02-01-2019, 12:10 PM
Ramesh
Ramesh sat in his cubicle staring at the spreadsheet of numbers on the computer screen. He was seeing Preeti emerging out of a swimming pool with the barest of a two piece clinging to her vitals. She was looking at his direction and waving. From his lounging position he raised his beer can. Cuddly muddly she started to run towards him cute boobs bouncing in the effort …
He looked up and scowled at the office boy who had now replaced Preeti. The latter was pointing at the flashing lights of the intercom. Jolted back to reality, he picked up the receiver.
“Hey slacker!”, boomed Sekhar, the senior manager, “Monday morning blues eh!” There was a chuckle from the other end. “Rao wants you in the conference room A S A P.”
“What’s it about?”, he asked. Suddenly he felt a sense of unease. Did it have anything to do with Kajol’s badtameezi yesterday. ‘No, no. He wouldn’t call from the conference room if that was the case.” He listened to what Sekhar was saying.
“Look hero”, Sekhar replied merrily from the other end, “I am upto my nose in deep shit with the Bajajbhai case and when Rao wanted to dump on me an airy-fairy overseas account; I smartly diverted the bamboo towards you.” Ramesh heard him laugh heartily. “Will take your mind off from wife’s chafing for a while. You see, we all go through these right when the pheras are completed but only a few brave ones will admit. You should be thanking me for that.” The laughter still continued though subdued. “Seriously Ramesh, if I were you, I should go over pronto. Boss sounded as if he has discovered a diamond mine. Problem though is that he persists with that lousy trick each time. Bigger problem is that neither me nor you can say that to his face. So be the blue eyed boy of the management and rush over with your notepad and pencil and nod sagaciously to all that the pompous ass says.” Sekhar had terminated the conversation.
He found Mr. Rao and a couple of junior employees sitting at the oval sized conference table waiting for a video conferencing to begin. Mr. Rao beckoned him to the chair near him and whispered urgently “Singapore office says they got a hefty lead for us. Pay attention.”
He was indeed very alert. And during the ensuing video conferencing with their Singapore office staff, it transpired that one of their major clients wanted to make an entry to the local market and were looking for a high level assessment of the market risks albeit within a short period of time or else the contract would certainly go over to a big fish. Mr. Rao enthusiastically commented that they would certainly be upto expectation. The Singapore side confirmed to send all the terms of reference and client profile by the following day. As soon as the video conferencing was over, he turned over to Ramesh. “Neither Sekhar nor de’Souza are free at the moment. The three of you should come up with the detailed project report in three days’ time that is by Friday. Saturday, we review it and Sunday it should be mailed to Singapore for vetting. You are in charge Ramesh.”
Ramesh felt as if a huge slab of marble had been lowered over him without warning. He looked at the other two who were barely a year into the job. Their faces told all. They just didn’t fathom the amount of work that would be involved. He turned back to Mr. Rao.
“Oh yes, for secretarial work; what’s the name of that new girl in HR? Preeti, yes Preeti” , he assented on a prompt, “she would be with you throughout. And daily progress reports Ramesh.”
He didn’t know about the other two who were still shell-shocked to react. But he heard a cuckoo’s note in his heart. The cuckoo’s face resembled very closely with that of Preeti.
Contrary to Muphy’s Law, he finished all his pending assignment in an hour and signed for the outward mail. His desk was clean. The info would arrive tomorrow morning and he had to be ready with his team by then. He spoke briefly into the intercom and arranged that the three of them would chart out the groundwork over lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Halfway through their discussions Preeti joined in. She was vexed as in their excitement none of the three had remembered to inform her about their meeting. She drew a chair near Ramesh and squeezed in, her knees touching his. He said sorry to her and explained what all they knew and discussed between them. Preeti listened carefully, tucking back the loose strands of hair behind her ears. Presently it was decided that each of them would ensure to clear their desks by tonight itself and strategizing would start once the inputs were obtained the next morning. Ramesh settled the bill for all and they prepared to return for office.
“Hey guys”, Preeti was addressing the two juniors, “You two carry on. I have something further to discuss with Ramesh.”
Ramesh cocked his eyebrow at her, sure that she still felt miffed at not having been invited to the meeting. The others left immediately.
