A one-page story about a common man’s weekend:

Feels like everything has come to a stop right now that everything is at a still. Nothing to do, nothing
to feel and very empty within. Everything around me, required something in return, not one of it
being a “take it for free”. You have a library of games and wish to install one, you need a good chunk
of data; you need something to eat, get up and go there to get it. Nothing is free, everything is
pricey, and it is a pain in the ass.

All a man would want on their weekends, is something nice and not boredom. Yet, there is just an
ample load of plain boredom in sight. As much as I would love to do something, it is just plain
annoying how you just want to sit in peace yet even then, your legs are burning up wanting you to
stand (and it was just this past 15 minutes of me sitting, not even an hour).

I worked out, exercised for about 1-11/2 hour but even then, I felt empty the entire time. I was
checking through my library of games later on, as to what I want to download and play but lost
interest because I wasn’t feeling the mood to do so.

Finally, after cleaning up I decided to take a stroll outside and even then, still didn’t feel like I was
alright. Finally, got tired of it all and decided to walk it off outside the house. Once outside, I felt the
same thing again, looking at the people around me, to be in a state of “togetherness” with smiles on
their faces, I felt again, a sense of loneliness.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of need from within and I felt dragged to a counter. All I could recall from
that time was, “What the hell is happening to me?”, “Why do I feel so helpless?”, “Am I this hopeless
in life?” and all such negative thoughts flooding constantly in my mind. It was a disaster for the past
50 mins from when I went out and all I could ever feel were these negative, sad emotions. Outside, I
may have looked alright with my composure but deep within, I felt like a slave, being judged for
everything about me. I felt like I wanted to leave the place where I stood. This is often the reason
why I don’t go out much. It hurts to be this way.

Also, I believe that I have a very strong condition of body dysmorphia because I feel uneasy about
the way I am. I already was a fat kid to begin with at 96-100kgs in the beginning. Finally, I had
dropped down to 71-75kgs which honestly, felt like a dream come true and all my clothes used to be
so loose while wearing. Some of them just dropped down. It was the happiest time of my life. But
then, due to the pandemic, a BPO job and no prior experience of working in a corporate field, I got
myself back to square -1. I was very, over-the-counter fat and to this day, I am doing my best to get
back to the same level I was. It has just been 2-3 weeks now and very minor change seen.

Finally, coming back to my hopeless condition I am in, I felt the weakest there amongst people
around me and when my body acted up on its own. During this moment, my heart questioned me
my existence and I felt whole again once I felt the warmth of the sizzling red colour from the oven
heat. The man at the counter there, prepared me a shawarma, a delicacy fit for the Heavens and all I
could feel was peace. Even bite of that shawarma, from the juicy chicken cuts to the warm touch of
the khuboos, everything was just perfect in the moment and nothing, absolutely nothing could stop
me from feel so happy again. I felt alive, I felt joy coursing through my veins and there were kittens
around me asking for some and my heart took control yet again and I gave them some too. It felt so
wholesome. I felt like this moment must never end.

Unfortunately, that is life. That is the pain of happiness is that it is always short-lived. But the beauty
of happiness is that no matter the sadness one faces, even the smallest of gestures, simplest of
things in life, brings you happiness and that is how a lonely, common man spent his weekend.