Garima: You will not get the tickets. BTW, which movie?
Saurav: Any. Wolverine? New York? And why won’t we get tickets?
Garima: 3 halls in Hyd. All seats are booked in advance. Don’t even try.
Saurav: Dinner?
Abhijeet: Where?
Garima: Little Italy. Have heard about it. Free beer thrown in.
Saurav: I will ask other people. U ask the girls.
Abhijeet: Hehehe.
Saurav: I was asking Garima.
Abhijeet: Ohhh!
Garima: Wot? I don’t even know them.
Saurav: You don’t even know us.
Garima: Whatever. I will ask the girl from SRCC. She is sweet.
Saurav: And the girl from Presidency. Please?
Abhijeet: Hehehe.
Garima: Wot do I get?
Saurav: Chocolate.
Garima: Dark. And no nuts.
Abhijeet: Hehehe.
Saurav: Shut up.
Garima: Shut up.
Abhijeet: Why? You need 2 concentrate on Information Security?
Garima: Bad joke.
Saurav: Terrible.
Abhijeet: Presidency? Bad choice.
Garima: Terrible.
Saurav: Abhijeet—blind, Garima—jealous.
Abhijeet: Shut up.
Garima: Shut up. I don’t even know you.
Abhijeet: Hehehe.
‘What will you guys have?’ Shruti asked, as she had no clue as to what to order. Garima had asked Shruti and she was only too glad to join in. She had never stepped out alone in Delhi after sundown and she was really excited.
‘Not much of a drinker, are you?’ Saurav said as he poured over the menu card.
‘Not at all. This is my first time,’ Shruti said. Although they were all depressed because the salary credited to their accounts wasn’t even half of what they deserved, but they had decided they wouldn’t talk about it.
‘Never mind, Shruti, even we don’t drink. I have started very recently and anything that I drink gets me tipsy,’ Abhijeet said.
‘And you?’ Garima asked Saurav.
‘I have been drinking for quite some time now. But I never go overboard. Just beer and that, too, very occasionally. Anyway, let us do it today. Let’s go overboard and get really really REALLY drunk. It will be fun.’
They called the waiter.
‘A pitcher of beer. Abhijeet?’ Saurav looked at Abhijeet for his approval.
‘I don’t think we will be able to finish it,’ Abhijeet said.
‘Make it two. I will help you guys,’ Garima said.
‘Oh, you drink?’
‘Why don’t we just wait and watch,’ she smirked.
The waiter came and Shruti bombed him with questions, much to the embarrassment of Abhijeet and Saurav, while Garima just laughed throatily.
‘How bad does it taste?’
‘You will mix it?’
‘Lime cordial? What is that?’
‘Will it make us puke?’
‘Don’t get us too much.’
The waiter could barely keep from laughing.
Salsa chips, garlic bread platters with extra cheese, chicken fresco and pastas were ordered. Shruti and Garima promptly cut out the cheese and mayonnaise parts and Saurav called them losers.
A little later, their table was overcrowded with bottles, glasses and plates full of food.
All of them had been geeks all their lives. They had been the only ones who, even after the last exam of the year, would go back to their rooms and match with a textbook whether their answers were correct. After every result, they checked the margin by which they had beaten the person who came second.
And that day, they lay sloshed outside an insanely expensive restaurant in uptown Hyderabad. The alcohol had hit all of them except Garima, who drank the most, even mixed drinks, but was still comparatively sober.
‘You know what?’ Saurav looked at others and said, ‘I am going to run this place some day. I am telling you, dude. I will run this place. This sensex … this sensex, it’s going up all because of me. And that bitch, Sumita, I will kill her. No seriously, I will kill her. Abhijeet will help me do that. My best friend. Don’t think I am drunk. I am not. Tu jaanta hai mujhe nahi chadti.’
‘Haan, bhai. Abe saale, if you run this company, what will I do? Let me run this company. You have four cars in your driveway, anyway. And only nice girls like the two of you will be allowed in our company. Will you work for me, you two beautiful ladies? May I have the pleasure of having you work under me?’ He bent his head down till he fell over.
