04-01-2020, 01:55 PM
Chapter 1: The Contract
Holding my hot cup of coffee I was wondering where was my boss going with this discussion. Who needed history lessons from the Managing Director all of a sudden? I was wondering. "The Kanika Palace has been an important heritage site and the current heir Mr. Surajit Singh Deo has decided to renovate it into a palace hotel", by boss paused to sip from his own cup of coffee. I instantly knew what the discussion was all about.
"This moron has acquired a contract worth crores of rupees and instead of revealing the good news directly, has been running around the bush all morning!" I hissed under by breath to my colleague beside me. He suppressed a laugh and looked straight.
"So, I know it is a contract worth dying for but we need to check the site and send them a detailed proposal to them by the next week." He continued after another sip from his already cold cup, "Ajinkya, I suggest you own this task and visit the site this weekend. Do you think Monday and Tuesday will be enough to get this proposal ready?" I wanted to splash the coffee in my hand on his face. How does he think two days will be enough? "I will try sir", I said. I was somehow excited at the prospect of travelling away from office anyway.
"Fine then! Mr. Singh Deo is currently in France but I guess his wife is mostly dealing with this renovation activity. I will message them today that you would reach there by Saturday. Once you are done evaluating the site you can come back on Sunday evening I suppose", he started to flip some sheets before him and came up with the one he was looking for, "Here, this is the requirement they have mentioned. You can suggest some more to them after evaluation and put their detailed cost analysis in the proposal."
I took the sheet from him, the letterhead belonged to a Mrs. Renuka Singh Deo, Ph.D. in Philosophy, Delhi University. I noticed that she had already mentioned herself as the CEO of Kanika Palace Hotel. The damn thing isn't even renovated but they have declared it a destination hotel already? Good in a way, the paperwork have been done it seems. This contract cannot slip away, I thought and relaxed.
Soon after lunch I opened my laptop and searched for Kanika Palace Hotel. There were results without the mention of the word 'hotel' though. I came across a year old travel blog which was an interview of the current caretaker of Kanika Palace. A year back the caretaker was the same Mrs. Renuka Singh Deo it said.
I found that the interview was more on her as a person than it being about the destination. There were many questions and answers which I went through in full. By the time I finished I knew that she was some sort of Philanthropist and engaged in a tremendous amount of social work and also helped organize self-help groups across Rajkanika Town and Kendrapada district in Odisha. A complete PR article and absolutely nothing about the destination, I concluded.
I however noticed, the article missed any mention of her personal life. There were two selfies at the end of the article by the reporter with the Queen. I couldn't help but stare at it for a long time. The woman in the picture was someone I met three years back in Ooty! Just never had the chance to know her name and title. She is a social worker? I asked myself in disbelief.
To be continued...
Holding my hot cup of coffee I was wondering where was my boss going with this discussion. Who needed history lessons from the Managing Director all of a sudden? I was wondering. "The Kanika Palace has been an important heritage site and the current heir Mr. Surajit Singh Deo has decided to renovate it into a palace hotel", by boss paused to sip from his own cup of coffee. I instantly knew what the discussion was all about.
"This moron has acquired a contract worth crores of rupees and instead of revealing the good news directly, has been running around the bush all morning!" I hissed under by breath to my colleague beside me. He suppressed a laugh and looked straight.
"So, I know it is a contract worth dying for but we need to check the site and send them a detailed proposal to them by the next week." He continued after another sip from his already cold cup, "Ajinkya, I suggest you own this task and visit the site this weekend. Do you think Monday and Tuesday will be enough to get this proposal ready?" I wanted to splash the coffee in my hand on his face. How does he think two days will be enough? "I will try sir", I said. I was somehow excited at the prospect of travelling away from office anyway.
"Fine then! Mr. Singh Deo is currently in France but I guess his wife is mostly dealing with this renovation activity. I will message them today that you would reach there by Saturday. Once you are done evaluating the site you can come back on Sunday evening I suppose", he started to flip some sheets before him and came up with the one he was looking for, "Here, this is the requirement they have mentioned. You can suggest some more to them after evaluation and put their detailed cost analysis in the proposal."
I took the sheet from him, the letterhead belonged to a Mrs. Renuka Singh Deo, Ph.D. in Philosophy, Delhi University. I noticed that she had already mentioned herself as the CEO of Kanika Palace Hotel. The damn thing isn't even renovated but they have declared it a destination hotel already? Good in a way, the paperwork have been done it seems. This contract cannot slip away, I thought and relaxed.
***
Soon after lunch I opened my laptop and searched for Kanika Palace Hotel. There were results without the mention of the word 'hotel' though. I came across a year old travel blog which was an interview of the current caretaker of Kanika Palace. A year back the caretaker was the same Mrs. Renuka Singh Deo it said.
I found that the interview was more on her as a person than it being about the destination. There were many questions and answers which I went through in full. By the time I finished I knew that she was some sort of Philanthropist and engaged in a tremendous amount of social work and also helped organize self-help groups across Rajkanika Town and Kendrapada district in Odisha. A complete PR article and absolutely nothing about the destination, I concluded.
I however noticed, the article missed any mention of her personal life. There were two selfies at the end of the article by the reporter with the Queen. I couldn't help but stare at it for a long time. The woman in the picture was someone I met three years back in Ooty! Just never had the chance to know her name and title. She is a social worker? I asked myself in disbelief.
To be continued...
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