Miles Away, but a World Apart

“He is rich who wishes no more than he has.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

A soft vibration on her wrist, then the comforting sounds of flute music roused her from her sleep. She rolled onto her back, placing both hands on her belly as the guided meditation began. “… and now, when you’re ready open your eyes and carry this feeling of calm and positivity with you into the rest of your day.” The recording concluded. Taani Shekhawat opened her eyes. 

“Good morning Krishnaji!” she said aloud as she rose from her bed and opened the window. A cool breeze flooded in, providing her with a much-needed boost of energy as she grabbed her yoga mat, easing through some stretches. That finished, she grabbed a large, leather-bound journal from her nightstand and headed out of her room.

“Hey, Taani! I’ve put your hot water on for tea.” A cheerful voice greeted her. Aakriti Sharma, her best friend and roommate was seated at the dining table, her phone in one hand, and a large mug of coffee in the other. “How’s the healthy, caffeine-free, morning routine treating you?” She asked laughingly. Aakriti and Taani were like fire and ice, poles apart. While Taani was conscious and thoughtful, Aakriti was someone who lived freely and wildly, choosing to follow her whims and passions instead of a routine. It was part of what made the two girls such good friends, and why they loved living together. They gave each other balance, Aakriti persuading Taani to try completely out-of-the-box things, while Taani was often tasked with bringing Aakriti back to reality.

“My routine is just fine, thank you,” Taani replied, trying to be firm before her smile cracked the facade. “At least this way I can avoid the heart disease and diabetes that runs in my family. I have an amazing life, I want to live until I’m 80 at least, see every corner of the world and have a beautiful family.” She said, reiterating an argument that she’d made many times before. As expected, Aakriti rolled her eyes.

“What’s the point in living long if you can’t enjoy the finer things in life, like coffee?” Aakriti responded.

“I don’t even like coffee, so I wouldn’t really know,” Taani said, grabbing her mug of peppermint tea and coming to sit across from the other girl. 

“How are we even friends?” Aakriti quipped rhetorically, “Anyways, you do your journalling, I’ve gotta head out. Oh, and I might be late tonight, we’re covering a local political situation a few hours from here.” she added over her shoulder as she walked off. Taani shook her head, a smile crossing her face as she opened her journal.

Hurricane Aakriti! Always blowing in and out, never stalling in any place for too long. I still can’t believe how close we are now, considering how intimidated I was of her when we first met. But for all her wildness, she’s been the most stable, loyal and trustworthy friend to me in the past 3 years. In fact, if it wouldn’t make her tease me and call me cheesy, I’d probably call her my sister…

Speaking of sisters, Tauji said Bhai’s academy completed 2 years today. As proud as I am, I can’t seem to bring myself to call Bhai, or even send him my wishes through Tauji. After all, he hasn’t spoken to me in over a year. I guess he doesn’t really consider me his sister? I wonder if he knows about SocialKraft? Anyway, I really should just take a page out of roomie’s book, and not concern myself with people who aren’t concerned with me. At least Tauji makes an effort to come stay in the upper portion for a few days when he comes to Delhi, and spend some time with me. Even on shorter trips like this one, he still takes me out to dinner. 

I guess that’s today’s lesson that I’ve learned. Just accept things as they are and keep moving forward. Honestly, even if I had the ability to wish for anything, I wouldn’t, not even for life to stay the same. I look forward to whatever changes come my way, and even if nothing substantial does change, there’s nothing I want either… Well! This has gotten entirely too philosophical, and my tea’s finished anyway. Time to get on with my day.

Three hours later, Taani was fully entrenched in her work, or as she called it, taking care of her baby. Outside the door of her small cabin, there was a modest plaque reading “Taani Shekhawat, CEO & co-founder”. Just across from her, visible through a set of glass doors, was a second, identical cabin, with a plaque outside that read “Varun Khanna, MD & co-founder”. A man exited this cabin and made his way into hers. 

