Office will never be fun again!

 This picture was clicked on 21st Feb 2020 just before we stopped going to office after the pandemic started gobbling our lives.

I captioned this picture as Reason#101  to be happy@Office. After clicking this picture, I told you I will never sit beside you in the next photograph as it makes me look darker than what I am.

It seems you took it seriously!

Corona was just in the news then and we were still trying out take-aways from different new restaurants during office lunch. 

Do you remember, that afternoon we even planned for a side-business of opening a food stall during office lunch hours?

We never met before 2017. From 2017 since the last day when we went to office, there were seldom any day when we have not gone for lunch/evening tea together.

We sat in the same cubicle for all these years. Spending 8 hours a day with a person makes him/her a habit, isn't it?

When people were writing messages about you, I too started writing..but I couldnot describe our association in just few words!

You were not just a colleague or a good friend but had become a habit of mine. A habit which builds home inside you silently and you remain totally unaware of it.

Immediately after dropping my bag at office, my first morning cup of tea was always with her. 

Both of us used to reach office a bit early than others, credit goes to the pre-school timing of my son.

Her regular fixed order was a cup of Green tea with no sugar and I would try different listed beverages in the menu.

During these breaks we discussed our initial days at IBM which feels like an era ago now.

We discussed our courtships, marriages, our erred makeups on our D-day, the wrong selection of the Benarasi Saree or the beautician on our marriage days,our wardrobes  and count of sarees which remained untouched till date, Adding to it the office gossips but our favorite topic would be the little monkeys at our home. 

We would discuss about our magnetic power to which our kids would always stick and hang around us rather than their fathers. 

We thought of many plans to how to run away from the responsibility of making them sit for studies. I never knew she would take it seriously.

Believe me or not, Dear Friend, we will miss you in every simple moment of our life.

The post-lunch walk surrounding the office, the umpteen birthday parties of the team members during all these years and arranging it together, we had a great time together, getting ready for the evening parties  or the marriage parties of the teammates in the office washroom. The echo of your giggles when we applied nail-polish on Women's day and clicked pictures of it are fresh in my ears, your laughter will always be reverberated within us and your smile will be etched in our heart forever.

Criticizing her own cooking in all new ways everyday and making us laugh was an art my friend has mastered. She was the first one to taste my cookies which I used to take along to office.

For long we four were planning for bunking office for a girls day-out at my place but the pandemic didn't let it happen too.

When we stopped going office, she would call me to say I will not like your pictures of the sweets/chocolates in FB unless I get to taste them.

But she didn't keep her promise.

I never knew you are so important for me that you will make me think about you every moment. 

Last few days were too restless. Every night, sleep was obstructed by the fear in the heart and the tears in our eyes.

I started believing in the things I never believed! Astrology was one of them, Every moment, every task were centered about you just praying for your recovery. 

You have put a full stop to all our prayers and hopes! 

I can't accept that I will never see you again, Every time I close my eyes, all the memories goes one after one in a flash.

This is not an obituary my friend, this is what my heart is screaming loudly now.

Office will never be fun again! without you!