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U r b a n ta l e s

How a long-time office

habit of something
sweet fell away
Suresh Pattali After making his presence felt with a noisy en-
try, he would first unpack the bag and transfer
the candy into plastic containers. There was ex-
tra stock in the bottom drawer of his desk. The

T
wiry guy would then float around office with a
he flashing orange light on my of- bowl delivering goods at each desk. He knew who
fice landline indicated either a liked what. It was a ritual that took under half an
missed call or a message (the ring- hour, a gesture straight from the heart. An altru-
er is always turned down). It was a istic effort to bring cheer into our mundane lives.
colleague trying to find out if I had “Sweeten your day,” he would say, offering the
some candy lying around. bowl to colleagues.
I am diabetic, as everyone in Our ‘merchant of sweetness’ acquired the
the office knows. Yet, I looked around for leftovers candy culture growing up in Mumbai. Kids used
around my work station. Diabetic or not, it’s a habit to flock to the sweets kept in a church office in
to pile candy in certain easily-accessible spots around a Mumbai suburb and he was overwhelmed by
my work station. It’s where I stash my daily supply. the pleasure people derived. He brought sweets
The candy culture had be- to work every day in the last
come a habit thanks to a col- eight years I have known him.
league who systematically He even stocked them in his
blew sugar into our circulatory office drawer for us whenever
system, like drug peddlers do
A colleague, he went on leave.
with vulnerable schoolchil- the ‘Candy Man’ Some time ago, the candy
dren. The call asking for candy would float around culture stopped.
was the fallout of pulling the Our Candy Man colleague’s
plug on that long-time office office with a bowl brother was a habit in his life.
habit overnight. of sweets offering They were a close family. They
I read an essay in the ’70s by went shopping together. They
the British journalist, editor and
them to everyone, planned holidays and foreign
author AG Gardiner who narrat- every day for eight trips. They went for movies
ed a cruel joke Scottish novelist years. The ritual and ate out. They scoured
Walter Scott played on a class- sales and auctions in town and
mate. This boy never failed to an- brought cheer to bought gadgets. Then one day
swer a question in class. Scott no- our mundane lives... death broke the habit that had
ticed how he stood up to answer defined their life.
questions and would play with
one day, the candy It’s been a little over a year.
a particular button on his waist culture stopped Our friend hasn’t recovered. He
coat. The boy’s brilliant brain stopped bringing candy to work.
always got his answers when he Some continue habits as a trib-
fingered the button. ute to lost ones. Some don’t as
One day, Scott removed the button on his coat the old habits become carriers of sorrow. Our friend
when the boy wasn’t around, a mischief that led chose the second option. He told me this week that
to a monumental tragedy. The next day, when the he had called off a slew of habits.
boy took the floor to answer a question, his finger Think of losing a family member who had been by
slipped down to the particular button that typi- your side, a part of your mental mechanism for de-
cally unravelled his world of knowledge. It was cades. Think of the darkness and loneliness that per-
not to be seen. He couldn’t give an answer ever son’s vacuum would cause.
again. According to Scott, the boy later “filled While highlighting the importance of routine,
some inferior office in one of the courts of law at Gardiner suggested we need to adjust to our circum-
Edinburgh”. The poor fellow took to drinking and stances, and not adhere to habits all the time. But
died. Moral of the story: a broken habit ruined a that’s easier said than done when a person has been
promising life. a loved habit.
Something similar happened to my colleague Life has moved on in office without candy. Every
and friend, our ‘Candy Man’ in office. Till re- once in a while, a colleague calls on the office phone
cently, he would walk into office every day with to check. “Sweetness is in short supply in this world,”
a haversack full of candy. He never bought them. commented one of Candy Man’s old customers. No
His brother who used to roam markets as part one asks our friend for candy, but everyone prays for
of his job picked them as samples from various sweetness to spring again from his wounded heart.
places in the UAE. The assortment he brought in
were mainly fruit-flavoured. Mango was the most suresh@khaleejtimes.com
sought after, followed by tamarind. There was Suresh is senior editor. He believes
enough variety to satisfy everyone’s taste. procrastination ruins lives