As I woke up this morning, the shimmering beams of the first morning rays seeped through my makeshift curtains consisting of a quickly drawn Mizo traditional shawl. I stretched and revelled some parts of a dream that was still lingering in my head, of a mystical beauty who enchanted me with her alluring eyes. Two pillows surrounded me on each side of my bed, a substitute for a woman's warm body to cuddle and find solace in during the tempest hours of a dark and forlorn night. Yup, it was just like any other morning.
Except, it wasn't.
It took a few minutes to dawn upon me that this was the first morning in 15 years I was waking up as an unemployed individual.
Yes. A man with no occupation or duty. A free man.
Yesterday had been an emotional rollercoaster ride for me, as it was my last day at work. As I mentioned in my previous blog update "Notice Period", this was not just about me leaving this company, it was about leaving the Corporate World for good and going back to my roots, Mizoram.
Hence this entire week had been emotional for me, knowing I'll never be sitting behind a workstation again completing tasks or chasing deadlines. I recorded each day of this past one week, so that it would be a good memory to look back, years from now.
This was me on my way to work, the last Monday of my life working in the Corporate sector.
My last Tuesday.
My last Wednesday.
My last Thursday.
And finally, when the last day arrived, I woke up with fervid anticipation. I took my last shower as an employed person, and also made my bed for the last time as an employed person.
I even tied my shoelace for the last time as an employed person.
And of course on the way down from my apartment, I took the ceremonial photo - Last Friday of my life working in the Corporate world.
Getting stuck in traffic on the way to work used to be frustrating. But on my last auto ride to office, I wished the traffic was stuck for a little bit while longer.
Finally, my office appeared in the distant horizon.
I arrived at our office main gate for one last time...
Oh boy, I am so going to miss this place so much.
I showed my ID to the security for one last time.
Office lobby, waiting for the elevator for the last time.
Pressing 7th Floor for the last time.
Signing in with biometric print into our Gaming division for the last time.
Logging into my workstation for the last time.
Accessing network for the last time.
I also posted on my WhatsApp status that I never understood why we had to login twice with the same user id and password, and immediately my colleagues replied saying it was no longer required to do that a long time ago! Apparently I was the only employee in office who had been unnecessarily logging in twice for the past 6 months, lolz! And yeah, I found out about it on my last day. Typical Kima luck, haha.
Here is me making coffee from the office vending machine for the last time!
Eating Vada pav at our office smoking section on the ground floor for the last time.
Touching the Lobby piano for one last time.
Pointing at other people's project for the last time.
Underneath the Jetsynthesys umbrella for one last time.
At lunch time, my colleagues took me to Mineority for a farewell lunch. I felt quite teary-eyed at this time.
And like any other organization, drinking alcohol during office lunch break is prohibited, but on very rare occasions like this when an employee who had been with the company for a long time is leaving, managers turn the other way when alcohol is ordered.
Awesome food as always.
My plate, three types of meat with buttered kasundi sticky rice. Yummm.
We had a great bonding time over lunch, and they made me reveal a few of my secrets, like the naughty stuff I did in office :)
With Prerna and Gouri, my foodie buddies.
Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful lunch and I thank my colleagues for the treat.
Back in office, yeah, back to random extra posts, like me napping at my workstation because of heavy lunch for the last time.
Trying to stay awake and drinking water from the office cooler for the last time.
Drank too much water so I went and peed in our office toilet for the last time.
Finally, it was time to get serious, and I started filling up the formalities to quit.
I had to go to different departments across 6th and 7th floors, IT team, NOC team, Server team, HR, my reporting managers etc etc., getting all my accesses deactivated one by one, and then only could the department heads sign off. I even got my official email deactivated and then realized I hadn't sent out my farewell mail yet, lolz. But then again, I write longer farewell mails on my blog updates so I guess that will do :D
Finally once I was done with everything, it was time to surrender my office ID to the admin and get the final sign-off from him.
Ahhh... I will miss my badge.
And after that was done, I was officially released from the company and became an unemployed vagabond.
Of course I stuck around the office for some more time, saying my goodbyes to all my colleagues. I even passed on my personal office plate "Tubby" (do read my series of blog posts called "The adventures of Tubby") to my friend Omkar, who promised to take good care of her and treat her with love and affection.
Yeah, my plate had been much talked-about in office as I am, or was, the only employee in office with his own plate.
And then my colleagues got a farewell cake for me.
I gave a short speech again as it was demanded, and finally, it was cake cutting time.
Received a beautiful farewell card too, signed by my colleagues.
After that, it was finally time to shut down my system for the last time.
Goodbye Corporate World.
I emotional-blackmailed Zubin into dropping me at home on his Scooty for the last time and so he did it, even though he had to travel in the opposite direction :D
My colleagues called me for a drink party but I decided to stay at home alone. I didn't go to any of my friends' places either nor called over anybody to mine. It was an emotional time for me, and with this great big weight lifted off my shoulders and about to wade into an unknown future ahead, I just wanted to be by myself last night.
So that was it. My experience yesterday of spending my last day in the Corporate World. Hope you found this post entertaining, and yes, I had to add a little bit of drama here and there because it sometimes lessens the pain. :)
So until my next unemployed post, cheers everyone.
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