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| @verbatim illegible bumper sticker: LIFE IS TOO SHORT WHY YOU MAKE IT SHORTER |
Finally.
I had made a big deal out of it in my head, of going back to a place -- my old workplace, my hotspot of sentiment, to extract from there my pound of flesh, my long overdue provident fund. I don't know why. Or maybe I do.
But finally!
I hadn't been back in a while. And god knows I miss it. I miss it so much I am guilty of exaggerating to myself how debilitating nostalgia can be, how helpless I am in the face of a collage of many years of joy, of comic angst, of bylines, of marble stair cases, of vomit that is canteen food, of wine in parking lots, of texting in conference rooms, of snickering in Monday meetings, of deadlines that are shot past, of lazy page-making, of typos in captions, of kick ass headlines, of shit copies, of editors who can't spell, of editors who can (and so much more), of printers called Beta Beta that run out of ink JUST when you have to sign the damn page off, and of working with people, fellow slaves, who long ago shook off the inadequate tag of colleague and took on in my life much fuller roles. In a task as quotidian as paperwork for PF, in that execution of that dull as hell transaction, I have to walk through those images, pass familiar corridors and revisit work stations and water dispensers hung around routinely, familiarly, easily, like it was home.
Really. Retrospect should be banned for the scab it can tug at. Never mind statutory warnings of smoke and injuries. The more damaging -- if that's the word I want -- is misplaced nostalgia. Too much reminscing ought to be against the law. And yet, when I read stuff so close to the bone, I find myself smiling at and hanging on to all references and memories my friend evokes. Sometimes we're such a bunch of weepies hanging on so desperately to a cocoon that in the past would fit so snug.
I had made a big deal out of it in my head, of going back to a place -- my old workplace, my hotspot of sentiment, to extract from there my pound of flesh, my long overdue provident fund. I don't know why. Or maybe I do.
But finally!
I hadn't been back in a while. And god knows I miss it. I miss it so much I am guilty of exaggerating to myself how debilitating nostalgia can be, how helpless I am in the face of a collage of many years of joy, of comic angst, of bylines, of marble stair cases, of vomit that is canteen food, of wine in parking lots, of texting in conference rooms, of snickering in Monday meetings, of deadlines that are shot past, of lazy page-making, of typos in captions, of kick ass headlines, of shit copies, of editors who can't spell, of editors who can (and so much more), of printers called Beta Beta that run out of ink JUST when you have to sign the damn page off, and of working with people, fellow slaves, who long ago shook off the inadequate tag of colleague and took on in my life much fuller roles. In a task as quotidian as paperwork for PF, in that execution of that dull as hell transaction, I have to walk through those images, pass familiar corridors and revisit work stations and water dispensers hung around routinely, familiarly, easily, like it was home.
Really. Retrospect should be banned for the scab it can tug at. Never mind statutory warnings of smoke and injuries. The more damaging -- if that's the word I want -- is misplaced nostalgia. Too much reminscing ought to be against the law. And yet, when I read stuff so close to the bone, I find myself smiling at and hanging on to all references and memories my friend evokes. Sometimes we're such a bunch of weepies hanging on so desperately to a cocoon that in the past would fit so snug.
6 comments:
There.. I tink my comment nudged you into writing more often! or maybe Altucher's blog..
..and unless you've criminally photoShopped the profile pic.. that body and attached mind qualifies easily as *alpha* ;)
-None
I changed my first job recently, really get nostalgic at times about it too... You miss those stupid things we used to do. You just made me remember Hyd.
"Retrospect should be banned for the scab it can tug at" - kambakht retrospect I tell you.
Info: we used to share the same office building.
you take fotu while driving?
whats the card on the dashboard say? Piranha Sale? That can't be right.
- k
Hello Woodchuck chucking,
Where would we be without retrospect?
Anon: I won't argue the merits of the profile pic. Not being combative ain't very alpha though, is it? :)
Myst: Send me nariyal pani from Hyd when you go next.
Incog: Coincidence? You still there? How you found blog?
K: All the time taking fotu while drving, I am. Very wurst habit, I say. No piranhas in south Delhi, sadly.
Sanchari: I be literal? and say nowhere? :)
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