.The manager craves for such ego massaging i tell you.

The chatmaniac: This buddy starts his day with a pat on your shoulder."Yo man whats up.You look sad today.Everything ok?" and gets off with his business.Any point of time you look at his screen by mistake you can find a colourful collage of all the possible smileys.A different class of flirt,not a flirt exactly,a gayish flirt you can say.

The harmless:Having met the four boring people above,you are left with Mr harmless.He comes in,gets coffee,has a formally informal converstation with you.Gives you that "personal" space.Gets off his chair now and then..asks you "so hows it going with the project,did you have a meeting with PM"(much better i say).So the life revolves around you and the harmless.You begin and end your day with harmless.Its indeed harmless.

Having spent close to one year at work place,is this the way you are supposed to feel?I really dont know.I still miss the bygone days.Miss those days when stress,late working,were so much fun with certain people around.Indeed its another learning experience.Its the survival of the fittest afterall.