There is a belated mid-week crisis that people here seem to be facing. They are stuck in a weird place, where Friday is not so far that it doesn’t matter, but not close enough to start bringing out the party hats. They are making sour comments about how they are hungry and cold and can’t wait for the weekend. I don’t even think some of them are hungry, because I have seen them eating banana chips from a noisy plastic packet. I think it’s just cathartic to whine. They are putting it out there, they could be hungry or cold or sad or hormonal.

In an attempt to cheer themselves up, I saw a couple of people opening up weekend guides on online magazines, slyly texting potential plans to their friends. One of them abandoned all subtlety and started making calls to people asking them if they wanted to go to Pune on the weekend to attend some house party which, and the whole floor heard and sat up, will have free flowing alcohol and the best pork chops one will ever taste.

Saturday being a non-working day is a bit of a big deal here. People plan. People tie their hopes around that glorious span of time where for once you also have a holiday, like the rest of the world.
As I was writing this, one of the enthusiastic people from another floor stopped by to ask me if I was interested in planning a weekend beach outing with some other colleagues. When I smiled and turned it down citing prior engagements, he raised his eyebrows and said, “You have plans?” I am not sure what shocked him more; that people here can have plans too or that I was cool enough to make weekend plans that didn’t depend on the people I work with.

He walked away, a little annoyed, with a parting remark that I’d “better atleast make it for the team lunch”. Team lunches usually involve great amounts of cribbing about having to work on Saturdays. I wonder what we’ll do with all our free time at tomorrow’s lunch.