Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake (7 page)

She takes me around the premises. It is nothing like the tiny, cramped space at Point to Point. This is a
real
office, spread across thirty thousand square feet over two floors and employing more than two hundred people.

Smriti tells me that the average age of the employees would be about twenty-six or twenty-seven. It is indeed a young crowd with a lot of parties and fun stuff that happens every Friday evening at the work place itself. She shows me the cafeteria (the most important place she says and winks), the water coolers, the coffee-and-tea-vending machines, and the toilets. I slowly absorb my surroundings and throw a casual glance at all the employees. They are completely absorbed in their work. They do
real
work here, not merely pass on the bookings. I feel very proud
to be a part of it all. Smriti takes me around and introduces me to everyone on the floor with whom I would be interacting. I smile pleasantly as they look up from whatever they were busy with and make small talk with them. They respond back jovially. This is a young, friendly bunch and I instantly feel comfortable with them. Ashok, Julie, Divya, Kamal, Nitin, and Mihir—all their names spinning around in my head, as I try to remember their faces and names.

Then I stop dead in my tracks when she introduces me to the next person. It is Leena, the gorgeous woman whom Prashant had walked off with in the party.

‘Hi,’ she says and then she frowns, ‘I have seen you somewhere but I don’t recall where,’

‘Yeah, we met at the Magellan party. I was with Prashant,’ I say dryly.

‘Oh yes, I remember now,’ she says curtly.

I force a smile, and as soon as my back is turned, I see her making a phone call. I intuitively know through her hushed whispers that she must be calling up Prashant to inform him about my recruitment. Somehow this irks me. But I say nothing, and the rest of the day flies by as Latha briefs me and takes me through all that she has been doing. I am very interested and fascinated with the scope and details of my new job and don’t even feel the hours pass. At Point to Point, I would stare at the wall clock all day, waiting for the shift to end. I would leave at 5.30 p.m. sharp to catch the local at 5.42. But here at Magellan, it is already 6.30 p.m., and I have not even realized it.

Samir is travelling abroad and would be back only a week later, she informs me, by which time, I should have
settled well into the job. She tells me that I can speak to her if I have any doubts or queries and says that she is happy that I am taking over immediately.

‘It is so difficult to work with this,’ she adds, as she flops down wearily into an armchair, pointing to her huge belly which looks like it will explode any moment. I feel a little sorry for her and assure her that I will be okay.

In four days, I have eased very well into my new role and feel so much at home—as though I have been working here for ages. My cubicle faces his cabin, and I ought to be able to get a clear view of him when the blinds are pulled up.

When Samir returns, the first thing he does is greet me with a ‘Hey Nisha! Good to see you settled here. Come on right in.’

Smriti smiles at me knowingly and winks as I walk into his cabin.

He asks me if there is anything at all that I need, or whether there is any clarification that I want regarding my job. I tell him that Latha has briefed me well and I have been checking with her about a few doubts that I have.

‘That’s great then!’ he says.

I tell him that I have drafted replies to almost all the routine correspondence, and I want him to go through it once to see if my replies are okay, before I send them out. I assure him that this is a one-off thing and I would be handling it on my own once this is approved by him.

He laughs as I reiterate this and says, ‘Relax, Nisha, I know you are efficient. Why else do you think I offered you the job in the first place?’

I smile then and know I am going to really enjoy my time here.

In a month’s time, it feels as though Samir and I have been working together as a team forever. I badly want to prove myself, making sure I take care of every single thing. I organize his appointments, schedule his meetings, handle routine correspondence, screen his phone calls and visitors, and also give him my inputs on important projects that Magellan is considering when he asks for them. I even see to it that his coffee is kept ready just before his arrival and is just the way he likes it. I, for the first time in my life, am thoroughly enjoying my job and feeling valued. Besides, I am also getting paid well for it. And having an attractive and understanding boss like Samir is truly the cherry on the cake with an already rich icing. He says he cannot understand how in the world he managed before me, and that I have made myself indispensable to his professional life. He says he wants to be able to reach me anytime, for which he gets me a brand new cell phone. It is my first ever, and I am so darn proud of it, as cell phones have just made their entry into India and not everyone has one. I am like a little girl who has got the exact present that she wanted for Christmas.

Most days, I have lunch with Smriti and Mihir in the office cafeteria. But one day, Samir asks me out for lunch, saying we can discuss the very important art tourism project which he plans to introduce in the last quarter of the year.

‘Err…,’ I hesitate, because somehow, even though I really enjoyed my previous two dates with him, I feel
uncomfortable in the office environment, now that he is my boss.

‘Do you have other plans? It’s okay if you do. I don’t mind,’ he says.

‘No, I just have to tell Smriti and Mihir. They would be waiting,’ I say.

