Today was Ganesh’s last day at work. From now on, it’s only Anu and me in our team. Anu’s on her mandy leave till Friday, so it’s just me alone for the time being.
This loneliness, although very trivial a matter, made me realise the value of companionship, and of friendship, which may sound like one of those forwards you receive, but I guess that’s where the forwards must have started – from someone like me.
It wasn’t long back when I left the UAE to come settle down here in Chennai. I didn’t have friends here and it took me a while to make some.
And I can totally relate my situation now at work, being alone in my team, to the situation I was in two years ago. Ofcourse, my friends, went to different places and some stayed back too and we’re constantly in touch thanks to the internet. Here at work, it’s just a symbolic statement. Life just gives you so many examples to make a point. You just can’t take your buddies for granted.
Ganesh has been in this team for about 4 months and we were just acquainted with each other before he came in the team. He is about 13 years elder to me, but that was never an issue. Our rapport was just unique. We both sang these Nadeem Shravan songs whilst doing the night shifts, when no one would be there on the floor and competed fiercely in “flash cricket”. He had an excellent sense of humour and was just great fun.
The thing about people leaving the organisation is kinda weird. You say you’re going to keep in touch and meet often and all, but I know for a fact that that’s not going to happen. He’ll get busy with his work and his life, since he’s getting married soon too, and life will go on. Like it did with everyone else.
Not that I’m losing my best friend or anything, this was just a thought I had at work today, that someday, everyone I see around on the floor, all my friends (and then my colleagues) will have left and I’d be the only one remaining. And this is not only about the people at work. My office, suddenly became a symbolic world. A reflection of what is going on in reality. The only relief at work is that you serve a 2 month’s notice, and everyone kinda gets used to the fact that you’re leaving. In the outside world, one second you’re there, and the next you’re gone.
You travel, you meet people. Never knowing where on earth and when you will ever meet them again. For instance, Shalini, she’s here on an internship for two months. Who would have thought that from our schooling days in Sharjah, I would be roaming the streets of Chennai with her! Again, once she goes back to Singapore, when and where will I ever meet her again?
This is the plan of life. What goes around comes around. Just when you least expect something, life just throws it out at you. People come and go, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It wasn’t just Ganesh who left, it was that bond we shared that left too. I have to now look out for something new at work, which would divert me from that empty seat left next to mine.
But Ganesh will keep in touch I know. We have a lot more of Nadeem Shravan to sing. And when you make friends sometimes, somewhere… you make them for life. Period.
