It was late evening, and the roads were busy with crowds of people returning home. The streetlights spread their light, the shops and other business establishments that operated at this hour also became illuminated with their lights.
Viraj got down the stairs of his apartment building, and headed for his car parked in the parking lot. He responded to the notification sound of his phone and pulled out his phone to find an unread message. It was a message by his friend Naksh.
It read- ‘I am about to reach. I hope you are on your way.’
Viraj replied with a thumbs up emoticon.
Naksh worked in a faraway office which took two hours to reach, while Viraj worked at a place twenty minutes from his house. Viraj had specifically selected this job to take out time for his work as a content creator on a popular social media platform.
Viraj didn’t feel pressured by his regular job. He was clear upon what he wanted to build as a career out of and the kind of future he wanted. On the other hand, Naksh initially had great ambition and enthusiasm about what he wanted to do in life, work hard, climb up the ladder and end up in a great position in a big firm.
But things are not so easy, Naksh slowly realised with time. He was financially stable and at a good place if not great, but something was amiss, he did not feel as content as he thought he would be.
Viraj and Naksh were friends from the time they worked together in a company. Viraj later took a rented flat near Naksh’s house. They met occasionally, but there were days when Naksh felt too fatigued, too confused and too frustrated and on days like these, he came to meet Viraj to talk about it. Today was one such day.
Viraj slowed his car near the bus stop, he tried to point out Naksh among the people standing but Naksh saw him first and raised his hand.
Viraj unlocked the car doors as Naksh sat in and they began with their drive of conversations.
“So, how are you?” Viraj asked
Naksh stared out of the car window, “The answer to that question is becoming more complex by the day.”
“So, is my ability to respond to this drowning feeling of yours,” replied Viraj
Naksh turned to look at Viraj, “I guess there is a chance the complexities might end.”
“How? You found a new job?” asked Viraj
“No, I did not find a new job. I quite the one I had”
Viraj gave a confused glance at Naksh, “How did that happen?”
“I just couldn’t bear it anymore man. All those endless hours of working beyond the office hours, baseless arguments, it broke through the patience I held for so long.”
“I get it, it isolated you completely from the life beyond office”
“That it did, but what made it worse was the fact that they were not ready to pay for it.”
Viraj stopped the car near a tea vendor, “It has become a typical practice in many companies. Make employees work for extra hours without any extra pay, make them believe they are doing it for their own benefit, no rest, no remuneration. Instead, an earful of words if there is any lapse in performance. It’s as bad as it gets.”
Viraj and Naksh each took a cup of tea and stood by the road.
“Maybe I understand now, what made you go for working for your own,” said Naksh
“I mean if I was putting in all those extra hours, why not do something of my own was the question I came across. Let’s just say I was juggling through a few ideas of my own and this thought aligned with it. I am not saying I was right or there is nothing better, but that is what made sense to me, so I went for it” replied Viraj
The conversation remained silent for a few moments and then Viraj spoke again, “So, what are you going to do now?”
“I will take some time to think and re evaluate before jumping into anything else,” replied Naksh
“That’s a good idea,”
Naksh threw the disposable cup in the dustbin and said, “What made sense before lost its meaning, I guess I will have to do it all again.”
“Not everyone has the courage or maybe the luxury to accept that they are not happy with something and do something about it,” Viraj said as the friends sat in the car and drove off.
Early Morning Memories 
2 responses to “Inevitable Close”
Very well said. Yesterday was a national holiday in the U.S. celebrating the labor movement to require fair practices for workers. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t.
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Nice post 🌹🌹
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