21-04-2019, 01:01 PM
DIARY OF A LOSER
part4
The following day, when I walked into the building, the receptionist told me. "Rajiv, Ravi is waiting for you in the office. I think he has a visitor." I thanked her and hurried to the huge office.
Ravi was there with a guy and a woman. The guy was M. Sharma who was one of my clients. They all got up to greet me.
"Rajiv, I got a call from Mr. Sharma, the CEO at Sharma Products. I have been working over this project personally for the last 2 months. He came here with his wife, Mona. Apparently they are interested in partnering with our company for a major assignment."
I wondered the possible reasons for this meeting. I have been talking to Mr. Sharma every month for more than a year. Over that time, Mr. Sharma and I had become friends and I had managed to sort of get my foot in the door. I wondered how Ravi has managed to get him to sign on the lines.
"Rajiv, good to see you again," Mr. Sharma said.
"Hi, nice meeting you," I said. "I guess I should congratulate you on your contract with Ravi."
"Hi, I'm Mona," Mrs. Sharma said.
She was dressed in a sleeveless white blouse that was tucked into a short black skirt, and it was difficult not to stare at the tremendous amount of thigh she was showing. She had sparkling eyes, a cute little nose, and wire frame glasses that only complemented her attractive face.
"Have you been working with Ravi for very long?" she asked
"A couple of months", I replied.
"Good, I'll leave you guys to finalize the technicalities. I'll just join Ravi in his office to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I am sure you understand," she said as she headed to the door. I found myself staring at her narrow hips as she walked away.
Ravi took me aside and said, "I hope you realize that there are a lot of companies they could have gotten these services from. He chose us, so don't let us down. Make sure Mr. Sharma gets what he needs, while I do the same with his lovely wife."
Then Ravi followed Mona out of the room, leaving me with M. Sharma.
"I have always liked you, Rajiv," he said. "I always felt that I could trust you and have never regretted dealing with you."
"Thanks a lot for your trust, M. Sharma."
"Actually we are about to announce the acquisition of two other companies that will at least triple the size of Sharma Products. My wife Mona met with your boss last month in New York and was impressed by his capabilities. Mona suggested we use a single source for all of our services and wanted to give you the first opportunity to put together a proposal for 5 years."
"Five years?" I could feel my heart rate increasing as I considered how much this contract would be worth.
I spent another hour with M. Sharma discussing the scope of the services he wanted our company to provide. Before I left we set up a schedule of weekly telephone calls to update him on the progress I was making.
On Friday, I managed to close one to the three cases I was working on and I was close to finalizing another. That night I stopped after work to have a drink with Shekhar Malik, to celebrate closing. We had a couple of beers and talked about work. Obviously the conversation was about the major deal we were signing with Sharma products. At some point, Shekhar asked about the lady. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about Mrs. Sharma.
"I know you worked a lot on this but there is something you need to know," Shekhar said.
"There is nothing you can say that would be any more upsetting than what I have already been through," I said.
"Okay then, I heard we got the contract because Ravi is nailing Mr Sharma’s wife who is said to be a real bombshell," Shekhar said.
"How do you know that?” I said.
"You know I accompanied them to one of the meetings. Ravi asked me what I thought over this offer. I didn't want to act too anxious so I said that it was definitely interesting but still wasn't sure if it would be worth it. Ravi then asked me what I thought about Mrs. Sharma. I said I hadn't got time to think about her, so I could not really say. He also asked if it would be worth it for the pleasure of working with Mr. Sharma's beautiful wife. At that point I could not make out if he was serious or just pulling my legs. I got the feeling that he wanted to accept their offer for more reasons than to sign the contract. "
"That son of a bitch," I said. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"
"He is one sleazy bastard. I still wonder how he would get a married woman agree to sign a contract with him just for the pleasure of giving herself to him."
Sitting across him everyday in the executive boardroom, it was easy to see why Ravi was so popular with the office females: he was in very good shape and his face was sexy, and he had an air of confidence and a strong dominant personality that really turned women on. I shuddered as it occurred to me that was probably what my own wife Monisha found attractive in him.
Despite his situation as an eminently dateable guy within the company, Ravi had wisely avoided the overt romantic advances of every woman at the office, though this only served to pique even greater interest and make him all the more desirable to them. As a senior guy at the firm, I tried my best to avoid office gossip. Yet, from time to time, rumors persisted that Ravi was seriously 'packing'; something the women all seem to agree was simply too good to be true, given his looks, personality, and the amount of sex appeal he had to spare.
