Tiny Tales – 1

She let the music run in the background. Some slow melodies played on the phone. There were so many apps and so many choices. She would go looking for a particular genre of songs and end up playing something else, every time. Well, there were a plethora of choices but never something that aptly matched what was on her mind. So she chose from what was available.

She tried to work in parallel, focusing on the report she had to prepare. She managed to make the suggested changes and sent the email, re-reading it thrice, fixing the tiny ignorable errors. She realized by the time that was done, her song, which she wanted to listen to was over. She could barely catch a few lines in the beginning and in the end. The rest of it was a blur.

This always happened. She could never work, listening to music. She either couldn’t focus or couldn’t enjoy the song. On the other hand she knew of friends who used to listen to songs and even study! How strange, she thought.

The weather outside was beckoning her to the balcony. Such a beautiful weather! She longed for a cup of tea. She reminded herself, she hadn’t had lunch yet. How things had changed in the pandemic. While she enjoyed the comfort of working from home, everything else had become haphazard. Yet, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to work. Those travels, the crowd now seemed so scary. Her mind wandered off to those old times – an impromptu lunch plan, walks in her favorite crowded market street, meet up with friends, were always welcome. Now, her mind brooded in circles whenever a plan came up. Will we ever go back to times like those? Seemed like an impossible thing.

The sky grew darker outside and it began to pour. Seemed like the weather too was against her working. She let he mind wander free, her eyes looked outside searching for new flowers in her shrub. Rain drops trickled down the leaves of the tree. It was calming. She fell into a light slumber without her knowledge. Some moments of peace, before she had to be up and about the routine chaos.