Exorcising The Demon - Part II

------------------------------------------------

I have never been a great admirer of the (un)aesthetic beauty of the cubicle farm. A rectangular (at times, square) area, surrounded by partitions with an opening, which looks bigger from outside than it actually is. Development of camaraderie apart this is one place where the word privacy takes on a completely different meaning. The word cubicle which originally means a small room in which a monk or nun lives should no longer be called so. After all we need to preserve the sanctity and to a certain extent the dignity of the work done by these people who are certainly closer to the almighty than you or me (well in most cases they are). This is one topic which I will brood upon some other time (no reminders required). Now back to where we left off.

Crash, bang, clang…. I was spread-eagled on the floor. This of all the darned fool things that could have happened, was the one I had least expected or wanted. In my race against death (totally symbolic huh, would not be that amusing if you were in my present state), I had forgotten that the misanthropic imbecile who had done the networking on our floor had not properly concealed one particular clump of cables. I had always insisted (but obviously to no avail) that those cables were a disaster waiting to happen. I wish I had not made that statement. Since it was not a time to congratulate myself on having proved my theory to be right, I did a quick back-flip (ok not an elegant one) to assess the situation. I regretted it the very next instant.

The ever grinning angel of death had abandoned its pouncing posture and was ambling towards its hapless prey. With imminent death looming large, all I could do was lie motionless feeling completely drained. I don’t know if it was that swaggering walk of the skeleton or the effect of my long, but seemingly futile, attempt to escape that was taking its toll. “Do something. Just don’t lie there and let that thing take you.” screamed the hysterical voice. “Shut up”, I said “Give me some time. Let me think.”. “Time!!!” it was a harsh whisper this time, “that is exactly what you don’t have now. Do something and do it fast.”