Monday Blues

There is an eerie sensation that grips me as I step into my cubicle on a Monday morning. My restive mind spurs a mélange of worries – be it facing the boss’s tirade for not having completed the previous week’s urgent deliverable, or be it planning how to duck the next deliverable likely to be handed to you (URGENT!!! Again!). I somehow escape the invectives in the morning call (why does it have to be 9 AM IST?) and scamper off for breakfast before an ominous sign pops up again. The nice, long walk to the cafeteria yields me a sumptuous idli sambhar (why are you giggling? I am serious when I say sumptuous, ain’t I?), and ah yes, also one cutting Bournvita. I try negotiating for a larger quantity, but I am rendered a disdainful look, and am made to understand that the price of milk has suddenly increased, albeit only on the premises of my office. Whatever!!
I walk back to my cubicle with my fingers crossed and a prayer in my heart. I unlock my computer and see what I fear most – half a dozen mails flagged URGENT! staring me in the face. I race with time to finish the deliverables by noon so that I can have a peaceful lunch, but time beats me fair and square. I walk down for some reprieve, hang out in the cafeteria with friends, and yes, I eat my lunch too (I’ll skip the description this time). We get into meaningless debate post lunch, the sole agenda of which is to dilly-dally that moment when we need to go back to our “work”stations. But we finally submit to the will of the boss. I walk back, this time not only with a heavy heart, but also a heavy belly. I “sleepwork” through the rest of my deliverables, seeking occasional respite from the ever lovable bulletin board. At 5 PM, I find ‘OMG, the deliverables are not complete yet!’, but pack my bag nonetheless, reconciling myself to the fact that this is an endless cycle and will repeat itself tomorrow, day after tomorrow, and the day after that, too.
As I prepare to leave, I pray for Adam Sandler’s ‘Click’ remote, that could take me fifteen years back in time, when I rather looked forward to going to school on a Monday morning, because I so loved everything about it. Or if that is too much of an ask, it could at least take me four days ahead in time, where I walk into office on an easy Friday in my Nike loafers and casual denim, feeling free, at last…