‘Abhijeet. Abhijeet. Listen to me. Abhijeet. When are you asking Garima out? Tell me? She needs a nice guy like you!’ Shruti asked out of the blue.
‘Shut up,’ Garima said, smoking her fifth cigarette that night. She sat there, not saying a word, smiling at people who were looking at the drunk trio.
‘Why? Why should I? I am not nice. I am not even rich. First, I will get rich. Then I might just think about it.’
‘But please do. She will be waiting. She likes nice guys. She told me. We have a deal. If I get her a nice guy, she will get me a rich guy!’
‘And me? Whom do I ask out? I will also ask someone out. I think the Presidency girl was nice. Don’t you think so?’ Saurav asked, his eyes rolling up and his arms flailing around. ‘I think we need more alcohol.’
‘We need to get sane and go back home!’ Garima said and asked Saurav to calm down.
They spent an hour outside the restaurant before everyone was more or less sane and then got into a cab. Abhijeet and Saurav reached Saurav’s place after dropping the girls home.
‘You like her?’ Saurav asked as he pushed the door open.
‘Who?’
‘Garima? Who else?’
‘Why? Not really.’
‘Why not? I think she is fine,’ Saurav said.
‘Why don’t you ask her out?’ Abhijeet asked.
‘She is not my type.’
‘What is your type? Fat? I am sorry … I didn’t mean to … I wasn’t referring to Megha.’
‘It is fine even if you were! She was fat!’ Saurav laughed. ‘So, Garima?’
‘What so? She is not my type either. She is very, you know, intimidating. She speaks less, and though she is good-looking, very good-looking, it doesn’t seem like she would ever date anyone like us.’
‘I have heard that girls who look intimidating are awesome in bed.’
‘Shut up, Saurav.’
‘So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to ask her out or something? See, she talked to you first today and she even came out with us. And then, Shruti said you should ask her out! There is surely something going on here.’
‘I hardly know her. And besides, do you even think there is a slight chance that she would like anything in me? Also, Shruti was really hammered.’
‘Whatever.’
‘Yeah. Whatever.’
They slept that day, after Abhijeet reminded him that they had an important training lesson the next day, not paying any heed to Saurav’s rants about how much he wanted to see the Presidency girl without her shirt.
That day, they finished their first month in Silverman.
9
The office seemed a blur the next day. They all picked seats near each other; each one was holding his or her head, taking out time in between to look at each other with reddened eyes but with smiles. The video of Saurav and Abhijeet dancing hand in hand was passed among the four of them and laughed at.
They all flopped down on the cafeteria couches as soon as they got their first break and drank their third lime juice since morning.
‘Fifteen thousand? Our bill was fifteen thousand,’ Shruti said.
‘Yes, without the cab fare. Add five hundred more to that,’ Abhijeet added.
‘That is a lot,’ Shruti said again.
‘Don’t worry, we will pool in and you can pay us back as soon as the next salary comes,’ Garima tapped on
her shoulder and said. Abhijeet looked at Garima and her eyes told him that she would explain it to him later. That was when Abhijeet realized it was Garima’s eyes that drew him to her: big, black, screaming eyes that spoke a thousand words, in a blink.
‘Thank you so much! I am so glad you guys invited me. I have never had this much fun EVER,’ Shruti said. She had played and replayed a million times in her mind all that had happened the previous night. She finally thought she had a life, beyond parents, household chores, and uninvited verbal and physical abuse.
‘The pleasure is all mine,’ Saurav said.
‘Really? I brought her along. You wanted that Presidency girl. Didn’t you?’ Garima butted in.
‘Later,’ he winked.
It was the last day of their month-long training in the training room. After this day, the batch no longer would be together, but rather, under their respective mentors, who were to help them in the initial stages of their career.
Saurav picked a seat near the Presidency girl, but their conversation lasted only a few minutes, after which he came back to where he was sitting.
