When I got to know that I can watch a play that day, I was excited. Not that my excitement was anything special, but simply put I am always excited when there is a live performance, as the norm nowadays is recorded media which has been edited to perfection. I didn't even know the name of the play. I usually don't ask my father what I am going to witness. I dont ask for too much information. The theatrical performance of the team is enough for an audience member to understand the message, experience the acting, reacting, sound, lights and every reaction in the flow of act in between, if it all falls into place as intended.

It did fall into place, and the play was quite a memorable experience, both for me and my friend Ansh Vats, whom I brought with me.

Taking my friend to Mandi House, to Kamani Auditorium for me felt like I was taking him to a planetarium. This was partly due to my immense fascination of auditoriums with wooden floors where live performances are hosted. Secondly, he mentioned how he likes new experiences and had never actually been to a professionally conducted performance like this.

Ansh is my junior, a man who can articulate his thoughts and likes acting. In school, where my stage fright overshadowed my ability to perform and hindered me in a way that I never actually had any exposure to the stage, Ansh was already performing and securing his place on the podium in various competitions.

One sitting in a metro for half an hour, and we were transported from Vaishali to Mandi house. Exiting the station, we walked to Kamani Auditorium, which was just a couple minutes of walking away. The humidity however was now producing sweat in a manner different from the Sun. Kamani had its gates closed and didn't let any audience inside the lobby. The show was delayed by fifteen minutes, not that it was an issue for me. Some who were standing were a tad bit annoyed at the precarious and humid situation they were in, standing outside the gates of Kamani, sweating, fanning themselves away with the handkerchiefs, at the mercy of the Cream Bell stall standing right outside.

A couple of men were decided to take action and started complaining to the guards regarding not being able to enter. They asked to at least enter the lobby, even if the play were to be late.

A certain few individuals stated that they had seen so many plays before, and in none of them were they made to stand outside the auditorium, being treated as criminals, being made to stand outside, they advocated for the ladies, "they are sweating" and then they returned back to saying that they have seen many plays before.

Soon after everyone was permitted inside I collected my pass for the seats. We got seated, put our phones to silent and watched the play.

The musician sat down on the allotted chair carefully. The old character came into the smoking room, lighting up a cigarette, and getting a message on his phone. He calls someone, it is his wife. He says that he is not familiar with texts and prefers calls instead. He talks about his job, and says that he isn't fired yet, nor did he get a promotion. He was due to be retired in 3 months.

Another character, an IT specialist came into the room with his broken English and an accent. They converse as the old man cuts the call. More characters enter as they talk about the trivialities of life and their current conditions, showing the audience a glimpse into their corporate situation. After a while the boss came in, bringing an aura of authority and rudeness. Angered by the lack of employees at their desks and an excess of them in the smoking room, he states that out of the three people who were there, one would be fired. A tense environment emerged out of the situation. Their ties, changing from "Monday" to "Tuesday" in the next scene, started with another set of predicaments, a dilemma for the IT specialist, curious about how a virus entered the main server of the company and is now costing the company a significant sum. The old employee who is going to retire tells the specialist with hesitation, that it was his pen drive that has caused this. This was enough for him to get fired, except that didn't happen the next day due to the IT specialist. Someone else in the room had reported. The play goes on to introduce the intern character as a catalyst that would propel the story in an unexpected direction which shuffles the states of the employees, both mentally and financially.

The play was a depiction of the rat race. It showed the audience with great confidence the emotions and dilemmas that employees face. A lack of general well-being is observed throughout. In the search and need for economic stability, man loses his freedom and the self's creativity. Cigarettes are not the ones "killing" the man, but he has something inside of him killing him constantly that pushes him to smoke. Its escapism.

When the play ended the audience rose from their seats and applauded, a sign of respect and extraordinary praise.