characters at 13800…

No, it’s not a movie, a documentary or a literary review, just the few people i encounter on a daily basis at work. We share office space with a few other companies, and over the months have slowly developed a kind of familiar acknowledgement and camaraderie. It’s nice, and here’s a little detailed version.

The asian pack
my neighbors are these s/w folks – 4 ladies, 3 Koreans and 1 chinese. No matter what time of the day I walk into the Ladies room, I see one of them furiously brushing their teeth. They attachk their mouth with such vengence it’s quite a sight literally. Of course, you’d find them usually right away after lunch, which lasts more than an hour an occasional time. They are a quite bunch, shy, to the point that they avoid all eye contact.
The chinese lady is a whole new story. She is pregnant with her first child we are told, and I have seen her grow in size. last week, i think she must be 6 months, but she tells me she just started her 4th. At 5′ tall, she seems to be losing her balance. Her high heels don’t help!
Today I see her with this half-apron sorta wide gray cloth tied around her waist. Since she’s the talkative one, I ask her and she replies “it’s to protect the baby against harmful rays – computer and sunlight” – I nod my head and hurry out.
Her eating habits worry me – she eats at 10, she eats at 12, and she eats fresh fruit, washed, peeled, cut into slices, on a plate. She eats at the table watching the TV, lost in her world, not a bit rattled as to the amount of time she spends ‘eating’
I justify to myself – 1st baby, maybe a difficult pregnancy, so yea, it’s all well.

desi hero
this dude works in the same office as the asians and is either recently married, engaged or has won a girlfriend. He hangs around the corridor whispering sweet nothings into his cell, right plonk in teh middle of the business day! ..how do I know? Well, in a silent corridor, there’s only so much you can avoid each other. He looks cute though, in a jungly kinda way…

mover n shaker
one old man occupies the lone corner office. Burly, quiet, with a shock of white hair on his head, he towers over 7 feet tall, and every step is visibly felt by everyone in the floor. I doubt he is aware of whom he brushes past on his walks to the coffee room. I like the plants in his office though, very well maintained.

shoe fiend
she is past 40, has 4 children ranging from 17 yrs to 9 years, has gorgeous mane, and doesn’t look a day over 25. owns 200 pairs of shoes, and i think I can attest for at leasta 100 of them myself. Name a style, and she owns it. She travels a lot, and just as we poor saps collect magnets to stick on our refrigerators as travel trophies, she collects shoes. She whispered over coffee to me “Nordstorm rack has a sale, I was just there, you should go, they have your sizes – you know, the large ones, your feet are quite wide and big, not your usual asian ones eh?” O sure, rub it in!
I’d kill to feel happy in some of her pairs. They range from pretty, to outrageous, to unwearable. Only she could pull ’em off!

biyani blonde
The shoe fiend’s colleague, and an underling of sorts. She jaunts around the corridors singing to herself, and one day forced herself on us over lunch and explained how she loved ‘biryani’ and threw some random hindi phrases from memory. She picked up some urdu and hindi coz she was babysat by a Pakistani when she was 4. Occasionally you can see her in short shorts and an oversize shirt, coz she was gonna go play some tennis.

kurti-lover
she loves my kurtis, and has bought a few herself. Poncho style, kaftan style. Originally fromNairobi, or Kenya, forget now, she actually has a closet full of desi clothes that she overpaid coz of some ruthless merchants in the area. She says our kurti is an exact replica of their own dress. Sweet girl with an overbearing boss.

baby blue-eyes
I met this one in the ladies room as she and her colleague discuss the latest Victoria Secret’s invention. In detail. with Visual help. No qualms as to who else is around, and who else is staring at whatever. …and justifies it as o heck, we are all girls. Yep, so we are, as we so boldly claim!

flora n fauna
this lady will always wear florals. Either the blouse, or the pant, or skirt, or a headband , or if nothing, there’d be a flower brooch/pin sticking out from somewhere. Am wondering what her winter wardrobe would be like.

mustache man
this guy is FOREVER on the phone. In the corridor, and giving explicit instructions to his daughter, girl, support teams, whatever. I have no idea where he works, or as what, coz if I run into him, it’s coz he is on his phone. extremely busy.

palekar twin
desi dude, looks a sorry version of handsome amol. walks to work. I suspect he lives in the apts at the end of the road, always eats rotis n sabji, washes the box and leaves it to dry next to the sink. His lunch is the best smelling on the floor. no smile, no nod, no nothing.

serious amy
very sweet young thing, behaves she’s in line after atlas. she runs the building and is slowly thawing to have a few crisp conversations with yakkety me.

lioness laura
no, not as in fierce, but as in her mane. She has long, curly hair. Always talks about her daughter who she has shpped off to her parents for the holidayas and misses her evrey moment I remind her. I know, bad me.

cathy and cathy
Get trapped with cathy in the elevator and you’d be breathless when you get off. Her perfume is strong! It’s suffocating, and extremely sweet and floral. But she does get us donuts and bagels very wednesday so I shut up.
the b&w cathy wears only black, white, or black & white. Very gorgeous outfits, simply cut, and qite fascinating as to the number of options 2 colors can give you.
has a lovely smile to boot.

I could get into my own colleagues, but that’s stretching the limits.
Entertaining iniit? 🙂

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