The vending machine

Some things are unforgettable. There is this vending machine in the building where I work - the vending machine that acts as a savior when I am losing it in lab and really want some sugar down my throat. It was one of those days, one of those long and tiring ones in lab, when I walked down those silent corridors towards the vending machine. On my way down there, I was trying to decide between a bar of snickers and a more healthy option. The first three items from the left are healthier options, says the vending machine, I remember. But very rarely have I risked having the healthier option, I have always been disappointed, either by the taste or the meager quantity. I hadn't made up my mind yet, but I was already in the room. And lo! The machine wasn't there!

Have I arrived at the wrong room? Did I take a wrong turn somewhere lost in my thoughts? I stepped out of the room, looked around. No, I am in the right place. There is even a coke vending machine nearby, where it always used to be. This has to be the room. But now, there was only a dark patch on the floor where the vending machine used to sit. What did they do with it? Didn't they realize that someone was heavily dependent on it? Didn't they see stuff vanishing from there? (Of course, I fed the machine the required number of quarters every time.)

Very disappointed, I went back to lab, unable to focus on work. Why would anybody want to remove the vending machine? Why didn't they leave a note saying when it would be back? Did they move it some place else? Where was it? Will it be back?  I was very very sad. Things don't end here. Worse is when you walk down those corridors again, on another long and tiring day, when there is no other option available for you to get a snack, and you find the same dark patch.

It has been several weeks, perhaps months, I have lost track.  I want to know if the vending machine is back. I want to find out, but I don't want to make that trip down to the little room in the corner. What if it isn't there? I know I cannot handle it. Not again.

Is anybody listening?

Greener pastures

This was a post I had written a long time ago, found it in my drafts today. 

---------

Today was again one of those days when I was wondering if I was on the right career path, rather wondering what my career path was.  I was sitting at a friend’s desk staring at all the cute little things she had on display on her pin board, wondering if I would have enjoyed being in her place, doing her job, instead of being where I am right now.  As I sat there imagining how different my life would have been, this one particular cartoon on the board caught my eye. 

A toothbrush says to his friend, “Mine is the most disrespectful job on earth.” 

“Yeah, right”, goes the friend, who happens to be a roll of toilet-paper! :D

To each his own!

Spring...

I was on a bus.  I saw this girl sitting across from me eating her burger.  I don't know why, but I was studying her.  I could see immense pain in her eyes, brimming with tears.  Those eyes tried to avoid the tears, avoid my gaze.  She shut her eyelids, hoping to engulf those tears.  But the drop trickled down and fell on her arm.  She wiped it away, slightly embarrassed, and looked out through the window.  The bus stopped briefly.  There was a row of tulips by the sidewalk, cheerful red and pink, dancing in the sun.  I saw a smile escape her lips.  It was spring, it will see her through.

Reverie

Inspired by one of my long and lonely waits at the train station...

The wait...

It was a cold night
with a silent breeze
He stood still
Oh will he freeze?

I bent down and
tried to reach
But those walls
I could not breach.

I stared at him
with my eyes wet
Do you have an answer yet?