Now the story that Shekhar has told me about him and Mona left me puzzled.
I remember a situation with one of the girls in the team. It was a few weeks back when Ritikha literally jumped up in the middle of a meeting and disappeared into the corridor, saying loudly that she was going to print out a document. Then, only a minute later, Ravi mumbled something and dashed off after her. It was all so sudden that the atmosphere was broken and the rest of the team sat there in stolid silence.
The hands on the clock crept slowly round, five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, twenty minutes. At this point someone glared at me and demanded, "Well, are we going to conclude this meeting or not?"
My mind was in a mess. As the length of their absence had grown, I had grown more and more uneasy. Luckily I was saved from taking action because at that moment, Ravi walked in followed by Ritikha carrying some print outs about a survey carried out by our company. I had completely forgotten about this incident until now when Shekhar made mention of his suspicions regarding Ravi and Miss Sharma.
Later that night, I told Monisha about the meeting with Ravi and Mr. Sharma and the contract signed, and she again asked me if I was ready to consider asking for help. I was so pissed I didn't speak to her for the rest of the night. The following day, she apologized to me.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings; it is just that there doesn't seem to be any logical explanation for the problems you are having," she said.
I chose not to tell her that I heard we got the contract because Ravi was sleeping with Mrs. Sharma.
"Anyway, why don't you forget about work now?"
That sounded like a very good suggestion. Monisha and I took our drinks into the family room and sat on the sofa.
"You have been down and grumpy for the last couple of weeks so this contract is a welcome change," Monisha said.
"Sorry, I was frustrated because I feel I missed out on this proposal that could turn out to be very big," I said.
"You were not the only one; Ravi did put effort on this on it, right?"
I snapped my head around and gave Monisha a stern look. "No."
"Don't you think that the client would not have signed if he did not intervene at some stage?"
"I am completely capable of doing my job without outside interference" I said.
"It is not outside interference. It still is your deal. I just thought that after the recent problems you have had that it was not a bad idea to get some help," Monisha said.
The problems I was having at work were a real pain but the fact that those problems were affecting Monisha's confidence in me is what really hurts.
"I don't need or want any help from Ravi or anyone else," I said. "So let's just drop this, okay?"
"Okay."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
part4
The following day, when I walked into the building, the receptionist told me. "Rajiv, Ravi is waiting for you in the office. I think he has a visitor." I thanked her and hurried to the huge office.
Ravi was there with a guy and a woman. The guy was M. Sharma who was one of my clients. They all got up to greet me.
"Rajiv, I got a call from Mr. Sharma, the CEO at Sharma Products. I have been working over this project personally for the last 2 months. He came here with his wife, Mona. Apparently they are interested in partnering with our company for a major assignment."
I wondered the possible reasons for this meeting. I have been talking to Mr. Sharma every month for more than a year. Over that time, Mr. Sharma and I had become friends and I had managed to sort of get my foot in the door. I wondered how Ravi has managed to get him to sign on the lines.
"Rajiv, good to see you again," Mr. Sharma said.
"Hi, nice meeting you," I said. "I guess I should congratulate you on your contract with Ravi."
"Hi, I'm Mona," Mrs. Sharma said.
She was dressed in a sleeveless white blouse that was tucked into a short black skirt, and it was difficult not to stare at the tremendous amount of thigh she was showing. She had sparkling eyes, a cute little nose, and wire frame glasses that only complemented her attractive face.
"Have you been working with Ravi for very long?" she asked
"A couple of months", I replied.
"Good, I'll leave you guys to finalize the technicalities. I'll just join Ravi in his office to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I am sure you understand," she said as she headed to the door. I found myself staring at her narrow hips as she walked away.
Ravi took me aside and said, "I hope you realize that there are a lot of companies they could have gotten these services from. He chose us, so don't let us down. Make sure Mr. Sharma gets what he needs, while I do the same with his lovely wife."
Then Ravi followed Mona out of the room, leaving me with M. Sharma.
"I have always liked you, Rajiv," he said. "I always felt that I could trust you and have never regretted dealing with you."
"Thanks a lot for your trust, M. Sharma."
"Actually we are about to announce the acquisition of two other companies that will at least triple the size of Sharma Products. My wife Mona met with your boss last month in New York and was impressed by his capabilities. Mona suggested we use a single source for all of our services and wanted to give you the first opportunity to put together a proposal for 5 years."
