Rahul sat in
his office chair contemplating his computer screen. It had happened with him so
many times before, whenever an error in his code refused to abate. The code
seemed to be abysmal at times. He knew he would have resolved the issue on
Monday but he restrained himself to finish it on Saturday.
He got a
ping on whatsapp from one of his friends. It was Shikha, his friend from the HR
department. The company was on a hiring spree. He remembered the topic given to
the new candidates the day before.
“I hope you
are enjoying your Saturday,” Shikha texted.
“Yeah I’m
trying to,” Rahul said contradicting what he had said. Inside his heart he was
not liking what he was doing. Though he would be getting extra monetary compensation
for working one extra day but sometimes he thought, if it was worth it.
Shikha had
narrated him the gist of the group discussion. The topic that was a sensitive
one, “Mental prostitution vs Physical”, with half a dozen candidates pouring in
their views into the discussion.
Some were in
favour while some weren’t. It had to be that way in a discussion. Shikha was a
good friend. She never worked on Saturdays. Only there were some rare occasions
when she had to come to the office. She never pushed herself into such a
situation where she would be getting extra money, in exchange for one of her
weekends.
“Why are you
silent? Are you busy?” Shikha asked him.
“Kind of.
Don’t know. I’ll text you later,” he said and placed the phone aside.
It was like
any normal Saturday for him. But, something bothered him from the day before.
He had friends. They called him as usual only to get disappointed again. He
envied Shikha sometimes.
He knew she
would be spending her weekend with her parents and friends. While he was an
incorrigible personality mostly due to isolation from friends and family. It
had been long, since he remembered when he was content with himself.
He tried to
bore his beady eyes into the computer screen again. But, something still
distracted him. He felt an urge to do something he used to do, like giving his
fingers the pleasure of dancing over the strings of his guitar. He recalled the
last time when he did so.
Shikha had told
some stern arguments from the group discussion. He was overtly perturbed when
she told him how some sex workers had to work some extra hours just for getting
a few thousand bucks. He felt pity for them.
He too worked
some extra hours not fore just money but also for casting a good impression
over his seniors, so that he would not be forgotten on the appraisal list.
“Hi,” he
said to Shikha.
“You
finished your work?” she asked inquisitively.
“No. Can we
meet? If you are free?” he said.
“All of a
sudden?” she asked. She couldn’t fathom what Rahul had just said.
“Yeah. May
be I could play a nice tune for you. My guitar is on complain mode,” he said.
Shikha wondered for a few seconds before she spoke again.
“Ha ha.
Sure. I think I’m getting back my old friend,” she said.
“Yeah. Rahul
has stopped entertaining mental prostitution,” he finished.
Shikha
remembered how he had changed all of a sudden. She wasn’t expecting that but
she was happy and so was Rahul.
