The Sunset Outside The Cubicle...

Mihir hurried to his house from the office one evening. He had a meeting with one of the major clients, within an hour. And, he had forgotten some of the important documents, at his home, which were required for the meeting.

He quickly took his car and drove towards his house, wondering, how could he be so careless to forget the file at home. To him, work had always been his highest priority. Almost every weekend of Mihir was spent in the office. Working extra hours every day was like a ritual for him. People called him Workaholic and commented, that more than half of his life is spent inside the four walls of his cubicle. Not that it bothered him. When questioned, he used to reply, that finishing off the pending work at the office is better than staying alone at home. His dedication and smartness had fetched him a good position in a multinational company at a young age. Though he was successful, he never let success get to his head and remained down to the earth, with a positive attitude. He was a favorite among his juniors, as his friendly nature made them feel comfortable, when he was around. Seniors too counted on him as he was equally available to them, whenever any major issue raised. Office politics, never bothered him, because he did not require any of it, to prove his abilities. His life revolved only around his office and work. In short, Mihir, was a pure soul who spread a positive vibe wherever he went. But, despite of having everything, there was an unfathomable void in his heart. Nobody knew the real Mihir, behind his smiling face. 

After 15 minutes of driving, Mihir reached his apartment and entered the lift. He pressed the 20th floor button. The lift was painfully slow and stopped on every alternate floor to pick and drop the passengers. He checked his watch for at least 30 times before the lift finally halted, at the 20th floor. He pulled out the house keys from his pocket and opened the door of his house. His eyes subconsciously moved to the table where the documents were kept. Running towards the table, in a hurry, he picked the documents. As he turned around to leave back to the office, he felt a cold breeze swipe his face, from the wide open windows, which he had again forgotten to close this morning, while in a hurry to reach office. He walked towards the window to close it and then, something caught his attention. He stood there dumbfounded and a word slipped out from his mouth, "'Incredible". A smile widened his lips just as it had happened a year ago. He had witnessed the same breathtaking view of the sunset, once again.

The sunset and the soothing breeze carried him away, along with it. The pages of the memories began unfolding and took him to the day, when, one of his biggest dream had come true. The day when he had purchased his dream home. The same day, when he had felt, that he had really achieved something in his life.

He remembered the every detail of that day, which seemed as if just yesterday. It was this same sunset view from the window, which made him fall in love with this house an year ago. He remembered how he had ignored the flaws of the house just for this view, thinking that he would be spending every evening of his day, watching the breathtaking sunset.

When he looked back to the file in his hands, his mind slowly drifted towards his office again. He visualized himself working in the cubicle. Every evening, which were planned to see the sunset, were spent in between the four walls of his cubicle. The very reason for buying the house was no more now, as he was seeing the sunset, after a year. It was as if he went to his house just to sleep, and left early morning in a hurry, to reach office again. This made him realize, that the sunset was not the only thing, that was missing in his life. There were so many other things, which once were very dear to him and now he had completely forgotten about them. Mihir, who had found happiness in little things was no more now. He suddenly missed that old Mihir.

A phone call dragged him back from his trance. It was a call from his office. He looked at his cell phone and looked back to the sunset. But, this time he knew what to do. He knew the meeting was not going to stop, just for one person, not attending it. He disconnected the call and switched off his cell phone. He felt as if the sunset was healing him from within. It was a sheer magic, he was experiencing. He kept looking at it, until the sun was completely set and the first stars made their appearance. After that, he left his house and went for a walk.

On his way, he saw a group of friends hanging out. He could not remember when he had last spent a quality time with his friends. There was a time when no evening would be complete without meeting his friends, and there he was today, walking all alone on the streets, lost in his own thoughts. A few steps ahead took Mihir to a place where he found a chaat stall. He remembered how much he loved eating chaat, but, again could not remember when was the last time he had it. He took a plate of shev puri and sat on a bench in a nearby park, where his eyes fell on a young couple. He missed Revathi. He sighed! And reminded himself, that she was long gone.

He began walking again, while a train of thoughts was running in his mind. He wondered, if this was all he wanted? What had he really achieved in life, after dedicating his most of the time in his office? While running behind the bigger things, Mihir had forgotten, that to him, happiness had always been in smaller things.

However, he knew tomorrow would be the same day as every day. Once again, the same work routine was going to start. He knew, he had reached too far, from where turning back to the normal life, was impossible.

Lost in his own thoughts, he reached back to his apartment. As the lift halted on the 20th floor, he saw some house shifting work was in progress in his neighboring flat. A tired professionally dressed man was on a phone call, whom Mihir assumed to be his new neighbor.

He overheard that man talking on the phone,"The sunset view from the window is just amazing. I am going to spend every evening, seeing the sunset".

Mihir smiled...