Obsession

"I never knew, people are obsessed with work." I said to Pete in a disappointing tone.

"Me neither." Pete was nodding his head in agreement. "I mean, she is crazy, she wants everything to be done. The dishes, the cleaning. She has gone mad."

"Yes, Pete. She............ she? Pete, I am talking about the boss."

"Ohh. I thought we were talking about my wife, Nancy." Pete, was now looking confused all over.
"I cant believe, that any person can get so obsessed with work. I mean look at him. Our dear boss, when he started working here, he was so cool, calm and always rocking. And now, .... now......"

"He rocks us!". said Peter.

"Yes, he rocks us. He is driving me insane now."

"3 days ago, he gave me the work. I told him, it will be done by next week. Next week, Pete. And still, helloooooo, 4 days to go. But he is all over me. I just dont get it. How can somebody get so obsessed with work. I have seen people getting obsessed with things, their principles, but with work. He is not even obsessed, he is crazy now. He is going mad, Pete. We need to do something."

"We ??" Peter was in no mood to support. "Naaah. I think we should leave him like that."

I couldn't stop me from thinking as to which parameters drives any person obsessed. One theory could be that he grew up in such atmosphere. Imagine a bunch of financial managers still on a table having dinner.

Father manager, pointing towards the pasta. "Pass, me the debit shares, honey."

Mother manager, "Sure dear. But you should take care of your assets too." while she points towards his stomach.

Father manager, "Oh, I have got it all covered. It shall be deposited using compound interest, next day."

Mother manager, "Ohh darling. dont forget the bonuses." while she pushes the plate of desert towards husband. And the boy boss. Poor child, sitting quietly on the table trying to figure out whats going on.

My second theory, tell me that my boss would have been total dush. He would be dush bag in school, then in high school, then in college. And so now, he is trying to live his life (or making our lives hell) by satisfying his bully needs.

Whatever be it with him, it did not stop me from making more theories, during which I realized a few more things. I have seen people obsessed with things. My distant cousin, Charlie, is obsessed with team T-shirts. He happens to collect all such T-shirts of entire team. And not just one team, every single MLB team. My ex-girlfriend, Stephanie, was obsessed with two things. Shopping and cleaning. She would spend her entire paycheck in just 3 hrs. All in shopping. Her house would be clean and sparkling all over the place. I wonder if she ever sleeps on her bed or cooks food, because from the point I see it, they are all cleaned up. One thing, I still dont understand is how she happens to manage her closet. If she is shopping a hell lot of things, he closet should be looking like hell by now (I know, mine would). However, she was not the only obsessed person I met in my life. My old neighbour, is still obsessed. She is an old lady, who has nothing much to do everyday. So all she does, is looks on the street from her apartment window and whenever, I am climbing the stairs, she would open her apartment door and would say the same old thing, "They didn't do it again. I knew those basterds are no good."

"Mrs. Locksmith. I know that the fruit guy is a honest person. I am sure, there is no reason to feel terrified." By now, I was exhausted and was trying to convince her.

"Terrified ! Huh! If he shows up to my apartment, I will shoot him with my shotgun."

"Mrs. Locksmith. He is just a fruit vendor. He is not a criminal. And you dont have a shotgun."

"He is a cheater. He gave me 2 apples less. You know what that means. In my days, we used to buy pounds of apples for a dollar. Now, all I get is 3 apples. Last week, there were 5 apples a dollar. He is a cheater and I call cops everyday to get him out of there. I will ruin him." said the old lady shouting. While I try to hurry back to my apartment.

I cant believe, how much the old lady is obsessed with that thing. Maybe because she has nothing to do the whole day rather than sitting in her window and looking down the street to see if the fruit vendor is still there.

Sometimes I feel I am the only one who is not obsessed with anything. In tube, I see people texting, emailing on their cellphones. Especially, guys with blackberries. They seem to be obsessed with those things like they have never seen one before. The minute, they seat in the metro, they start emailing, calling and working. Looking at them, I would always say in my mind, hellooo, get a life dude. look at you. you are like a monkey with a banana. wake up. I cant blame them too. Technology has got into us in a very bad way. Pete, would be working on his laptop while watching movies.

"Pete, why dont you just shut off the laptop and enjoy the movie." I said in a frustrating voice due to his constant typing.

"I am JD. I am enjoying the movie." Peter said while keeping his eyes fixed on the tv screen.

"Which part of enjoying you dont understand. And what are you doing on the laptop. I told you we will get project slides done by tomorrow afternoon." I told Pete.

"Its not work that I am doing."

"then"

"Check it out, I filled up the wikipedia page of the movie. See, its all complete now." Peter was smiling while he showed me the page on laptop, which, I felt like hitting on his head.

It is good to have obsession. It is something like too much of ambition. Too much of desire. But one should be careful, if this too much, does not become Too much. One should control every desire. Or else, one day, one will become a monster, like my boss. I can picture him clearly like a big red version of hulk. Except he is bad and ugly.

It just took him 1 week, to get over it. I did my job and he was happy to see it. So his obsession went by, from me to Patrica. Now, I would love to help Patricia. But I can't. After experiencing all the heat of obsession of my boss. I think I needed a break.

Lost and Found

Everybody tries.

What depends upon is how much anybody is willing to go further in it. Few gets lucky to get it in 1st try, while few keep on trying.
..........

The office was busy today. There were loads of things to do. Alice was running up and down the corridor while Tina could be seen nervously working on her project. Peter was busy looking around. It is not the first time I am seeing him do that. Peter has a good history of missing things out. I am not talking about losing pens, pencils and other stationary. Once while we were in gym. He forgot his trunks out there. Once in a restaurant while he was out dinning with his wife, Nancy; he forgot his wallet. Luckily the hotel manager called him up. Once, he happened to lose his coat in grand central station. I can still remember that day. We decided to go through tube instead of driving. As we reached out for our train,


"JD. I seem to lost something." said Peter.