“What is it Preeti? I told you I am sorry. It was just an oversight”, he blurted out.
“Arre leave that”, she answered sweetly. “Though damn right you should be sorry. In fact I should be reporting you for gender bias.” But her eyes were shining.
“Then what? Tell me.”
“You know what this assignment means. The boss has confidence enough in you to ask you to head the team. You understand what that means ..” she gave him a slow wink.
Ramesh was thoroughly puzzled. What was Preeti talking about? He had no clue whatsoever. Then came the realization.
“You mean, you mean”, he stammered, “London?”
“Yesss Sir”, Preeti added a dramatic flourish. “The results come out tomorrow.”
He sat stunned. He had completely forgotten about the three week training program at London HQ. Preeti had previously confirmed that he was the frontrunner. And tomorrow it would be declared. He felt so overwhelmed.
“Preeti …”, he choke on his words. Impulsively he hugged her. “Thank you.”.
She patted his back as he released her.
Both of them rose to leave. At his desk, he thanked his stars that he had had enough good sense to clear his assignments before lunch. For now he could hardly concentrate on any work. He rummaged through his drawer and brought out the old flier mentioning the details of the three week training at London. He reread that the company hq had decided that as a moral boosting exercise, they would be sending one employee from each of their world wide offices for the all expense paid training at London. And the result was to come tomorrow. He felt very restless. Sharp at five, he left for home.
On the way back, he suddenly realized that there had been no mention about the spouse joining in the trip. That would of course mean significant expenses for the company and certainly he couldn’t afford it on his own. For an instant, he felt sad for Kajol. She won’t be able to see London with him. Stopping at a florist, he picked up a bunch of roses for her. By the time, he turned his keys in the front door lock, the feeling of sadness had gone.
x x x x
He entered the drawing room and was in for a shock. Rizwan and Kajol were sitting on the sofa, knees touching, her hands in his and their faces just inches apart. Apparently, he was discussing something important and both were so engrossed that they didn’t notice his entry.
“Abbe loafer” he shouted, “when did you come?”
Both of them got startled. Kajol recovered first and said, “Just an hour back.” She smiled when she saw the roses in his hand. “For me?”, her eyes twinkled.
Riz had sprung up. “Teri to…”, advancing towards Ramesh he snatched the flowers from his hand, “Roses for my girlfriend” and he deposited them with the still seated Kajol. Extending his hands wide he turned back towards his childhood friend and clung to his neck.
Ramesh dreaded what was coming next and sure enough a short while later he heard the small sniffling. Riz’s face was on his shoulders and he was clutching him tight still. Then he heard more sniffling. He moved his hand over Riz’s back trying to calm him. “Come on Riz, settle down yaar. Ye rone dhone se daru ka party ka mood kaisa banega?” But Riz wouldn’t listen. He shot a desperate look at Kajol.
“Help for god’s sake Kajo. Take your boyfriend off me.” As she gently pried his arms loose, Riz let go off him. Kajol led him back to the sofa and still somewhat sniffling and teary eyed he buried his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair.
He saw the opportunity and bolted to the bathroom before Riz got up with other ideas.
Half an hour later, when he stepped out; he was relived to find that the boyfriend-girlfriend due had retired to the kitchen. For Riz, cooking was a serious affair and he was equally glad to share his expertise with anyone. Ramesh walked in ostensibly for a glass of water but in reality for a recon. “Get out”, Riz shouted at him. “Get out”, Kajol said to him as well. He laughed back. What he saw gladdened him. The hilsa fish and crabs, which no doubt Riz would have brought with him when he had come and of which he would be preparing mouth watering kolkatan dishes, the sight of all these made him very happy. Also there was the fact that Riz and Kajo would be thoroughly preoccupied for the next hour and half, a time for him to scoot to the nearby FL shop and make the necessary arrangements for the booze party.
