The Story of Gulli Ble

Once upon a time, there lived a person named Gulli Ble. To visualize Gulli in our mind, we need to assign a gender, some characteristics, and a bit of character to Gulli.

Gulli is an average-looking, able-bodied, moderately tall, a wee bit pot-bellied, soft-spoken, heterosexual male. He is married with an understanding wife and two little children.

Gulli works in a modern corporate office, sits at a sleek desk, uses a state-of-the-art computer, and sports a company-sponsored mobile phone of the latest technology.

Gulli works hard, is punctual, and has the desire to excel. He is honest and truthful. He accepts what is being said to him as truth and trusts all that his superiors tell him.

Day after day, Gulli works late hours at the office. His superiors tell him it is just going to last until this project is completed. He believes them. Then they say it is just till this board presentation is made. He nods assent and carries on. Then they say it is till this budget is approved – after all, a budget gets so many haircuts. Absolutely right, thinks Gulli as he dials his wife to tell her he would not be able to make it home by dinner time. Today again, just like every other day!

Gulli also works most weekends. He works from home, of course. This Friday, superiors tell him to enjoy the weekend. No one is to work on weekends, say Gulli’s superiors to the whole team. Gulli is happy. He looks forward to spending some quality time with his family this weekend, without checking his phone every few minutes in anticipation of some urgent work requirement.

On Saturday, Gulli gets up later than usual; he tries to catch up on all the sleep he lost last week. His phone beeps with a notification, but he ignores it. It must be some advertisement; he thinks to himself. The team will not be working today; the superiors have asked them not to. He turns off notification alerts on the phone.

He takes his family out for breakfast. They go together to buy some groceries. By the time Gulli is back home with his family, it is just about 10:30 in the morning. It is a relaxed Saturday morning, he tells himself. He takes his phone to play some music for his kids to dance.

One look at his phone, and his peace and tranquillity evaporate. His superior has written an email to the entire team on a work-related deliverable early morning at 5 am, maybe just before going for a morning jog. Gulli’s colleague A has written a reply to that email, and then B has topped it up. The superior has replied to the chain. And then C has given a comment to which B has responded with a list of things that need to be considered for said deliverable. D gives an opinion on the entire conversation, despite being unrelated to the topic – maybe in fear of being left out. By the time Gulli is done reading all emails, he gets a WhatsApp text from his superior. His superior, not happy with D’s opinion, has texted Gulli to give a fitting reply to D!

Gulli wonders why something that is due late next week is being discussed with so much fervor now. He trusts that his superior would not have emailed and texted had it not been urgent. It must have become suddenly important; he tells himself. He asks his kids to play on their own while he settles down with his laptop for yet another weekend of work!

PS: This is a work of fiction. Any semblance to any real corporate character or situation is totally unintentional and purely incidental.