people

The cubicle lies unattended to. Waiting. Like a supine dog staring vacantly at passers-by,
awaiting the return of its master.

Some of the cartoons & funny/clever pictures have been removed. In their place sits a framed water-color of a boy looking out from what appears to be a cabin window, a bagel in one hand. An innocently expectant expression on his face.

In the co-ordinator's cabin nearby, a leftover stack of invitations of green paper lie on the table
by the window. They have the Desiderata on the inside left, a picture on the front and inside ...

About a year ago, two men step out for a smoke on the snow covered
balcony.
Everybody thought smokers were crazy anyway. To step out in this
weather , you had to put on a jacket, gloves, cap ..
"Call a conference !! Call a conference !!" one of them mumbles ..

-x- -x- -x-

I was fresh-off-the-boat. Big country, strange people, strange
landscapes. I was still in awe of the clean wide roads with all those
wow! automobiles quietly whizzing by, but had gotten used to
black coffee already. I learnt that most people were polite. If
they had a minute, they had jokes to crack, things to tell - cribs,
fundas ... , like for example

"Who drinks coffee except for the caffeine anyway" ? - a swift thrust,
taking away decaf's right to exist

On the relief effort for the tsunami -
"We like to think we're better at helping out, rather than ..."
thinks for a minute here,
"blowing up stuff !! .. hehehe", laughs at his own phrase .

On daylight savings time-
I don't put my clock back in summer. So when people go,
"Why is your clock ahead one hour ?"
I say, "It's not one hour ahead, it's six months slow !!!"
Guffaw.

And the priceless -
"Happy Tuesday to you !! ", to a bewildered colleague.

That was Tom. He's gone now. I still can't believe it.