Rant 44: My Office, Episode 2

So life, as they say, goes on. Hold on! This was a sentence I used to see in my school magazine as endings to corny (and sometimes funny) articles. I’m guessing the authors couldn’t think of a good ending, and thus ended that way. So why am I using this sentence and that too in the beginning of this post?
Maybe, it’s because life inside the office will always have its particular rhythm. I really don’t see any need to elaborate much on the general workings and happenings, at this moment. (If you’re interested in it, please see Episode 1 of this series)
So let’s step out of the office space. However, I will stay within the confines of various aspects of office-life.
First things first, Lunch.
In the beginning, there was thali (a traditional south Indian meal and apologies for sounding biblical). Well, to actually call the cafeteria’s meal a traditional thali would be stretching it. It was…uhh…well…you know, an-edible-assortment-of-things. A cup of white rice, two chapathis, a curry, some sabzi (vegetable mix) and curd. I would say that from childhood, I’ve evolved from being a picky-eater (huge euphemism) to one who can survive on anything. And the afore mentioned meal was okay, I guess. The first month or so, my 30-minute lunch comprised standing in the lunch line, picking up whatever variation of curry/sabzi was on offer for the day and then endure the TV, which for some reason was always tuned to MTV. For an even odder reason, my lunch breaks always seemed to coincide with Splitsville (and if you have never heard of this show before, Run Forrest Run!).
Then came the rumours, not to mention the heavy drowsiness I felt post-lunch. After discussions with some colleagues, I decided that the vicious rumours about the canteen guys adding Soda to the rice to increase quantities could well be true. And in any case, who wanted to take chances eh? Next thing you know, they might come up with a stomach disease called Soda-stone (Shotgun on the name rights, in case they actually find something).
They say the grass is always greener on the other side. In my case, I just hoped the food at a certain restaurant located just outside the back entrance to the office campus, was better filling and had less potential for harm. What I imagined to be a hoattall turned out to be a plain old dhaba (quite possibly, a house converted into a dhaba). There was nothing plain old about the service. Enter "Aunty"!
A hobbling old woman (reminds me a lot of my grandmother) is in charge here, and she is pretty much the only one. And yet, despite the fact that loads of other employees from the company (or as I like to call them, the soda-in-canteen-rice-conspiracy-group) come to eat here, she remembers the choices of every single one of them.
And the food itself, is divine! Well, maybe not divine in the true sense of the word, but the very fact that it was "home-cooked" or at least tasted as such, was enough for me to forsake the canteen. My regular choices include 3 parotas, curry, sabzi and 3 pieces of chicken kebab. It’s been one heavenly lunch after another so far. The best part about Aunty’s (that’s the name of the place I think. At least I haven’t heard a different one yet), is that she doesn’t really care how much of curry or sabzi she lovingly doles out. Or even of the number of pieces of chicken. She handed me five once, when I’d asked for three, and the smile on her face told me who my second mum was! (first mom, I still love your food the best…KFC, you, of course, are my second dad).
A wholly satisfying lunch later, I return to the office to continue work. And here I wish I was allowed to take pictures in the office, wherein I could post a before and after pic of my post-lunch situation. BEFORE: resting head on hands, eyes closed, in risk of getting pulled up by manager.
AFTER: eyes wide open, ready to take on the world…or is it China?

(PS: Next episode will be on another important aspect of office life…Communications)