An official matter episode 2

An official matter episode 2

The moment Ruhi reached her desk, she could not stop herself from checking Vikram Kumar’s social media profile for his ‘like’ icon on her message. Her colleague Kirti had just arrived and she shook Ruhi’s chair and said, ‘ Good Morning Sweetheart’. Ruhi was startled for a moment because she was deeply immersed on her phone screen. She then calmed herself and said, ‘ Heya Kirti. Good morning. By the way Kirti, do you know Vikram Kumar?.’ While keeping her lunchbox on her desk and arranging her laptop, Kirti said nonchalantly, ‘ No, who is he?’. Ruhi sighed and said, ‘ Leave it then. No point telling you.’ Kirti looked at Ruhi and smiled wickedly and said, ‘ If he is your boyfriend, I wouldn’t mind knowing about him.’ Ruhi grinned and said, ‘If only he was. He is a writer and I love him.’ Kirti said with a bored look, ‘ Of all the people under the sun you found a writer to fall in love with? You know these writers are super boring.’ Ruhi pulled Kirti’s chair close to her chair and said, ‘ No, Vikram is not boring. He is super romantic. Read his ‘Path of Love’, ‘ Love amidst pain’, ‘ Plethora of Bliss’ and then you will know. And you know what, I have been following him all these years and finally he responded to one of my messages.’ Kirti asked excitedly, ‘ Really? What did he say?’. Ruhi replied coyly, ‘ He liked my message.’ Kirti looked at Ruhi with wide eyes and said, ‘ That’s it? And you are happy with that?’. Saying that Kirti laughed out loudly. Ruhi pushed Kirti’s chair away and said, ‘ Shut up you silly girl. You know one day I will meet him.’ Kirti kept on laughing and Ruhi too could not help smiling. Just when the girls were giggling, someone came and said, ‘ Kirti, the testing team informed that there were quite a few errors in the new website. The project is going live in 14 days. I want you to fix all the errors by tomorrow.’ Kirti and Ruhi almost fell off their seats. It was Mohit. His tone of talking was as serious as always and his eyes ever angry. Kirti said politely, ‘Yes Mohit. I will do it.’ Mohit then walked back to his cabin. Today he was dressed in round neck black plain t shirt and denim trousers. He was wearing flip flops instead of sports shoes. Mohit was always casually dressed. He came to work in his bicycle. The office was close to his home.

After Mohit left, Ruhi looked at Kirti and said, ‘ Can’t this guy be somewhat polite? Is this the way to talk?’ Kirti smiled at Ruhi and said, ‘ This guy is rude but he is fair. The best part here is, this place has no hierarchy and no one bosses over anyone. Mohit has worked hard all these years to bring the organization to this level. Getting selected here itself is a thing to be happy about. Work pressure is high but salary, perks, cafeteria food, everything is cool here. Also, you don’t need to justify your leaves if you are diligent in your work and submit quality stuff on time. Regarding Mohit’s personality, that’s the way he is. He won’t change. I have been here for the past 3 years. He will always be this grumpy Mohit.’ Ruhi said, ‘ Hmm, maybe you are right. I think I should accept that I am going to have to deal with this khadoos and his behaviour. No way out. By the way, Mohit has the book “Path of love” by Vikram Kumar, in his book shelf.’ Kirti stared at Ruhi and said, ‘ Mohit? Books? That too love stories? You must be wrong. That’s not possible.’ Ruhi said, ‘ You have been working here for three years and you don’t know what books Mohit has in his bookshelf?’. Kirti (while working on her laptop) said, ‘ No. I am always busy unlike you.’ Saying that she giggled. Ruhi pulled Kirti’s ponytail and said, ‘ I hate you.’

After lunch, Mohit had a meeting with Kirti, Ruhi, Nikhil, Rajat, Shobhit, Neeraj and Sneha. These are the people who were working on the latest project and the project was scheduled to go live after 14 days. There was a client meeting coming up next Saturday. Usually Saturday and Sunday were non working days, nonetheless in urgent scenarios, the team did work. All the same no one complained because this happened rarely and if people worked on weekends and govt. holidays they were paid extra for that. Mohit had said that every team member must be present at the client meeting. Ruhi had joined recently and it was a mandate for her to be there because the clients had to meet her.

