The Couches

They were perfect ... in form, in shape, and in texture. The feel ... it was all about the feel. They had a lovely, velvety purple surface; soft and smooth to touch, it was like running your finger through butter. They were brilliantly padded too. I had never given sofa paddings much of a thought, till I laid my backside (my backside is well padded too!), on these ones. Sitting on them was a revelation; that the craft of sofa padding was, indeed, an onerous one. Whoever had crafted these ones, was a master, a virtuoso, of his trade.

So there they were, the two couches, right there behind us, halfway in between Gagan's and my desks. Perfect, inviting, soothing, relaxing, tempting,and sinful ... they were right there, to send us into the blissful state of slumber, and ruin our work. Because the moment we used to hit our desks, we would take turns, and dive into the state of blissful sleep, on these amazing couches. We did it in a fairly democratic way though; we always took turns, and politely controlled our sleep, when the couches were in a state of occupation, with someone else's prostate figures. The main users of the couch were Sourabh, Varun, Mittal, Doc and I. Techniques and and methods of usage of the two couches, varied from person to person, with Sourabh, the smallest among us, joining the two of them together, and sprawling himself out on them, and me, the biggest of the lot, cramping myself into a foetal position, within the confines of a single sofa.

Our blissful and ignorant states of slumber on these couches, were often our undoing, as they led us into some very embarrassing, and utterly avoidable, circumstances. Once, Gagan's mentor had come to his desk, only to find the tortuous passage completely blocked by the couches, Gagan, and Mittal's prostate figure, on the couches. There was no way she could get through to Gagan's desk, without either leaping over the mess, like one of those characters from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, or politely waking Mittal up, from his sleep. She naturally chose to refrain from using her superhuman powers, and settled for the latter, and easier, though more rude, option. The dumbfounded, sleepy, apologetic and embarrassed look on Mittal's face, when he was woken up by her, was priceless! Once I was all curled up in my foetal position of sleep , on one of the couches, for all of three long and wonderful hours, only to be informed by Doc, that, in that unfortunate period, my poor mentor had come around twice to meet me, but did not have the tenacity or guts to wake me up. I can only try to imagine, what she must have thought of me, as she saw my horribly twisted figure, curled into the soft and warming arms of that couch ...

The couches were a painful obstruction, to those who were using the narrow passage behind our desks. Getting through this zone of the couches, chairs, Gagan, me and our desks, was indeed a daunting task, requiring gravity defying gymnastics, and fantastic manouvers, to weave one's way through the harum-scarum. Oft, the two HR females, who sit on my right, would look at Gagan, me and the couches, with scorn, and pass remarks about what a big obstruction they were, and how something should be done to remove them from there. We guys, in our blissful and slumberous romance with the couches, paid no heed to these portentous comments of theirs.

Then one day, as we were sitting at our desks, the facilities people came over, and took the two couches away. We stared at them, dumbfounded and speechless. We were too deprived of our faculties of speech, to interject, and ask them as to why the couches were being taken away. And so there, helpless and dumbstruck, we watched our beloved couches being taken away. The HR females had satisfied and content smirks on their faces ...

The couches have now been relocated on the other side of the office building, near a widow, so that the sunlight, which streams in from the outside, makes it impossible for one to sleep on them. Moreover, whoever will take the pains of walking, all the 20 odd feet, over to where the couches are, to sleep? As I walk past them, whenever I go to get myself coffee from the decanter, I look upon them with a fond sense of sadness and longing. They are gone, but I will always have the fond memories ... or lack of them, rather (because I was always wholly immersed in sleep!).

Yes, I'll miss them. Heck! We all will miss them ... the amazing goshawesome couches ...