The Gang-1

This is the first part of a yarn which I may never complete. Even if I try and complete it, it may take some time. So proceed at your own risk.:

It was Friday night again. Why did the week always go by in a flash? Unlike his other friends, who longed for the weekend, he usually waited desperately for Monday to arrive. Strangely he loved office. Office was where he didn’t have to think about “what should I do next?” It was the only place where he robotically performed his tasks without giving a thought to anything other than the assignment at hand. He wasn’t a nerd though he looked like one in his glasses and ill-fitting formal clothes.
He was on his way to house. He preferred calling it a house and not a home, because it was a rented apartment where he stayed alone. The music was playing in his car stereo, but it wasn’t getting beyond his ears. It was like he was subconsciously listening to the music playing in the background, but his mind was busy with something else. He was getting nostalgic again. He shrugged off the feeling and concentrated on the dark road that lay ahead. Yeah, it surely was a dark road. He parked his car in his regular parking slot. He turned off the ignition and waited a full two minutes before stepping out.
A nod of the head served as an acknowledgment to the security guy who saluted him and a raised hand served as a casual hello to his neighbor whom he bumped into on the stairs. Once inside the house, he switched on the music player and inserted an Engelbert Humperdinck CD. Soft melodious music filled the room. He opened the refrigerator and took out a can of beer and made his way to the balcony. Once he was settled comfortably in his armchair, he lighted a Marlboro and stared at the empty sky. The night was dark and there was no moon. Only a few twinkling stars winked at him. Suddenly the feeling hit him again. Nostalgia! As he turned around and stared into the empty room, he saw himself with all of them. Three years back, in this very room, there used to be a riot every weekend. He still remembered everything crystal clear.
It was his first day in the new city. It was also his first day in his new office where he was introduced to “The Gang”. Adityaman, Arushi, Kunal and Priya. He was the fifth member of the team they were in. Vikram. As it happens to every new joiner, he was given hostile treatment by all four during his initial days in office. Nevertheless, he had gone about doing his job ignoring this and interacting with them professionally. Any help or assistance he asked for was met with upraised eyebrows and “Can’t you see that I am busy now” looks. But he was a lateral joiner and they were freshers and he knew that his experience of one year with his previous employer would give him an edge once he got familiar with the office product they were working on.
Two weeks into his job, he walked in one morning to see the gang huddled in Adityaman’s cubicle. It looked as if there was a problem and they were all trying to tackle it together, like a team. Not intending to intrude, he made his way to his cubicle and started with his work. Half an hour later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Kunal who had a big smile on his face. He smiled back and asked him what the matter was. Kunal explained that Adi was badly stuck on some assignment that needed to be submitted by noon. They were unable to crack it and any help would be welcome. That was it! That was the opportunity he had been waiting for. It was time to pay them back by denying help. But, since difficult problems always intrigued him, he decided to have a look ignoring the evil thought. It was so typical of him, that he smiled inwardly.
C++ had always been his strong point. But this was a big program, the biggest he had seen till date and it would take some time to debug the code and find the problem. Ten minutes into the job and he had located a bug, which seemed to be the likely cause of the problem. Adi smiled at him, there were a few cheers as they removed the bug and ran the program. Strangely the program returned another error while running. It was a tricky situation and he felt that the code needed a few tweaks. A few changes and half an hour later, the program was up and running smoothly. Adi thanked him profusely and hurriedly checked in the code in the nick of time saving himself from a confrontation with the Boss. He was back to his seat after the celebrations were over. He had decided to skip lunch and make up for the lost time. Exactly at one, Priya was at his desk smiling at him.
“Lunch?” she asked.
“Sure” he nodded and smiled back.
As they walked towards the canteen he realized that he was part of them now. Part of the gang!