Bytes aNd bites

Bystander was pleasantly surprised to come face to face with a friend, when he went to answer the door bell. The friend was equally surprised to see Bystander himself opening the door as it was well known in the friends’ circle that unless forced to do, Bystander avoids answering the door bell. As soon as he noticed the apron slung over the shoulders, the reason became clear – Mrs Bystander was not at home. This message sank home when Bystander pushed a vegetable laden tray towards him and an apprehension set in about the culinary skills of Bystander who liked to exhibit his unusual talent in choosing incompatible ingredients and end up with a mess. The unfortunate victim had only one choice - “to partake and endure”

While peeling and slicing the onions, the friend could not stop wondering the deft ruse Bystander had used to avail his help in the kitchen. Before he could finish with the surgery on the onions, he noticed beans and carrots waiting in queue. To remain unperturbed, he asked Bystander a sarcastic question in such a voice without implying so, “What made you to write, have you stopped writing like earlier days or are you in the process of writing something big - like a novel for instance?
 
This compressed question was like an opportunity to imagine a long train passing by, laden with his thoughts about answering it. Bystander really enjoyed watching the speeding trains.

“This question takes me back to the days before the retirement. Most people would have looked forward to bask in the atmosphere of farewell parties, held at two or three levels. Somehow this struck me as a put up act and this I would personally vouch for. In decades of service I had attended some of them. To be different and at the same time to bid adieu in style, I declined that formality, which was an option anyways, in spite of feelers from colleagues and seniors. Yet I agreed for the limited edition proposed by the group that had close worked with me for many years. I deemed it as a form of debt of honour. 

“A compromise solution was suggested by a respected senior to at least to leave a record of my foot prints in the history of a long journey spanning 3½ decades. This probably put me on the path of writing about some of the memorable incidents and moments. The senior would have surely regretted saying, “hey.. You need only a spark, try it!”

“For having agreed I spent nearly two months in drafting and for having suggested the idea the senior handled the onus of correcting the drafts. At one point of time, he might have thought of not to travel in the same conveyance vehicle with me. Months later, I began to regularly write on any event or news item that agitated or made me to think in a different perspective. Progressively I realised that writing is not a hobby to be taken lightly but demanded serious work. Having gotten in to the groove how can I stop writing? Does this answer the second part of the question?

“No! Novel means a lot.  A gripping plot set of characters, situations, locations and such things have to be thought out. In the developing stage more mental energy has to be spent in narrating the story through the characters, creating interesting twists & turns and simultaneously anchoring it all in suitable locations. Each character is to be conceived with balanced traits, technical background and personality in tune with the nature of the story expected at the end. This is my answer to the last part of your question”

To delay the lunch preparations as much as possible, the wafting aroma had a strange smell forewarning the taste buds the taste of things to come. Being a prisoner of friendship, he silently stared to scrap the skin off the carrots vigorously. To keep the conversation going, which was acting like anesthesia anyway, the friend decided to pose another serious question “how you felt on the last day at office?”

This question took Bystander totally by surprise as it was a good seven years ago and so far no one had asked him about that. Having got the chance Bystander did not want his reply to be just an ordinary recounting of feelings that went through the mind at that time. At the same time he did not want to embellish it too much to the point of being dismissed as fiction. He weighed each thought carefully and said, “The first feeling was one of being robbed out of a useful professional life. The second thought was on how to respond to the encomiums that are usually aired at the farewell party. The whole night was spent on rehearsing a moderated speech to avoid referring to thorny issues that all of us endured.

The daybreak on the day of retirement raised the curtain one more time giving a window of opportunity till sun set -when the official curtain will have to be lowered as per rules and regulations.  This interim period weighed heavily in my thoughts. Though I had walked through those tall doors for decades, this one day it was different – “I can only walk back and there would be no come backs”. This leave-taking squeezed the sap out of the heart.

 Friends and well wishing seniors hijacked the time till lunch, to lay platitudes, talk about  future avenues and bonhomie to carry home as memorabilia. I spent a little time in trying to come to terms with the reality that was waiting in a matter of few hours.  With no hunger pangs in the digestive tract, forced myself to take lunch merely to put up a show of nonchalance though it was for the sake of emptying the lunch box.  My colleagues and staff had arranged a get together giving a chance to all of them share experiences and tiffs they had with me and as expected I spoke to them on Vis a Vis basis.

The mental efforts - expended in tutoring myself to remain calm and not to get emotional- paid off when colleagues and staff members started extolling my dedication and capping it with a “what are we going to do from tomorrow onward”?  I felt like a patient being prepared for surgery, nevertheless those words helped me to walk out through the tall door but the sense of missing a whole life kept me company.

During the short drive to the administrative block, my eyes tried to take in as much of the familiar surroundings and to heighten my perception, the setting sun’s rays created a bit of surrealistic feeling. The rules and regulations governing superannuation was ready lower the curtain, waiting for the formalities to be completed.

The decades of active professional life was recalled, chapter by chapter- only the good portions, by seniors gathered in a conference hall to give a directorial touch. When such voices spoke complementing “the spirit, contribution and capabilities exhibited beyond the calling of the core field”, pride filled my heart. In this state of heightened Adrenalin flow induced courage was not far behind to convey  to them – I and my professional knowledge will always be available to them and am extremely saddened  to take leave on that day! It took me some time to realise that some other person would have already stepped in to the queue from which I had recently exited.

 Apron less Bystander and the clueless friend sat to enjoy the lunch.  It was completed in deathly silence in comparison to the spirited conversation that vibrated in the air, during its special preparation. The friend had no words to say and no tears to shed as this has already been extracted by the OniOns!