Once the cooking was over, Riz came out washing his hands and they moved over to the balcony, the favorite place for their intimate party. They were already two pegs down when Kajol joined them with a plateful of fried fish. Riz would hear none of her protest and plunked a glass full of vodka in her hand. “Ladies drink”, he told her, “Nothing to fear. Your boyfriend is here.” Kajol threw a sharp look at Ramesh, who was now quite buzzed up and started to take a small sip. Then their talks resumed. Riz mentioned how he had been ploughed down under since he had taken up the new work order from here. His turnover had jumped five fold. So had been his staff strength. But it had taken its toll. Forget about social life, he had no life at all for the last couple of months. He had no time for cooking for himself and subsisted solely on outside food. Work hours meant nine to nine for him these days. His skin had turned pale and his eyes had glazed. He spread out both his hands and hugged Ramesh and Kajol who were on either side of him. Then he started crying again as how he was unable to even find time to meet his two friends. Kajol dried his tears and gave a reassuring kiss to calm him down. Eventually he regained control and took another swig from the glass. Turning to Kajol, he dropped his head on her shoulders. “Stay with me always”, he said with a whimper.
Ramesh had taken a lot of the stuff and after felt his head reeling even after the sumptuous dinner was over. He looked at both of them sitting close on the sofa and when Riz called him over, he politely declined saying that he was off to bed and so should Riz as he had an early morning flight to catch. With unsteady steps he walked to the bedroom and crashed there face down. An instant later, he was out.
Sometime in the middle of the night, he woke up, feeling the urgent pressure in his bladder. To his surprise, Kajol wasn’t beside him. Moreover, the lights were still on. Relieving himself he walked to the drawing room and then to the guest room whose door were open. There he saw the two of them on bed, fully dressed, curled up and facing each other knees touching. Like sleeping children, they had put their arms round the others neck. Carefully he drew the double blanket over them, tiptoed back and switched off the lights one by one. Then he drew the door shut and retired to his own bed.
Kajol woke him around seven. He enquired and learnt that Riz had left around five, in time enough to catch his flight. Over breakfast, he said, “Tell you what, this boyfriend of yours is more of a girl.”
She gave him an annoyed look. Then her gaze became even. “Happens, if you grow up with three sisters and a mother for company.”
Ramesh nodded thinking of Riz’s family members and relieving the love that all of them had showered on him during his childhood.
“And he is more of a man inside than many a others that I can think off”, Kajol declared.
Ramesh sat in his cubicle staring at the spreadsheet of numbers on the computer screen. He was seeing Preeti emerging out of a swimming pool with the barest of a two piece clinging to her vitals. She was looking at his direction and waving. From his lounging position he raised his beer can. Cuddly muddly she started to run towards him cute boobs bouncing in the effort …
He looked up and scowled at the office boy who had now replaced Preeti. The latter was pointing at the flashing lights of the intercom. Jolted back to reality, he picked up the receiver.
“Hey slacker!”, boomed Sekhar, the senior manager, “Monday morning blues eh!” There was a chuckle from the other end. “Rao wants you in the conference room A S A P.”
“What’s it about?”, he asked. Suddenly he felt a sense of unease. Did it have anything to do with Kajol’s badtameezi yesterday. ‘No, no. He wouldn’t call from the conference room if that was the case.” He listened to what Sekhar was saying.
“Look hero”, Sekhar replied merrily from the other end, “I am upto my nose in deep shit with the Bajajbhai case and when Rao wanted to dump on me an airy-fairy overseas account; I smartly diverted the bamboo towards you.” Ramesh heard him laugh heartily. “Will take your mind off from wife’s chafing for a while. You see, we all go through these right when the pheras are completed but only a few brave ones will admit. You should be thanking me for that.” The laughter still continued though subdued. “Seriously Ramesh, if I were you, I should go over pronto. Boss sounded as if he has discovered a diamond mine. Problem though is that he persists with that lousy trick each time. Bigger problem is that neither me nor you can say that to his face. So be the blue eyed boy of the management and rush over with your notepad and pencil and nod sagaciously to all that the pompous ass says.” Sekhar had terminated the conversation.
He found Mr. Rao and a couple of junior employees sitting at the oval sized conference table waiting for a video conferencing to begin. Mr. Rao beckoned him to the chair near him and whispered urgently “Singapore office says they got a hefty lead for us. Pay attention.”