"What is it?"


"Something... " - said Peter while still trying to figure out what is it. "Oh shoot. I forgot the coat, man." - says in a panic voice. "I had it when we got the tickets. Now, I don't know where it is."


"Okay. Lets not panic. The train is moving now, so ...."


"What !!! JD, we need to get off."


"Cant". - I said calmly.


"What do you mean cant?" - Peter was now looking everywhere as if trying to find a door open.


"Hey. Pete. The doors are shut. We will get off at next station and come back. Relax, okay. The next station is just 3 mins away."


What seemed to be 3 mins for me, it was like 3 years for Peter. I can see him running up and down around the car. As soon as the door opened. Peter rushed out and starting walking up and down the train station.

"Pete. You need to relax. The next train is in 1 min."

"What if somebody took it ?" - said Pete anxiously.


"well, they might have taken it already." - I said in a mumbling voice making sure Peter does not hear it.

"Said anything, JD?"

"huh... no. Don't worry. People don't touch stray things."

I know this. We all are scared. After the terror attacks, we make sure we don't touch any stray things. Instead we just call the cops. So I was hopeful that we will get the coat back.

Finally, what seemed to be like a decade, we reached back to grand central station in 10 minutes. Peter was now more like a German Shepard dog looking for a bomb. He was holding his head up trying to sniff out his coat. We walked all the way to the car parking, as if following a trail. Peter narrated out in detail as we walked the trail.

"JD. Here we were standing watching the schedule for next train arrival."

"right." - I nod my head in agreement.

"No. I was watching the schedule, while you were checking out the girl in pink dress out there next to ticket vending machine."

"okayyyy. So lets go further." - I said with little disagreement.


"We then walked up to the hot dog stand. We got 3 hot dogs and we sat on that bench out there. I remember it, you spilled the mustard on your shoe while you were trying to spin your head around looking for babes." - said Peter, who by now was looking like Sherlock Holmes to me.


"Okay. My detective friend. Lets just stick to your version of the story and not mine." - I said in agreement.


"So, did you had the coat with you on the bench?"


"No. I don't remember." - said Peter looking confused.


"Great! He remembers what I did, but does not remember where his coat is." - I said to myself. Looking at hot dog stand again, made me feel hungry.


"Well, since we are here, lets have a hot dog." - I tried to offer Pete.


"JD. I have lost my coat." He shouted this time.


"Relax Peter. Get a new one."


"No, I cant. Nancy gave it to me. And that too, two days ago."


"Ohh boy. Good luck then."


One thing I learnt was not to lose stuff of your girlfriend (In Peter case, his wife.) She will believe that we don't love her anymore and that's why we deliberately lost it or kept it in attic. It is best to keep a smile and wear those things, if you want to be alive.


"Okay, Peter. Look, lets go to lost and found department. They might have it there." I was sounding too optimistic. I know that majority of people believe that once they loose things on a train station, they have absolutely no chance of getting it back. Airports, will still have some chance, but not train and bus stations. So after much searching for lost and found department, we ultimately reached there.


"Boy, they do keep lost and found department ... lost. Ha ha ha ha ha." - I said to Pete. Trying to bring up his mood, who by now was looking sad than ever. I guess he must be wondering what Nancy will do to him, once she finds out he lost the coat she brought for him.

"Yes, gentlemen. How can I help you?" - said an old lady over the counter.

"Yes. I am looking for my coat. It is deep dark blue in color designed by Kenneth Cole Collection." - said Pete. Who was trying to impress the old lady as to how much he loved his coat. (Also, giving her a hint on the consequences that would happen if he lost it.)

"What time did you lost it?"

"humm.. I didn't lose it actually. It just got misplaced somewhere." - said Pete, still trying to persuade the old lady.

"You lost it, didn't you? And let me guess, your beloved one gave that to you."

"How did you know?" - said Pete looking shocked.

"Son, I have been in this profession since last 35 years. And I know every inch of it. So why don't you have a seat and I see if I happen to find it for you." - the old lady said mockingly as if we both were preschool kids.

It look a long time before the old lady came back. "Son, I am sorry. But your coat is nowhere to be found. Why don't you come along tomorrow and check. I have asked all the stations in central line, but nobody has information on missing coat.

Disappointed we reached office. The time passed quickly for me with loads of work, but for Pete, I was going like dead slow.

"Hey, Pete. Office is over. Lets go." - I said to him.

"Na man. I don't think I should. If she finds out, I am a dead meat." Peter was disappointed more than he looked in morning. "Hey, why don't I tell her that I kept it in office or kept it in your car."

"Pete. we came through tube today." - I said disapproving his theory. "Lets stick to leaving in office version."

"Right." - said Pete.

3 days later one night, I got a call from Peter. It turned out that Alice found her coat in grand central station which she was heading to work. She found it when she was waiting for her colleague to show up. She picked it up and kept with her.

"Was she mad at you, Pete." - I asked.

"Nope. In fact, she thought of a way to punish me. She didn't tell me she had the coat for 3 days." - Pete was angry on himself.

"Well, that's something. Woman are good in those matters."
..........

There are many things we lose in our lifetime. From material objects to soul mates. The whole life is all about lost and found of these things. Sometimes when we find it, it brings joy; sometime it doesn't. The same feeling goes when we lost a thing. It is so strange as to why we change our moods when we lose/find things.

Strange, isn't it?