‘What happened?’ Shruti asked with concern in her voice.
‘Nothing. She has a boyfriend and is in a serious relationship since the last three years.’
‘Sorry, Saurav,’ Garima said.
‘Why?’
‘She doesn’t have a boyfriend. I know her,’ Garima said and laughed.
‘Maybe she lied to you,’ Saurav argued.
‘Yes. Think. Who would she lie to, a harmless girl or a guy who is trying to hit on her. Tough choice, eh?’
‘Bitch,’ Saurav whispered.
Abhijeet’s smile left his face abruptly as the familiar click-clocking sound approached the door. Sumita entered in a saree wrapped tightly around her two-foot-wide figure. As if she wasn’t any less menacing, she had chosen a bright red saree, smeared a lump of kohl around her eyes and a pancake of make-up on her face.
‘It seems like we finally have some well-dressed adults here. Good.’ She continued, ‘Anyway, from Monday onwards, you will join your respective departments and mentors, who have been assigned to you according to how you performed during your training. The list has the details and I expect you to go through it.’
As soon as she said this, everyone flipped over the first page and started searching for their names.
Sumita banged the table and shouted out, ‘And you don’t have to look at it now. Not until I leave. For heaven’s sake, don’t act so childish! Anyway, all the mentors will come to you and will have a talk with you. We will leave you early today and you can spend some time with your mentors after all of them give you their presentations. You can ask them whatever you want to. You can take as much time as you want to. Carry on now.’
She left and everybody exchanged a beaten-down look and sighed.
Abhijeet sank back into his chair as soon as he saw that Garima and he were in different departments. Abhijeet and Shruti were put in Energy, Saurav and Garima got Infrastructure. The Thapar girls and the Sumita guys, those who sucked up to them, got M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions), supposedly the most glamorous department of SF.
The day started and so did the presentations. Every mentor had come prepared with an extensive presentation of how the company grew, how their departments grew and how they grew in the company, occasionally sprinkled with how-good-I-am-and-was anecdotes.
Group after group became disheartened, for their mentors weren’t what they had pictured them to be. The guys were arrogant and tight ass, but smart and hot nonetheless. Still, each presentataion prepared the four of them well for their mentors, who were scheduled to be the last ones that day.
Quite surprisingly, the supposed mentor of Infrastructure didn’t walk in. A guy entered in place of a female mentor and a silent what-the-fuck escaped Saurav mouth. This was a gigantic disappointment.
All eyes were now riveted on the guy, not because he was insanely handsome, but because he was exactly the opposite. His hair was ruffled and fell carelessly over his eyebrows. It had been two days since he had shaved and there was a bushy tuft of hair hanging from his chin. He was a little bit on the heavier side, a rarity, shabbily dressed, another rarity, smiling too, catastrophic. I could have gone further about the guy, but let us keep it short.
It was Deb. It was me. It was I (grammatically correct).
It had been six months since I had joined the firm and the how and why of that will be answered in due time.
‘The person you were expecting will be here shortly,’ I said and pulled up my tie.
They weren’t expecting me. They were expecting somebody tall and pretty and smart, and I was an anti-climax.
‘I guess she is here,’ I announced and she walked in.
This time, everybody heard Saurav sigh and pump his fist in the air. Guys who had slouched in their chair sat up straight and fixed their eyes on her. So did the girls. Their eyes had opened wide and mouths even wider. There was an uneasy silence in the room, no one moved, as the girl with the most enchanting smile said ‘Hi’.
Yeah, I am going out with the girl with the most enchanting smile, so I am allowed to say these things about her. Not that they are very far from the truth either. She is, after all, a complete knockout. She looked at me and sent my heart aflutter as she always did.
‘Hello, everyone. I am Avantika, Infrastructure.’
Avantika, the girl on whom every guy, including Thapar and a few females, had their eyes on.
She was beautiful. Her face was cut along the right lines, as if done precisely by a surgeon. Her lips were pink and full, and her eyes, oh her eyes, could rob you of your soul and send you down a trip to heaven along the thick black hair cascading down her shoulders.
