Released

Anirban woke up with a terrible headache. Drinking that much cheap beer last night had been a terrible mistake. He couldn't believe that he had let his two friends-flatmates-colleagues cajole him into that escapade. But how could he have refused. They had finally got an early release from that damning client project they had been slogging on for months on end - something that called for celebration. All three of them had already been assigned to other more interesting projects - their new assignments starting from next Monday. Anirban had hoped that their celebrations would be planned over the coming weekend, but with Riddhiman and Sourashis deciding to use up some of their pending leave balances to pay a quick home town visit before the new assignment, the party had to be yesterday night. Anirban had decided against following in his friends' footsteps; he had planned a long break of three weeks for his elder brothers's wedding later in the year. It was a tough call - these three had been practically inseparable since childhood. Riddhiman and Sourashis had taken a cab to the station directly from the bar, leaving Anirban to go back to an empty home for the first time in nearly 15 years.

He looked at his mobile - there was a good 15 minutes left before the digital assistant would switch on the radio app and start playing Morning Mantra with RJ Sonali. Picking up the phone, he pulled down the notifications tab and started going through the bulletin of updates, news and marketing offers that his phone had collated over the night. One update caught his eye - his brother had shared an emotional miss-you-bro update along with a throwback picture from their childhood. Anirban wondered what had caused this emotional upswell in his normally stoic brother. Perhaps the idea of getting married was getting to him. Anirban tried to add a heart reaction, but damn you Aitrel. The simplest of tasks took forever on this network.

Anirban willed himself out of bed. As today he was technically 'on-the-bench' he didn't really have to rush to office. He went about his morning routine - meditation-brush-tea-toilet-bath-clothes. Like other days, he would pick up his breakfast from the vending machine at the office canteen. Unlike other days however, Anirban was pleasantly surprised to see that today he was ready well before his deadline of 8:15 am. Locking the door to their shared flat, he went down the lift to the garage, got on his scooter and was off to face the Bangalore traffic once again.

Like his morning routine, his commute to office today too seemed to be a breeze. Not only did traffic seem lighter than on other days, Anirban was not held up at even one of the five traffic signals between his residence and office. How ironic, thought Anirban. On a day when he had absolutely no reason or need to be punctual, he would manage to 'clock in' nearly 40 minutes before time - when he parked, the garage clock read 8:45 am. Anirban leisurely ambled up to the lift lobby, pressed the call button, and hopped onto the first lift that opened its doors for him. Being early, he was the only occupant around, and in no time, he was at his floor.

The lift doors opened to the sound of some commotion. Stepping out of the lift, Anirban managed to figure out that the time attendance machine had conked off. Some admin-HR type busybodies were quibbling over the best place to up the notice explaining that till the contraption got working again,  the security guard on duty would record their entries and exits. Smirking, Anirban waved his id card in front of the security guard who was looking in his direction with a strange look that seemed to be equal parts of boredom, irritation, non-chalance and indulgence. He knew this guy. They had paired on the same team only last weekend at a company '2-man' cricket tournament.

Heading towards the canteen, Anirban decided to pick up a cold coffee to go along with a chicken-mayo sandwich. A dull reminder of the headache had remained despite the paracetamol he had with his morning tea. Anirban hoped the coffee would take care of it. Heading over to the library - the designated chill-out zone for all benched employees - Anirban looked around for familiar faces; there were none. That was a good thing he thought, he could get a head-start into reading up on his new project.

Logging into one of the computers in the network, Anirban started up the browser to access to his mail. He typed in his user name and password and waited for his mail to load. In the meanwhile, Anirban clicked on the intranet icon on the desktop to check out if there were any events or activities planned for the second half of the day, by when he was sure that he would complete his reading. Being on the bench was fun only in one’s imagination. One had to keep finding ways to keep oneself busy. There was only one event listed for 5 pm.

Anirban went back to the other browser window - his mail had still not loaded. He had heard how the library computers were amongst the slowest in the company - usually end-of-life machines that were being forced to carry on. He went back to the intranet and clicked on the link to figure out what the event was all about, and started reading...

"OBITUARY SERVICE

"It is time to pay our last respects to the kindred spirit who left us for his heavenly abode yesterday night. He was not only extremely talented, but also a very passionate employee and a devoted friend. But even the best amongst us have some weaknesses - perhaps that is what makes us human. Last night, he died in a road accident on his way home. Let's congregate at 5 pm to remember the contributions and life of Anirban Dastidar, and take a pledge to never drink and drive."