‘Okay, will meet you at the parking lot then,’ he says.

I find them in the cafeteria, and today Leena as well as a few others are with them.

‘Hey Nisha, biryani today. It’s really good!’ says Mihir, as he scoops a spoonful into his mouth. It does look tasty.

‘Guys, I am going out for lunch. I won’t be joining you today,’ I say.

‘Ooooh! Someone is going on a date! Who with? Tell, tell!’ chimes Smriti.

‘It is not a date! I am going out with Samir. It’s a working lunch, and I did know him before I started working here,’ I defend myself.

I see Leena smirking, but I ignore her and walk out.

As usual, Samir has chosen a magnificent place, one that makes you forget everything the moment you walk in, a place where the ambience relaxes you so much and transports you to a different world. The last thing I want to do is talk about work here. I want to kick off my footwear, sit back with a glass of champagne, and just relax.

But I am on high alert, as I am now Ms Efficiency personified. I remember my disaster on the first date
when I had drunk too much, and I definitely have learnt my lesson. I surely do not want to repeat that and spoil the good impression I have now made professionally.

So I opt for a mocktail instead much to the amusement of Samir. We converse mostly about business. Once we get into the discussion, we become so engrossed in it that I forget all about my surroundings. We talk about his pet project—introducing art tourism in India. It is the hottest thing in Europe and major parts of America. There is a conference on art tourism in Bali in a fortnight. Samir and I had been working hard on preparing all the slides for the presentation that he would give, portraying the hotspots in India, and why India could be a great destination for it.

‘Nisha, I think you should you accompany me to the Bali conference,’ says Samir, taking me totally by surprise.

‘Me?’ I am taken aback.

‘Yes. You will indeed be a valuable resource. Besides, you will also get to learn so much. All the potential investors will be there. You can meet all of them. We need to really make a good impression, Nisha. You have indeed worked hard on it, and besides, you know all the details as much as I do.’

I don’t know what to say. This is going to be my first trip abroad ever. Finally my dream of going abroad and having that stamp on my passport can come true! I am elated, overjoyed, and really dancing. I am also secretly thanking my lucky stars that I got a passport made at Akash’s insistence while I was still working at Point to Point. I make a mental note to call him up later and thank him. Outside however, I appear calm.

‘I hope your dad has no objections to your travel?’ asks Samir.

‘Naah, I don’t think that will be much of a problem,’ I say, trying to sound casual.

My father is passive and shows absolutely no reaction, as I dance all the way home and tell him about my trip to Bali. But even his I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude cannot dampen my spirit. I volunteer all the details about the conference and how we have been working hard on it and what it means to me. I rattle on endlessly in excitement. I must have never spoken this much to him my entire life. But this is a foreign trip, the first in the family, and it’s no small feat.

‘Where will you be staying?’ he finally asks.

I already know the resort and it is a five-star one. It is out of the world, and the fact that I will soon be there is really a dream come true. I tell him that the company would make arrangements for all that.

I decide to go clothes shopping over the weekend. I no longer need Chetana’s help or advice now. Also, I have a lot more money now than I did earlier.

I also call up Akash and thank him for making me apply for the passport. He truly seems overjoyed for me. He says Parinita chucking me out of Point to Point was the best favour she could have ever done to me. Now it may seem so, but while it was happening, I remember how dejected I was. Things truly have a way of turning around. A month back I was desperate, begging for a job, and going for countless interviews. Today I am
planning a trip abroad, and my self-esteem has multiplied by leaps and bounds.

No sooner than I hang up after speaking to Akash, the phone rings again. This time it is Prashant. I am surprised as he has never ever called me before. I ask him how he is and he comes straight to the point.

‘I heard you are going on a trip abroad with Samir?’ he says. His tone is rancid, accusing. I am taken aback at the bitterness in his voice. It is like he cannot stand anything good happening to me. I was ‘Nisha—the underdog’ back at Point to Point. Now I am a somebody, and it looks like his ego cannot accept it.

‘News travels fast. Who told you? I spoke about it only just now to Akash,’ I reply.

‘Oh, so it is true?’ he asks.

Then I realize that Leena must have told him. And if Leena has told him, then the whole office at Magellan must be gossiping about it.

I am annoyed with him. What cheek does he have to call me up and question me?! He wasn’t even nice to me when I was his colleague. It was also partly due to him that I lost my job at Point to Point, though things have turned out for the better. But at that time, none of us knew it. My need to rub it in further and really get my revenge, returns.

I want him to burn with jealousy. I want him to regret the way he has behaved with me all this while. I want to once more gloat in my moment of triumph, and this time, it is a genuine achievement, not just a silly date which I am boasting about. So I tell Prashant about the conference, its importance, and about how I cannot
reveal what Samir and I have been working on, as it is top secret.