After the meeting, Ruhi nudged Kirti and showed her the ‘Path of Love’ book. Kirti pretended as if she did not notice. Mohit saw all that was happening. When Ruhi and Kirti were about to leave Mohit’s cabin, Mohit said, ‘ Ruhi, you can keep this book if you wish.’ Ruhi was taken aback. As it is, Mohit was always a scary entity for her. She stood there groping for words and finally said, ‘Wwhhich book?’. Mohit went to the bookshelf, took out the book ‘Path of love’ and said, ‘ This. I don’t read books. If you wish you can keep it.’ Ruhi was surprised. For the first time she saw a different Mohit. Ruhi said, ‘ Umm I have this book. I just wanted Kirti to read this.’ Mohit said grimly, ‘ This book has Vikram Kumar’s signature in it. Someone had gifted this to me.’ Ruhi gazed at him with wide happy excited eyes and said, ‘ Really??? Thank You So Much! I I..I dddon’t know what to say here. Thank You!!’. Mohit said, ‘ I hope your final presentation is ready.’ Ruhi knew this guy could never get to any other discussion other than work. She replied politely, ‘It’s almost done. I will send it to you.’

Ruhi was thrilled. Vikram Kumar’s signature! Wow! Ruhi somehow finished her work and rushed home. Once home, she hugged her dad tight and screamed with joy and said, ‘ Papa can you believe, that Khadoos gave me a prized gift. Vikram Kumar’s book signed by Vikram Kumar himself!!!!.’ Before her dad could say anything, she opened Vikram Kumar’s page on social media. Ruhi could not believe her eyes. Vikram Kumar was making his first public appearance this Saturday. Ruhi sat there forlorn. This Saturday she had to be there at the client meeting. There was no way she could meet Vikram Kumar. The saddest part is, this was the first time the world was going to see him. She did not even know how he looked like. Nonetheless with the upcoming client meeting, there was no way she could be there at the event.

The entire week Ruhi was quiet and upset. All the same, with the work pressure building up she could not focus much on Vikram Kumar. Come Saturday, the client meeting was a huge success. Because of the team, and of course the gamut of knowledge of Mohit and the entire team had, the company grabbed one more project. The meeting was over by 5 p.m. Ruhi still had hope of seeing Vikram Kumar. The event was to start from 4 p.m. and would be there till 6 p.m.. After the meeting, without portraying any excitement, Ruhi softly said ‘bye’ to everyone when Mohit said, ‘ I was thinking if all of us can go for some drinks and early dinner to celebrate.’ Everyone was happy and said yes. Ruhi looked at her watch. It was almost 5:15 p.m.. By the time she would be there at the event, it will be 6:30 or so because of traffic. She knew she will not be able to meet Vikram Kumar. Hence she said ‘Yes’ to the team party.

Mohit took the entire team to the 5 star hotel in the vicinity. With cocktails and snacks, the entire team spoke about their views on the project they acquired. Ruhi also participated but she wanted to check Vikram Kumar’s page to see how he looked like. She was already dismayed about missing the event. While everyone in the team looked forward for the food to arrive, Ruhi wanted to check her phone to get a glimpse of Vikram Kumar. She couldn’t do it now. It would look rude. After dinner, everyone set for home. Kirti boarded Ruhi’s car. Ruhi excitedly took out her phone. Kirti said, ‘ What are you checking now? Vikram?’. Saying that Kirti winked at Ruhi. Ruhi hurriedly checked Vikram Kumar’s page. There were pictures and videos of interviews. Ruhi watched those wide eyed. Kirti looked at Ruhi’s shocked face. She asked, ‘ What happened? Isn’t Vikram Kumar Handsome?’ saying that Kirti giggled. Ruhi looked at Kirti with a shocked look and said, ‘It’s not “He”. It’s “She”. Kirti looked at Ruhi puzzled. Ruhi said, ‘ Vikram Kumar’ is the pen name of Vishaaka Khatri, a lady in her mid 50s. Look at these interview videos. Kirti and Ruhi looked at each other and then both of them burst into laughter.

To be continued………