Short Story #007 : One Day in the Life of an Office Worker

One Day in the Life of an Office Worker

 

Early Morning

I landed my first job at the start of two thousand and twenty. That’s four years after I graduated college.

Right after college I took time off to finish writing a novel. Strange choice to make you may wonder but it was a life or death thing. I asked myself a question. What would I regret not doing the most if I chanced to die tomorrow? The answer that bubbled up from the depths of my soul was straightforward. It was this: I would regret never having written a novel.

The novel took three years to write and remains unpublished as of today, which is bit of a waste of three years’ labour but c’est la vie.

Three months ago I met with an accident on Amherst Street. I was hit by a car and thrown off ten feet. In hospital till a couple of weeks ago with a few broken bones it’s taken me a while to recover.  

Today is my first day back to work.

I’m excited to get back. Without meaningful work the mind rots and I was experiencing this mental decay firsthand.

I take the bus to work. To get to the nearest bus stop I must take an auto rickshaw. But before that I must do a whole host of things. I’ll catch you up.

I wake up around six thirty. The first thing I do as soon as I get out of bed is make lunch. Lunch is a rice dish with two sides added on. It takes me about an hour to make. Aftermaking lunch I bathe, make and consume breakfast, dress, get ready, grab the keys and leave the house.

The first few minutes of my day aren’t spent in serenity. I envy those who have the luxury of waking up to a slow-paced lifestyle.

While I’m in the auto rickshaw to the bus stop I leave my mind completely blank. I think of nothing and try not to mull. It is the only moment of the day I get to leave my mind vacant and I relish it. I do this because I know the rest of the day involves strenuous work. It’s vital to make some scheduled time for zoning out.

When I reach the last stop I get out and pay the fare. The fare has been hiked because of social distancing, which is, strangely something I like because there are fewer people outside.

I quite like this year except for the morbid death toll. It’s the Universe’s way of reminding us of the really important things in life.

It takes me about fifteen minutes of waiting before I get on the right bus. Once on the bus I have the usual niggling worries. Have I got enough change on me? Did I hear the conductor right? Is this really the right bus? All these are useless obsessive little thoughts, each of them the product of a fretful mind, and I go through them reflexively.

When I’ve paid my fare I can relax with the full assurance that the bus will go where it says it will go and I have on me the exact change.

I plug my earphones into my phone and put the speakers in my ear. Now isn’t the time to think. Now is the time to listen to music, my closest companion on days like this. Nobody on the bus speaks to anybody else. We’re all strangers here. And I like things to be that way. I’m not complaining.

The bus drops me off at my destination and a ten minute walk will lead me to the building my office is housed in. I turn off my music and begin to walk. The day is bright and sunny. Few rainclouds spot the horizon. Google predicts an afternoon downpour. This is good news. Give me anything but rain in the morning.

The guard at the gate checks my ID and allows me to pass. Another security guard takes my temperature on the thermal thermometer and sprays sanitizer on my hands. I am now qualified to enter.

I enter the imposing building through the automatic glass gates. Now I must wait at a line before I’m allowed to board one of the elevators. Only six people at a time are allowed on. These are troubled times, still we must work.

I board the elevator.

I wait in the elevator along with five others till the number counter turns seven. That’s my destination.

I’ve reached work twenty minutes before scheduled time.

Coffee Break

Send texts to everybody at home saying I’ve reached.

I sign into office through the biometric, go to my desk and settle in. I turn on the computer, log in, fill my bottle of water and visit the loo.

Now I’m ready to begin work.

I haven’t told you what I do. I’m a content writer. I write copy for websites. Not my dream job but given my paltry qualifications this is the best I can hope for. Got to work. Bye.

I work till eleven then I take a break for coffee.

I’ve got to finish writing three thousand words in a day. That’s my quota. I take my coffee in the office cafeteria. Lata takes her coffee break with me. She’s my closest friend here.

I make two instant coffees using milk powder and hot water.

“Are you better now?” Lata asks.

“Yes,” I say, “How’s work been?”

“The usual,” she says, “Look here.”

She shows me her a picture of her dog on her cellphone. He’s the cutest Labrador puppy you’ve ever met.

We spend some time cooing over him.

Ten minutes are up. Back to the grind.

Lunch Break

Lunch break is at 1:30. I eat my packed meal in the cafeteria with Lata. We’re joined by the others and everyone enquiries after my health.

