The Monday Morning Blues is a serious condition where one feels manically depressed at the thought of going to work after the weekend. My Monday morning blues technically start on Sunday evening after I have said goodbye to my friends. Flashes of its imminent onset appear on Sunday afternoon.

For those who do not suffer the blues (you lousy, obscenely upbeat lot) let me describe the feeling. The blues is a hollow-heavy feeling (those who have seriously experienced the blues will not refute my description). It starts with a need to sigh deeply every once in a while. This is the blues kicking in at a sub-conscious level. Then a pall of quiet desperation will envelop you. You don't want your evening to end if you are out, and you wish you had something like a movie or a dinner invitation to look forward to if you are at home. Now, you are in denial. Then the chilling realisation. In the next heightened state of self-pity, you will wail to your siblings, parents, spouses, friends, the dog, the cat, the walls, "Oh God, I have to work tomorrow." Lastly you will delay going to bed because you don't want the morn to dawn.

When you float to consciousness on Monday morning you are almost graciously resigned to your fate. Secretly you still hope for a statewide bandh, or for some old but important politician to oblige you by popping off (peacefully, by non-violent means). Scan the papers, switch on the TV and that sliver of hope quickly fades.

The ride to work is a bitter episode filled with despondency. The weekend is already just a beautiful memory. The weekend is only four days away.