A Day Like None Other

Today's been a strange day, a day of push button emotions.

Been going through a weird period of disconnect lately. I wouldn’t talk to anybody, would spend all my time reading in the pantry or the conference room. Considering I used to be a livewire who couldn’t sit in one place for fifteen minutes at a stretch, this was pretty weird. And the whole office noticed it.

The past two days have been graced by instances of genuine concern, affection and friendship. Sometimes from rather unexpected quarters. The producer who usually trips royally on me gave me an out-of-the-world talk on taking life head on, while I listened quietly (a whole new experience for me!) And he never even asked what was bothering me. Everybody from the make up artist to the management guy, the HR exec to the lady who cleans the loo... they were ALL happy that I was back to my normal, spaced - out - wild - child self.

Last night my friend S dropped home, much to my surprise. He stood in the porch, looked at me blankly and asked "Are you back for good or must we wait longer?" I was stuttering feebly for an answer when he said "You're like a kid.. You’ll run behind anything that makes you laugh. But after a while you'll go back to being happy by yourself. Just wanted to know if you've gotten over whatever it was that was distracting you."

This was a feeling echoed by most of the people at work. Without ever asking or poking their nose into my life, most of them quietly tried to buck me up. The production assistant who brought me a dabba of beef from home, the graphics editor who gave me the number of a teacher in Palakkad ("if its something that you think you cant tell us"), the lady in the loo who clutched my hands and rattled away in what I think was Kannada.

Its been a humbling, yet strangely elevating day.