Dubious Gallivanter

Dubai had treated him well for it was no more strange like it had been on the first day. For a person who never dreamt of going to Palm City, it was more than just a “nothing come true”. He never kept track of the numerous times he wondered how he ended up there. He now stayed with a couple of his friends. He enjoyed the time but dreamt of having a place of his own.

The traffic cleared and the cab moved. After a while, it stopped in front of a tall building. He walked, stood thoughtless on the escalator, took rights and lefts to get to his cabin; his comfort place now. He worked for a private bank. Lazy, irregular, hardly studying and after a while jobless and then moving on to a stage where life crawled (just like it is for most us), he is now a relationship officer. Such a fancy phrase! I am hoping at least he knows what it means to him. How he managed to make friends at his office, he doesn’t know. And unsurprisingly this man does not remember the first few days (well…first few weeks to be precise) at this air-conditioned office.

Now he has got used to the system. The monthly targets and the enlightening words that come out of his manager's mouth every time he failed to meet the 'target’; he was tired of this. The manager was now becoming his target. He took extra care to avoid having any kind of encounter with her. He wished he was invisible to her eyes. Every time she uttered a word he wondered if the lady has anything more to say than what he has already heard a hundred times.

The man found things to take much pleasure in as well. The list might be short but it was more than enough for him. People in his office, he found interest in. He called them “colleagues”. People, he could hang out with. Some he found cute, some good, some approachable, some he liked, some awesome, others not so awesome and one he was attracted to. Let us hope he had his own reasons for these varied points of view. However, I cannot avoid but tell about a particular point of view he could keep talking about. Right opposite to his cabin is placed, a lady; young, good looking and worth noticing, according to the testosterone. He could sense her expensive perfume every time the fashionable lady walked past that area. 'Quite a fashionista', he thought. At least that’s what her tight formal shirts, pencil skirts, and stilettos made him think. There were times when his male hormones became impatient at the sight of her. Did he know anything about her other than her name? Her ethnicity, her likes, dislikes or has she ever come around to have a conversation with him? Has she ever looked at him or even acknowledged his presence? All these were insignificant, for he was having the time of his life. Every morning he woke up whining about going to his office, this bombshell was his only motivation.

Soon he was bored with this schedule. He wanted something new. After all, it has been around 15 months sitting amidst the same cabins. Now he wanted to give a new color to them. Sick leaves became synonyms with interview calls. He tried harder and harder and finally won. He was happy he was leaving for a new cabin, at the same time he was praying if he would have another 'inspiring' professional in the opposite cabin. Will there be a cabin opposite to his’ at all? He hoped for the best.

The relationship officer was soon going to get another cabin. A new place he could “technically” have for himself; apart from all the embarrassing situations when you find your colleague prying and finds your secret. Was he happy about shifting? Definitely, he was! It was evident from that particular glee on his face. The one he has when he successfully hogs on a plate of ‘charcoal chicken’, with absolutely no regard to his supposed to be ‘vegetarian’ lifestyle. He prays his mom never finds out.

That was his last week working for the bank. The icon had disappeared into what he guessed was an annual vacation. Well, he hoped for another one. In that way, he was quite an optimist! Apart from these greatly satisfying thoughts, he did think about the lady manager. The one who howls unpleasant words at him and he very well accepted the fact that most of the time he never really understood what she said. The devil inside him mocked her. He felt great that h

Advertisement

e didn't have to go through that anymore and he was going to be free. Free from her words and from those thoughts that spoiled his sleep at times. And finally, he woke up one morning with a resolve. He wanted to let his manager know that she was just another ‘rude, intolerable, ridiculous, outrageous, offensive and despicable; just another seemingly sophisticated lady who finds so much pleasure in hurting another man’s feelings’.

It was the first hour of the final week. By his appearance, he was pleased and looked smart. He sat on the chair that has been carrying his weight for months in a row. It was not damaged even in any slightest way. He had always kept his cabin clean. So much cleaner than his room. People appreciated such things! His ‘colleagues’ were aware of his going off. They had already given him a farewell a couple of times by now. Of course, they were going to miss him! Especially the face he makes in front of his favorite food. Time drew closer and closer and he felt no joy in work but his mind was overflowing with the thoughts of wanting to speak to the ‘wicked lady’ for one last time. He prepared himself. He sipped on some water again and again. His belly bulged out; slightly more than usual. He walked into her cabin. She wasn’t there. Very soon he knew that she had gone on vacation. His heart sank deep deep down and touched all the suppressed jargon he had gathered just for her. He sank into the same chair. The chair became handicapped with a broken arm. He looked at it and muttered, “Perfect.”

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and the optimist in him woke up. He thought maybe ‘the witch’ anticipated the situation and fled. Maybe, he could save the vocabulary for the next lucky one. It was his last week and he was more than lazy to work. And her absence was just the icing on the cake. He winked at his reflection on the computer screen. He had a smile worth a few Dirhams!

A part of him was very thankful that he never had to see her face even for the last time. After all, he had hoped to do something he was very sure he could never do.

Today he sits alone; looking into the infinity.

When he walked out of his office the last day, he had felt happy. He couldn’t deny he sensed a bit of sadness as well. After logging in at around 9 am last morning, he took the elevator to cloud nine. He was so happy he thought his heart would pop right out of his mouth! He talked to people; his ‘colleagues’. They seemed unhappy about his leaving. Deep inside he felt quite bad but never stopped praying for ‘bright’ days ahead. The last day at work was rather busy. Finishing off those formalities and all. He recollected his memories about the first day. The day when everything seemed so strange. But now he felt even more strange. There was nothing much left for him to do. He knew he was happy. He took a glance around the office. His favorite places; the most-disliked places; he smiled. Suddenly he caught the eyes of a lady. Middle-aged, polite, always humble, married and a successful mother. They have had quite some conversations previously, relevant and irrelevant. He honestly couldn’t remember. He ‘half-smiled’, confused not knowing what to do. She came up to him and said, “Are you sure you really want to leave?” He looked at her with an expression so blank. He thought why on earth did she have to ask him that now! He remained speechless for what he felt were hours. “Maybe I am not that boring after all. Are these people going to miss me? Maybe I should just sit down and re-think……..”. “ The hell I am!” he replied. His ‘colleagues’ reminded him to not forget them and he was sure he would never forget them. They had lunch together that day and talked a bit more than usual. He was unusually quiet. Maybe he thought if he started, he couldn’t stop any time soon. When it was time, he got up from his chair, looked around, looked at his ‘handicapped’ chair in his cabin. He looked at those cabins that once amused him. “Priceless”, he thought to himself. A grin with wicked eyes added some colour to his face. He murmured, “I will visit sometime, sometime often.”

He heard his friends call out for him; asking him if he wants to go out with them. He looked out at the setting sun. The evening was just enchanting from the window. He shifted his view from the horizon to the streets. Excited he got up from the chair and yelled, “Sure”.