He was indeed very alert. And during the ensuing video conferencing with their Singapore office staff, it transpired that one of their major clients wanted to make an entry to the local market and were looking for a high level assessment of the market risks albeit within a short period of time or else the contract would certainly go over to a big fish. Mr. Rao enthusiastically commented that they would certainly be upto expectation. The Singapore side confirmed to send all the terms of reference and client profile by the following day. As soon as the video conferencing was over, he turned over to Ramesh. “Neither Sekhar nor de’Souza are free at the moment. The three of you should come up with the detailed project report in three days’ time that is by Friday. Saturday, we review it and Sunday it should be mailed to Singapore for vetting. You are in charge Ramesh.”
Ramesh felt as if a huge slab of marble had been lowered over him without warning. He looked at the other two who were barely a year into the job. Their faces told all. They just didn’t fathom the amount of work that would be involved. He turned back to Mr. Rao.
“Oh yes, for secretarial work; what’s the name of that new girl in HR? Preeti, yes Preeti” , he assented on a prompt, “she would be with you throughout. And daily progress reports Ramesh.”
He didn’t know about the other two who were still shell-shocked to react. But he heard a cuckoo’s note in his heart. The cuckoo’s face resembled very closely with that of Preeti.
Contrary to Muphy’s Law, he finished all his pending assignment in an hour and signed for the outward mail. His desk was clean. The info would arrive tomorrow morning and he had to be ready with his team by then. He spoke briefly into the intercom and arranged that the three of them would chart out the groundwork over lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Halfway through their discussions Preeti joined in. She was vexed as in their excitement none of the three had remembered to inform her about their meeting. She drew a chair near Ramesh and squeezed in, her knees touching his. He said sorry to her and explained what all they knew and discussed between them. Preeti listened carefully, tucking back the loose strands of hair behind her ears. Presently it was decided that each of them would ensure to clear their desks by tonight itself and strategizing would start once the inputs were obtained the next morning. Ramesh settled the bill for all and they prepared to return for office.
“Hey guys”, Preeti was addressing the two juniors, “You two carry on. I have something further to discuss with Ramesh.”
Ramesh cocked his eyebrow at her, sure that she still felt miffed at not having been invited to the meeting. The others left immediately.
“What is it Preeti? I told you I am sorry. It was just an oversight”, he blurted out.
“Arre leave that”, she answered sweetly. “Though damn right you should be sorry. In fact I should be reporting you for gender bias.” But her eyes were shining.
“Then what? Tell me.”
“You know what this assignment means. The boss has confidence enough in you to ask you to head the team. You understand what that means ..” she gave him a slow wink.
Ramesh was thoroughly puzzled. What was Preeti talking about? He had no clue whatsoever. Then came the realization.
“You mean, you mean”, he stammered, “London?”
“Yesss Sir”, Preeti added a dramatic flourish. “The results come out tomorrow.”
He sat stunned. He had completely forgotten about the three week training program at London HQ. Preeti had previously confirmed that he was the frontrunner. And tomorrow it would be declared. He felt so overwhelmed.
“Preeti …”, he choke on his words. Impulsively he hugged her. “Thank you.”.
She patted his back as he released her.
Both of them rose to leave. At his desk, he thanked his stars that he had had enough good sense to clear his assignments before lunch. For now he could hardly concentrate on any work. He rummaged through his drawer and brought out the old flier mentioning the details of the three week training at London. He reread that the company hq had decided that as a moral boosting exercise, they would be sending one employee from each of their world wide offices for the all expense paid training at London. And the result was to come tomorrow. He felt very restless. Sharp at five, he left for home.
On the way back, he suddenly realized that there had been no mention about the spouse joining in the trip. That would of course mean significant expenses for the company and certainly he couldn’t afford it on his own. For an instant, he felt sad for Kajol. She won’t be able to see London with him. Stopping at a florist, he picked up a bunch of roses for her. By the time, he turned his keys in the front door lock, the feeling of sadness had gone.
x x x x
He entered the drawing room and was in for a shock. Rizwan and Kajol were sitting on the sofa, knees touching, her hands in his and their faces just inches apart. Apparently, he was discussing something important and both were so engrossed that they didn’t notice his entry.
“Abbe loafer” he shouted, “when did you come?”
