Decay

The Discoverer building of the International Tech Park; this photo has been taken from the smokers 'lounge' , pretty close to where my institute is. Today is a Sunday, today, the normally busy tech park closes down. As the offices take a day off, most of the restaurants in the food court take a day off, the mall empties of all but a few people doing their overtime or others like me, who are so used to being here, Sunday at home seems unnatural.
Sundays at the Tech Park are awful. I've grown accustomed by now to the crowds, to the rush, everyone's running around, busy. On a Sunday this place goes into hibernation. You can walk around the empty corridors, without having to watch your step, the activity, the perennial sounds of voices and strained central air conditioning are gone. In their place, a deep sense of gloom and ennui settles down. With the holiday, the maintenance staff too relax, while a few continue with their normal duties, most switch over activities that are ignored during the week, like cleaning out the fountain. Thick plastic pipes run amok over the soiled floor, carrying water from the restrooms to the outside where dozens of blue shirted-men are occupied, scrubbing the accumulated dirt.
Our institute too succumbs to the temporary decay. The security guard is sitting around, un-uniformed, while housekeeping staff clear shards of glass from a shattered door. I can't but help thinking twice before I sign in. Is it really worth it, am I going to be able to get any work done under these conditions?
Apparently not, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this. Anyway I know that with tomorrow, the Tech Park will again metamorphose into the monster that I am used to, and till then all I can think of doing is use all this free Internet access I have.