An official matter, episode 1

Ruhi was sick and tired of all that’s happening. Nothing was going right. Well, it’s her office. She was fed up. It was only 2 months since she had joined and she is already contemplating about resigning. It was her boss. Since the day she had joined till date, she did not heave a sigh of relief. ‘Khadoos’ was the apt term for him. She used to call her boss ‘Khadoos’.

Ruhi was in her early 30s. With a height of 5 feet 6 inches, slender built, bright eyes, dusky complexion and wavy, jet black long hair, Ruhi was beautiful. Back in school, her friends used to call her ‘Sushmita Sen’. She had lost her mother when she was just 10 years old. Her father had raised her with all the love and care under the sun. Hence she had decided, she would never get married. The thought of leaving her father scared her. Although her dad wanted her to settle down, Ruhi wouldn’t budge from her decision. Ruhi focused on her career and at this point in life, she got the position she had desired. The firm she had recently joined was one of the firms she had always looked forward to working with. The company was launched 8 years ago and the co founders did a splendid job with the products. In these eight years the company grew in leaps and bounds. One of the co founders was based out of London while the other managed the India head office, precisely the office where Ruhi worked. Ruhi reported to the co founder Mohit Aggarwal.

Now, coming to Mohit. Mohit was in his early 40s, around 5 feet 11 inches tall, with a thin built, sharp pointed nose, fair skin and short crew cut hairstyle. His eyes had a sparkle but they always looked angry. Mohit was a short tempered guy. Ruhi on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber. Mohit was a perfectionist with patience level zero. Ruhi was tenacious but she liked to do things perfectly with some time in hand. Mohit was always in a hurry. Ruhi never missed deadlines. She always believed in time management. Mohit believed in rush rush. It was not easy for Ruhi to adjust to this pressure at work. Working directly with Mohit was a pain. He wouldn’t talk much but his grumpy demeanor was intolerable for Ruhi. All the same, she could not leave this job. The salary was splendid, the perks were great and her colleagues were nice. Ruhi decided she would stay put here till she could. It was not easy getting a decent job.

It was a pathetic day today. Ruhi was working on some urgent deliverables when Mohit called her. Ruhi shivered at the thought of talking to Mohit. She knew he would say something bitter. No, Mohit never yelled. He had a baritone voice and he spoke softly. But, his way of talking was stern. Ruhi went to Mohit’s cabin. Dressed in a plain white t-shirt and denim trousers, Mohit looked as handsome as always. But that barely mattered to Ruhi. She despised him. Mohit said, ‘ Is the presentation ready?’. Ruhi was taken aback. She said, ‘ You had asked me to submit it by 26th. Today it’s 20th.’ Mohit looked at her with his usual grim eyes and said in a solemn tone, ‘That’s when I need the final presentation. The draft should have been ready by now.’ Ruhi murmured under her breath ‘Khadoos’. Mohit said, ‘You said something?’. Ruhi said, ‘ I had made an outline. I will send that to you right away. However, you had also asked me to give me the final content for Johnsons today. It’s done. I will send that as well.’ Mohit said, ‘Yes, send that too.’ Ruhi was about to leave when she saw something on Mohit’s bookshelf. It was the book, ‘The path of love’ by Vikram Kumar. Ruhi just glanced at the book and went to her desk.

Ruhi was an avid reader and she had been reading Vikram Kumar for a long time now. Vikram Kumar had started writing almost 10 years ago and most of his books were best sellers. All his stories had subtle angle of love and relationships along with humor. Ruhi could not believe Mohit read Vikram Kumar. Once she reached her desk, Ruhi quickly sent all that Mohit had asked for. She then got back to the rest of the work she had to complete. She knew she had no time to even think of anything else other than work in these 8 hours of office. Mohit would not let her breathe in peace if she did not submit her work on time, rather way before time.

The best part of her work life was leaving office and going home. She enjoyed her drive to her home. Despite traffic blues, she enjoyed that because that was the time she was all by herself. She could listen to music and she could delve deep into her world of beautiful imagination. A romantic soul, Ruhi loved to escape from reality and go into an ambrosial world of imagination where she lived her life on her own terms with the love of her life. The saddest part is she knew she could never be with the love of her life in reality . Since her early 20s, she had been reading Vikram Kumar. That’s when she fell in love with him. She had been sending him fan mails and even now she followed him on all the social networking sites. He has a colossal list of fans and she was just one of them. She longed to meet him once in her lifetime. Nonetheless she knew it was a far fetched dream.

Ruhi rang the doorbell of her home. Her dad welcomed her with a wide smile and said, ‘Guess what? I got fresh Hilsa Fish today. I made mustard fish curry for you.’ Ruhi’s dad, Hemant Sharma, loved cooking. After his wife’s demise, he always ensured Ruhi got the bestest things under the sun. Right from food to clothes and not to forget love and care. Hemant did all he could to ensure Ruhi never missed her mom. They had full time house helps but when it came to cooking Hemant preferred cooking on his own.

Ruhi hugged her dad tight and said, ‘Thank you Papa.I need this. I am sick and tired of this silly boss of mine. How rude he is Papa’. Saying that, Ruhi went to her room, tied her hair into a neat bun and said, ‘I hate going to work because of that moron. All the same, can you believe it Papa? He reads Vikram Kumar? My Vikram Kumar! He reads “Path of Love” and he has no idea about politeness. Forget about Love.’ Hemant smiled warmly and said, ‘Really? He reads Vikram Kumar?’. Ruhi said, ‘I saw the “Path of Love’’ book in his bookshelf. But I don’t think he read it. It had dust in it. Maybe someone gifted the book to him. Silly fellow.I wanted to tell him to respect books and read so that he understood compassion. But again, does he even talk?’. Hemant laughed loudly and said, ‘ Chill! Come lets have dinner first and yes, sweetheart, if you are not comfortable with this job, leave it. It’s okay. We are financially fine. You don’t have to burn yourself in an uncomfortable work environment.’ Ruhi said, ‘ Papa, I have to learn to survive everywhere. You know it was never about money. But, all the same, the package is good here.’ Hemant smiled again and said, ‘ Whatever you decide, I am always with you.’

After dinner, Ruhi checked her social networking profile. She went ahead to check Vikram Kumar’s page. There was a new book releasing soon. Ruhi was thrilled. She wrote in the comments section, ‘Waiting eagerly. If only you took out time to meet your fans. Somehow I feel you are just like Romit of Path of Love. Pleaseeeeee meet your fans once. Fans like me.’ Ruhi added a smiley after that.

Next morning she woke up with head aching crazy and the very thought of going to office made her sick. Nonetheless, she knew she had to go to work. After a quick shower, she got ready and before boarding her car, she quickly checked Vikram Kumar’s profile. For the first time in 10 years, Vikram Kumar had responded to her message. He had ‘liked’ her message. Ruhi was on seventh heaven. She did not know what to do. But the catch is, she had to focus on her driving so that she could reach office on time. And once she is in office she had to forget her phone and her life because her life in office belonged to Mohit Aggarwal. Unable to take Vikram out of her mind, Ruhi drove to work……..

To be continued…….