L for Lunch

The following story might make you cry. Please be prepared accordingly with some tissues.

In my 4-5 years of working life, I have mostly had a team around me. We sit around each other, share some fun moments, talk about the boss. And most importantly, have lunch together. For a couple of years in between when we had a really bad boss, lunch was our escape. Our only topic for discussion would be the boss. When he quit, we almost had a vacuum in our lives. Which of course got filled by another bad boss. But the point is, lunch was always an important occasion in the day.

Then things changed. I got married and moved to Bangalore, while my team continued to sit in Mumbai. The Bangalore office was a whole new story. I don't have a single team member here. And worse, there is noone I can talk to. There's a sales team that is almost always on the move.

So from a hip and happening lunch time, I moved to solo lunch, sitting alone at my desk, watching Youtube videos on a slow internet connection. What makes it worse is that my office is located in the most awesome location with atleast 8 of the top 10 highest rated restaurants in Bangalore on Zomato, within 5 km. 

Sometimes, during lunch I cry. Thinking about all the amazing lunches we could have had here. But sometimes I think it's ok. Who wants all those extra calories from the amazing Russian Medovik Cake at Berry'd Alive. Or the Pasta at Church Street Social. Not me.

And besides, you know how much money I am saving with this. My own sad little lunch in a corner of the office means no spending on group outings. Also, slow Youtube ka mazaa hi kuch aur hai. You know that Adele is going to say, "It's me" after Hello, but waiting only makes the song sound better. You must try it.

The one solace I have is a coconut water guy. He is nice. He is old and my only source of conversation in the work day. (Other than the 6 hours of phone calls I have with my team that sits in Mumbai). Coconut is the indulgence I have allowed myself, every afternoon at 3:30 pm. I go stand there and he knows exactly the kind of coconut I like. Everyday he picks a random topic for conversation - Traffic, construction work, wrong parking, his observations on politics. Its a nice 10 minutes of silent conversation. He is almost the only person (other than my Mom), who asks me if I had lunch.

It feels nice. Also, a little sad that this is what my lunch hour has been reduced to.

Sigh.

Did you cry? Maybe you could donate to get my team to shift to Bangalore?

Please do.

Thanks

Preeks