"Five years?" I could feel my heart rate increasing as I considered how much this contract would be worth.
I spent another hour with M. Sharma discussing the scope of the services he wanted our company to provide. Before I left we set up a schedule of weekly telephone calls to update him on the progress I was making.
On Friday, I managed to close one to the three cases I was working on and I was close to finalizing another. That night I stopped after work to have a drink with Shekhar Malik, to celebrate closing. We had a couple of beers and talked about work. Obviously the conversation was about the major deal we were signing with Sharma products. At some point, Shekhar asked about the lady. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about Mrs. Sharma.
"I know you worked a lot on this but there is something you need to know," Shekhar said.
"There is nothing you can say that would be any more upsetting than what I have already been through," I said.
"Okay then, I heard we got the contract because Ravi is nailing Mr Sharma’s wife who is said to be a real bombshell," Shekhar said.
"How do you know that?” I said.
"You know I accompanied them to one of the meetings. Ravi asked me what I thought over this offer. I didn't want to act too anxious so I said that it was definitely interesting but still wasn't sure if it would be worth it. Ravi then asked me what I thought about Mrs. Sharma. I said I hadn't got time to think about her, so I could not really say. He also asked if it would be worth it for the pleasure of working with Mr. Sharma's beautiful wife. At that point I could not make out if he was serious or just pulling my legs. I got the feeling that he wanted to accept their offer for more reasons than to sign the contract. "
"That son of a bitch," I said. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"
"He is one sleazy bastard. I still wonder how he would get a married woman agree to sign a contract with him just for the pleasure of giving herself to him."
Sitting across him everyday in the executive boardroom, it was easy to see why Ravi was so popular with the office females: he was in very good shape and his face was sexy, and he had an air of confidence and a strong dominant personality that really turned women on. I shuddered as it occurred to me that was probably what my own wife Monisha found attractive in him.
Despite his situation as an eminently dateable guy within the company, Ravi had wisely avoided the overt romantic advances of every woman at the office, though this only served to pique even greater interest and make him all the more desirable to them. As a senior guy at the firm, I tried my best to avoid office gossip. Yet, from time to time, rumors persisted that Ravi was seriously 'packing'; something the women all seem to agree was simply too good to be true, given his looks, personality, and the amount of sex appeal he had to spare.
Now the story that Shekhar has told me about him and Mona left me puzzled.
I remember a situation with one of the girls in the team. It was a few weeks back when Ritikha literally jumped up in the middle of a meeting and disappeared into the corridor, saying loudly that she was going to print out a document. Then, only a minute later, Ravi mumbled something and dashed off after her. It was all so sudden that the atmosphere was broken and the rest of the team sat there in stolid silence.
The hands on the clock crept slowly round, five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, twenty minutes. At this point someone glared at me and demanded, "Well, are we going to conclude this meeting or not?"
My mind was in a mess. As the length of their absence had grown, I had grown more and more uneasy. Luckily I was saved from taking action because at that moment, Ravi walked in followed by Ritikha carrying some print outs about a survey carried out by our company. I had completely forgotten about this incident until now when Shekhar made mention of his suspicions regarding Ravi and Miss Sharma.
Later that night, I told Monisha about the meeting with Ravi and Mr. Sharma and the contract signed, and she again asked me if I was ready to consider asking for help. I was so pissed I didn't speak to her for the rest of the night. The following day, she apologized to me.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings; it is just that there doesn't seem to be any logical explanation for the problems you are having," she said.
I chose not to tell her that I heard we got the contract because Ravi was sleeping with Mrs. Sharma.
"Anyway, why don't you forget about work now?"
That sounded like a very good suggestion. Monisha and I took our drinks into the family room and sat on the sofa.
"You have been down and grumpy for the last couple of weeks so this contract is a welcome change," Monisha said.
"Sorry, I was frustrated because I feel I missed out on this proposal that could turn out to be very big," I said.
"You were not the only one; Ravi did put effort on this on it, right?"
I snapped my head around and gave Monisha a stern look. "No."
"Don't you think that the client would not have signed if he did not intervene at some stage?"
"I am completely capable of doing my job without outside interference" I said.
"It is not outside interference. It still is your deal. I just thought that after the recent problems you have had that it was not a bad idea to get some help," Monisha said.
The problems I was having at work were a real pain but the fact that those problems were affecting Monisha's confidence in me is what really hurts.
"I don't need or want any help from Ravi or anyone else," I said. "So let's just drop this, okay?"
"Okay."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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