Both of them got startled. Kajol recovered first and said, “Just an hour back.” She smiled when she saw the roses in his hand. “For me?”, her eyes twinkled.
Riz had sprung up. “Teri to…”, advancing towards Ramesh he snatched the flowers from his hand, “Roses for my girlfriend” and he deposited them with the still seated Kajol. Extending his hands wide he turned back towards his childhood friend and clung to his neck.
Ramesh dreaded what was coming next and sure enough a short while later he heard the small sniffling. Riz’s face was on his shoulders and he was clutching him tight still. Then he heard more sniffling. He moved his hand over Riz’s back trying to calm him. “Come on Riz, settle down yaar. Ye rone dhone se daru ka party ka mood kaisa banega?” But Riz wouldn’t listen. He shot a desperate look at Kajol.
“Help for god’s sake Kajo. Take your boyfriend off me.” As she gently pried his arms loose, Riz let go off him. Kajol led him back to the sofa and still somewhat sniffling and teary eyed he buried his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair.
He saw the opportunity and bolted to the bathroom before Riz got up with other ideas.
Half an hour later, when he stepped out; he was relived to find that the boyfriend-girlfriend due had retired to the kitchen. For Riz, cooking was a serious affair and he was equally glad to share his expertise with anyone. Ramesh walked in ostensibly for a glass of water but in reality for a recon. “Get out”, Riz shouted at him. “Get out”, Kajol said to him as well. He laughed back. What he saw gladdened him. The hilsa fish and crabs, which no doubt Riz would have brought with him when he had come and of which he would be preparing mouth watering kolkatan dishes, the sight of all these made him very happy. Also there was the fact that Riz and Kajo would be thoroughly preoccupied for the next hour and half, a time for him to scoot to the nearby FL shop and make the necessary arrangements for the booze party.
Once the cooking was over, Riz came out washing his hands and they moved over to the balcony, the favorite place for their intimate party. They were already two pegs down when Kajol joined them with a plateful of fried fish. Riz would hear none of her protest and plunked a glass full of vodka in her hand. “Ladies drink”, he told her, “Nothing to fear. Your boyfriend is here.” Kajol threw a sharp look at Ramesh, who was now quite buzzed up and started to take a small sip. Then their talks resumed. Riz mentioned how he had been ploughed down under since he had taken up the new work order from here. His turnover had jumped five fold. So had been his staff strength. But it had taken its toll. Forget about social life, he had no life at all for the last couple of months. He had no time for cooking for himself and subsisted solely on outside food. Work hours meant nine to nine for him these days. His skin had turned pale and his eyes had glazed. He spread out both his hands and hugged Ramesh and Kajol who were on either side of him. Then he started crying again as how he was unable to even find time to meet his two friends. Kajol dried his tears and gave a reassuring kiss to calm him down. Eventually he regained control and took another swig from the glass. Turning to Kajol, he dropped his head on her shoulders. “Stay with me always”, he said with a whimper.
Ramesh had taken a lot of the stuff and after felt his head reeling even after the sumptuous dinner was over. He looked at both of them sitting close on the sofa and when Riz called him over, he politely declined saying that he was off to bed and so should Riz as he had an early morning flight to catch. With unsteady steps he walked to the bedroom and crashed there face down. An instant later, he was out.
Sometime in the middle of the night, he woke up, feeling the urgent pressure in his bladder. To his surprise, Kajol wasn’t beside him. Moreover, the lights were still on. Relieving himself he walked to the drawing room and then to the guest room whose door were open. There he saw the two of them on bed, fully dressed, curled up and facing each other knees touching. Like sleeping children, they had put their arms round the others neck. Carefully he drew the double blanket over them, tiptoed back and switched off the lights one by one. Then he drew the door shut and retired to his own bed.
Kajol woke him around seven. He enquired and learnt that Riz had left around five, in time enough to catch his flight. Over breakfast, he said, “Tell you what, this boyfriend of yours is more of a girl.”
She gave him an annoyed look. Then her gaze became even. “Happens, if you grow up with three sisters and a mother for company.”
Ramesh nodded thinking of Riz’s family members and relieving the love that all of them had showered on him during his childhood.
“And he is more of a man inside than many a others that I can think off”, Kajol declared.
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