As all of us sit glued to our respective machines, eyes pasted on the screens, fingers dancing over the keyboards at an alarming rate and minds working overtime, he has the audacity to arrive at the slowest gait possible. We look at him enviously, fiercely, resentfully!
How can he be that relaxed when we are always in a hurry?
The guy is wealthy for sure - simply because time is always running away from us but he doesn’t even acknowledge the flow of time. He sails like a king amongst a swarm of lined faces, strained brows and tense bodies. As he walks contentedly occasionally exchanging pleasantries with acquaintances, a lot of unmentionable words come to our tortured minds.
And we know that the ‘Big Boss’ knows all!
Although he feigns innocence most of the time, yet we know that he knows all. He is a walking encyclopedia on each one of us at the office. He knows why Mr M is wearing white shirt today and why Ms A is carrying a pink hanky. He knows what plan is going on in Mr B’s mind to save his neck from his immediate boss. He knows why Ms S was crying near the coffee machine few months back and why Mrs K wants to resign. He has every little detail of the shocking happenings at the
party on the night before. We have accepted the fact that we can’t escape his prying eyes. Yes, he reminds us of the popular soap – ‘Bigg Boss’ that was (not surprisingly) a super hit at our office.
Why is he omniscient?
If you think that his reach ends after a point, then you are wrong. He moves supremely across departments, cabins and tables. There is no ‘no entry zone’ for him. He is seen walking at a leisurely pace at any time any place and we – the most harried specimens of humanity – can just take in his leisure wistfully. We can’t even dare to accuse him of eavesdropping. When we are in the middle of some conversation pertaining to office politics or busy in character assassination of the hottest chick at our office, he will come out of nowhere and look at us with those ‘know-all’ eyes.
On top of everything, he philosophizes too!
If his relaxed attitude, happy disposition and vast store of knowledge were not enough to invite our angst, he has this annoying habit of philosophizing too. If we happen to walk past him, he will say something, which appears to be trivial on the surface level, but soon we know that he had deeper connotations in mind when he threw that one-liner at our face. He has all the time in this world for philosophies and considers himself no less than Socrates – the pompousness of the man is outrageous!
He eats like a real gourmand!
It’s a rare sight these days to see someone relishing his lunch at the office. There are always ‘bigger and better’ things to do, which need our immediate attention. But it’s sheer pain to watch him enjoy his lunch as if that is the first and last meal he will have on Earth. As we swallow huge bites to finish our lunch, he opens his meal ceremoniously. He first feasts with his eyes, takes in the smell of the food and then savours every morsel with delight. Time stands still for him as he eats. On the other hand, we attack food with vengeance - our only aim being to devour as much as possible within a limited time.
Few startling facts about our ‘Big Boss’
Here are a few startling facts about our ‘Big Boss’:
He does not have as much money as most of us
He is not educated like us
He has to struggle to make both ends meet
His meals are always meager
His future is not very promising
And yet, he smiles on meeting acquaintances instead of a hurried nod, he is more relaxed and warm in attitude, he enjoys his meals and sleeps well.
At a time when all of us are focusing on bigger things like environment issues, nuclear war or epidemics, we ignore the fact that there are smaller things which are killing us day-by-day – stress, anxiety and an unhealthy lifestyle. The price we pay for success is huge in relation to what we get.
And so I know - though his designation is that of a ‘peon’, he is the real ‘Big Boss’ of our office!