I make polite responses. Be friendly but don’t make too many friends—that’s my motto. It’s spared me the latest office gossip and meaningless conversations.

After lunch Lata goes downstairs for a smoke and I waste the minutes looking out of the cafeteria window. My office overlooks a large lake. The lake is owned by the state fisheries department and makes for a pleasant view.

It’s raining outside. Gust after gust of wind drives the monsoon rain over the lake. Little waves break out on the surface. Coconut and date trees sway in the wind and I enjoy the beautiful setting.

It looks almost like the backwaters of Kerala.

The best things in life are for free. I can assure you that.

It may cost to go to the beach but the sea breeze is for free. Gritty sand on your toes. Sand through your fingers. Salty wind in the air. Tiny seashells on the beach. I remember my first trip to Kanyakumari. I was enthralled. The waves on the lake outside remind me of the ocean. I am transported to and fro at the blink of an eyelid.

There’s twenty five minutes to go before my allotted time runs out. I call my sister. We talk about the usual things. Did you eat? What did you eat? What did you do all morning? Did you talk to Mom?

She says she’s got to get back to work so I disconnect the call.

Both of us hate eating our lunch alone. That’s why we make it a point to call each other during lunch.

I get carried away by my memories of ocean breeze and frothy sea water. What I wouldn’t give to live by the sea! It takes money to fulfill my dream. That’s why I have a job. But that isn’t even the first of the many dreams I have.

Dreams. They won’t let you sleep once they’ve got a hold on you and once they’ve been achieved the high you get doesn’t really last for long. Before long that old hankering to be doing something catches up with you again and you can’t rest in peace.

I have few dreams. I want to own and build a garden. I want to own and sail my own yacht. I want a house on top of a hill. I want to enjoy Nature every day of my life.

Why did I say the best things in life are free? I spoke without thinking.

I look down from my seventh floor eyrie. I can see couples and groups of friends enjoying their lunch break. I envy them. I envy those who possess the talent of making friends easily. I have a rough time socializing, and yet I dream of finding love and having a group of friends to share life’s conundrums with.

As a kid I used to think a lot. I still do, only now I know the answers. Man was created to worship God. And those who worship him find that this life isn’t the end, there is everlasting life promised for those who believe in Him.

I wonder what it’s like to live forever. Strangely I’d have to die to find out.

Tea Break

4:30 pm is tea break. I’m done with today’s quota of work. Just got to kill time till it is time to leave. Lata asks me a deep question. Why do I believe the worship of God is all there is to life?

I respond slowly. The question given has two sub questions concealed in it. One, what is worship? Two, is that all there is to life?

Worship, to my thinking is more than singing songs of praise or the uttering of praises in tongues.

Worship is an agreement to live.

Wouldn’t it be a strange world if we, the created, refused to live? What if we refused God’s commandment to be fruitful and multiply? What if we refused to subdue the Earth? What if we, collectively as a race, refused to propagate? By living, by being fruitful and multiplying, and by subduing the earth we’re carrying out our part of the agreement. And by blessing our efforts at life God is carrying out his side of the agreement.

It would be a strange world if everyone refused to live. It would be a world without activity, without song, music, or dance, a world where everyone simply stayed put and never gave in to their passions. It would be a terrible act of defiance.

Life is a contract sheet written out by God to man. And man’s agreement to live is his signature on the dotted line.

Is that all there is to life?

Yes.

That is life.

Worship is the state of living well.

On the Road Back Home

I watch movie trailers on the way back home. I haven’t got the time to watch movies so I stick to watching the trailers.

I rub my neck and think of what it means to be alive.

I had a friend who committed suicide. In her suicide note she wrote that she couldn’t see the point of carrying on anymore because Life held no apparent meaning for her.

She wasn’t angry at anyone, or jilted in love, or anything. She just used to think a lot and she came to the conclusion that Life made no sense in and of itself. She blamed the inherent meaninglessness of Life as the root cause of her long battle with depression.

I was one of the last people she called before she died. She gave me no clue into her state of mind and at that time I hadn’t thought out my theory of worship, so our conversation had been of no use to her.

It shameful but it took a story like hers to get me seriously thinking about the importance of Life. We aren’t here to simply eat, drink, and be merry.

I put my friend out of my thoughts.

My stop is almost here.  

I pay the bus fare and get off. The day has been an uneventful one. It’s the kind of day I like. 

I retrace my way back home.