As I always said, it was like a thousand light bulbs lit up her face. I am not saying this because it just happens that I am going out with a girl whose face is almost like a light source, but Avantika is the best-looking girl you will ever see.
The guys were excited to bits at just the sight of her, and I don’t blame them for it.
‘Hi, I am Deb, Energy.’
I spoke, ‘I am sorry but we have no presentations. I asked her to make one, but she spent hours taking a shower today morning. I, obviously, am totally incapable of doing anything worthwhile. Ishita and Ishaan must have told you everything you need to know about everything. If you didn’t listen, never mind. It is of no consequence anyway.’
Avantika butted in, ‘See, guys. This is a great opportunity for everyone. You know that. This job pays well. Yes, it is a little hectic …’
‘A little hectic?’ I interrupted.
‘Maybe a lot. But we are being paid for it.’
‘Paid? Ask them.’ I have always been into office gossip and I knew about the internship programme and the stupid trick the Human Resources had pulled on these kids.
‘What? How can they do that?’ Avantika said after all the joinees shouted and complained in unison about what Silverman had done.
‘They sure can and they did. It’s stupid and unfair and if I had another job, I would leave this in protest,’ I said and the kids hooted and smiled shyly.
‘Deb, how do you know about this internship programme?’
‘How do you not know, Avantika? The whole office is talking about it!’ I exclaimed.
‘I have better things to do than talk to the whole office.’
I could have come up with something to answer to that, but she looked so cute that I couldn’t think of anything witty, and I didn’t want her to look bad in front of the class.
‘Anyway, class. Just six months. It is a little unfair, but this is what we have chosen to do. So, just stay here and be focused. You will be fine,’ she said. She faked sincerity so brilliantly.
‘You may lose your hair, have suicidal tendencies, and lose your boyfriends or girlfriends, if you have any. But yes, you will be fine,’ I said.
I hated Silverman and made no bones about it. It had been more tha
n once that I had run into trouble with Sumita and she hated me with all of her blackened heart.
‘Don’t say that. It isn’t that bad.’
‘It is and you know that,’ I argued
‘Let them find out for themselves,’ Avantika said and rested the case. ‘I don’t think we have much to say here. But yes, we might not be mentors for all of you but if you need anything, we will always be there. Feel free to ask us anything. Anyway, what did Sumita schedule after this?’
‘Time with mentors,’ a few students said.
‘So who all are under us?’
Four of them raised their hands nervously, and Avantika asked them to meet her at the reception. I looked at the two girls and felt pretty darn lucky.
It had been three years that Avantika and I had been together. I had joined the company a year after Avantika, after she had put in a good word for me in Thapar’s ears. Thapar was head over heels for her and he wasn’t aware that Avantika was dating me. I had been a less than average engineering student at Delhi College of Engineering and that made me an anomaly in Silverman Finance, the mecca of brilliance. I was almost universally hated in office. Firstly, because I joined the company very unceremoniously or through a jack, as they said. And secondly, I was dating Avantika and everyone, at least once, must have cursed Avantika’s wretched choice.
Sumita, especially, hated me with all her heart, and would have seen me out of the company long back had I given her just one chance. She took it as her personal failure, having me in the company she so zealously guarded against mediocrity and against people like me—mediocre.
Avantika was more like everybody else in Silverman Finance. She worked her ass off and tried to keep everyone happy, not just her immediate seniors. But I kept her grounded, sane and emotionally alive, she had once said to me. Silverman was known to suck one’s heart out and stuff it with money.
Just as we were leaving the office, we heard two female voices behind our back. Shruti and Garima were rushing towards us, while Saurav and Abhijeet followed them.
‘Ma’am, we have this assignment to do. The questions are from the training modules and we have to submit it by Monday,’ Shruti said.
‘When did they start giving out assignments?’ I asked.
Now That You're Rich: Let's fall in Love! Page 8
