Work Whispers- Entry1- My first team outing

Women's day have been a very hyped event in corporate world. The buzz would be mostly because of lesser females among the existing work environment."Sex ratio" as you would term it in social studies is not equal as expected. So there was a buzz about the things that's got to happen on the day of women's day.

This is not actually the first corporate outing I was ever invited for. But this was the first I decided to attend. There were a couple of momentary events which required my presence like someone got married and was eagerly throwing a lunch party to celebrate the fate of life. I smartly escaped from couple of those lunch parties that were thrown before. Probably , to be honest, I was mostly unnoticed when I went missing for those occasion, as I was a new joiner, fresher. My team was very self -satisfied team to accept any sudden outside member whole heartedly. I did feel a little bad for not including me or taking notice of me, but gradually adapted with the self-contended team.Most of the times I was not invited for lunch with them(just being diplomatic, I was never invited). But sometimes some sudden mail invites accidentally gets trapped into my inbox not because I was personally invited, but those were bulk message sent to everyone in the group of which I was a part. Eventually when time passed, I was not as much as a stranger before,  people had started knowing me by name. I was glad. But still group lunch with my team was not even a occasional event. The situation slightly changed from giving a blank stare at me to gradually giving a warm smile whenever it was initiated. I realized people are being nice to me than before, but sill has not accepted me wholly as one among them.

One such mail appeared from nowhere in my mail box suddenly. It was from Vishangi. This time it was not a bulk mail which has accidentally ended up in my inbox, rather she had added me , individually invited all of them.The recipient were all women.It was a women's day invite , "there will be a cultural event, followed by a luncheon" the mail read. It had also mentioned all of us to wear yellow on that day. I dint know why, but guessing it would be perhaps to keep track of the crowd and to identify women and to distinguish them from men, I closed my mail box. Though this mail was sent only to the female employees the info spread to the men by word of mouth , much to the male counterpart's annoyance that "Men's day "was not celebrated. Many male co-workers diplomatically expressed their dismay on this issue. I brushed it away as I was not the initiator of the event.

 Vishangi is an event organizer in my project who had previously persuaded me to sing( knowing that i am trained in music from my introductory speech, I will tell you about it later) in an event that was expected to happen on women's day which eventually got cancelled due to corona virus outbreak adding much to the men counterpart's excitement.We were not asked to crowd due to the danger of spreading. The mail box mail said that the event stood cancelled apologetically but still gave all a ray of hope  saying that the luncheon was "On" ,but this time it was on following day of the schedule. "Lunch should be cancelled too! what if the corona virus attacks you girls when u girls dine?" said Suriya dejectedly. Tuesday on which the even was scheduled, I had ironed my unused yellow kurtha with chicken embroidery and paired it up with a white bottom. It was the holi day. During the breakfast, Sindu(another new joiner) spotted me wearing yellow and asked me "Isn't the color code day tomorrow?". I realized I had worn it on wrong day, but dint showcase my uncertainty. This traumatized Sindhu further and made her think she had missed the "color code day". When I went back to seat and found no-one other than Sindhu was present, I got the bus back to my room changed and came back, which amused Sindhu when she spotted me that afternoon. But I had noticed that many like me had worn yellow on the wrong day. I realized I wouldn't have been alone even if  I hadn't changed. Two consequent mails with different dates on it had confused most of them in the group. Next day when I wore the same dress for luncheon, Sindhu waved at me with a grin. They had said there will be a brief photo session before we left for lunch. When the clock struck 12 o clock I saw the ladies rushing into a conference room for the photo session. Before the thought of following them could strike me, Saravanan appeared before me. Saravanan is my manager . He was there to discuss some features of product. I had no choice than to hear him for some time and then join the ladies for lunch by excusing myself. After a final group photo which I managed be a part of , we were instructed to book ola/uber to reach our destination for lunch. While I was called in forth to join a group of girls to share a ride, our cab arrived. Only on mid way it was noticed that the lady who had booked cab has made cash as a payment option . Realizing that none travelling by it had a penny, all of us tried all modes possible to contact others for help. We had virtual money but no currency. We managed to borrow it from another lady colleague with a promise to return it back. Then it was said that it would be reimbursed by the company. Merrily we went to 4 th floor for the restaurant. As soon as we went in , Vishangi told our reservation in the name of company. We were shown an notebook in which we were asked to write our names like an attendance register. As we went in, I followed the crowd which let me in the ladies washroom, which I never intended to enter. We searched for a washbasin which was unspottable anywhere. We went inside the allotted room. It had tall chairs , presumably inspired from the incident in Ramayana where Hanuman made his own seat out of his tail in Ravana's court which was taller than Ravan's throne right after the brief encounter with Sita maata in Ashok vaatika. I realized that the greatness of Hanuman did not lie in making a seat nearly taller than himself out of his tail , but managing to climb on top of it that made him what he is. Many of us had trouble reaching the chair , some needed a ladder to reach them. After a brief waiting, we were called upon to have the buffet.  Me being a poor eater in nature, was cleaning the plate with tissue on- line in Buffet. Many items were out of scope to eat as either it spelled very hard to anticipate the taste, or it was not visually appealing as it sounded. After my quick lunch, I saw people going on to fill their empty spaces on their plates for second  and third time. Suddenly while enjoying my dessert, I noticed a red laser light targeting me. I suddenly imagined if there was a secret Sniper targeting to shoot me for taking an extra jamoon. Realizing that they were DJ lights gave me a temporary relief. The server bashed in and announced that the DJ is on the way and is expected to arrive soon anytime. Everyone except me was excited. I expected the DJ to give a hallmark entrance with an insane fashion sense with a big-bang speaker headphone on his ears , with a little dance steps like a typical "yo-yo" kind of a guy. But to my amusement, the DJ appeared in a very formal dress typically  dressed as a software engineer from head to toe. He would have been one of those guys who would have earned a fortune in software company before realizing or figuring out that his passion lies in DJ-ing. There was a sudden shrill of catastrophic noise that pierced the ears. The DJ  was ready to bombard his songs. The change in color of sniper lights from gloomy red ones were a little better and suited the atmosphere. I had heard only melodic sounds of Seergazhi's songs that were played with big brass speakers in nearby temple which would wake us all from the sleep early morning . Sometimes a melodic 90's film songs were played while traveling the city bus. But this nonrhythmic beats with monosyllable sounds were a little new of me. I was suddenly dragged by Chitra, to dance with her on the dance floor while I realized the perks of being a minimal eater. I saw everyone having another plate to complete. While I was near to the dance floor , a mosquito spray kind of fog was sprayed from nowhere to enhance the mood of dancing.  The mosquito kind of fog made the visibility poor which worked to my advantage of sneaking out without anyone spotting. Though I was dragged back , the fog helped me to return back to my corner. I remembered that I was scheduled a meeting at 2:00 pm. I informed Chandra about it and sneaked  out of the room. I retrieved back to my seat by traveling through the bus to which I paid my ticket using the ten rupee note I had sneaked into my cellphone cover anticipating the DJ drama in prior. After a few minutes of warming my seat I was told that the meeting is cancelled, yet I was grateful that I had a reason to leave early. I would have got headache ,had I stayed a bit longer due to the penitentiary noise and fog all around.