“Hey Taani, could you look over the final draft of the TC Medical Manufacturing statement of work?” The young man, Varun requested.

“You’re done with the SOW already? Not bad, Khanna, look who’s actually being productive!” Taani answered teasingly, before continuing, “Just send me the document or leave the printout if you’ve got it, I’m working on the project proposal for Mehta Construction at the moment.” 

“You do know I’m your boss right?” Varun laughed, “You should be more respectful, maybe call me sir.” 

“Oh please, you and I both know that the titles only have to do with the fact that your initial investment was higher than mine. And besides, don’t you remember from college? I was, and always will be better than you.” Taani responded back, carrying on their typical tradition of competitive banter.

“Yeah, yeah alright, but listen we should probably go over the 6-month check-in,” Varun replied. Taani paused in her work, looking up and gesturing for him to sit before saving the document she was working on and closing her laptop. The 6-month check-in was instituted back when the two of them had been working in corporate jobs, trying to also set up a business plan for their own company. Actually, it was working this first job out of college that Taani had realized how many companies still undervalued the importance of social messaging. That was the focus of SocialKraft’s work, providing these companies with the option to outsource their Public Relations work so that their company’s message, stance, and values could be effectively communicated. In this age of mindful consumerism, having this type of presence gave their clients an edge, because they were staying above the tide of the times.  

“I mean, there are three things to look at. Old clients and how we’re managing their work, whether we need to run any new campaigns. Any potential or new clients, and how that work is being delegated. And third would be the overall burden and well-being of the staff, any promotions, and whether we need to bring in more talent.”

 “Well, most of the old portfolios are going smoothly. I did get an email from Naina Jain of Mahavir Foods though. They’ve started an initiative hiring and training women from low-income households and shelters, and they want a pretty large campaign highlighting it. She also wrote to say thanks to you… I’m guessing you mentioned the Maitri Foundation to her and that’s where she got the idea?” Varun said, effectively tackling the first point on the agenda. This is one of the things Taani loved about working with Varun, he was very direct when he needed to be. However, he was also a massive goof and prankster who took pleasure in annoying her from time to time. 

“Yeah, I did and I actually took her with me one weekend because she seemed really interested. I didn’t realize she was going to start outreach herself though. That’s actually brilliant! I can take lead on that campaign if you’d like.” Taani said excitedly, a brilliant smile on her face. The Maitri Foundation was one of Taani’s other passions, especially because she had taken her late mother’s seat on the foundation board. The foundation was dedicated to helping women in difficult life situations, uplifting them to their highest potential. They ran shelters for homeless women and children, or abuse victims, educational programs for girls, including arts and athletics, and even provided skills training, loans, and career counseling. Taani loved the work she did with them, mostly because it truly didn’t feel like work at all. It felt wonderfully therapeutic, especially when she visited the kids and their mothers in the local Maitri shelter on the weekend. 

“I had a feeling you’d volunteer for that. Just make sure you do delegate, because the two new contracts for TC and Mehta are bigger than anything we’ve done so far, and we definitely want to stay on top of that.” Varun cautioned, a knowing look on his face. Taani did have a bad habit of sometimes taking on too much, and even she knew it. It wasn’t because she didn’t have help, or didn’t trust the staff, but because she was just so passionate about everything she did that sometimes it would consume too much of her energy and focus. 

“Yes, of course, I’ll loop in Sneha and Avinash, they’ve already worked on the account anyway. But also, we should probably revisit the idea of taking on individual celebrity clients, managing their responses to social issues and scandals, and such. I think it would be good to put some feelers out to the talent management companies, there’s definitely a market for this kind of service right now. So many celebrities make easily avoidable gaffes nowadays.” Taani added, referring back to a conversation they’d tabled 6 months prior. 

“Yeah, I think we’re in a better position now to be able to branch out. But we’ll definitely need to hire more people if we do that. We’re already stretched pretty thin now that we are getting larger contracts. And that kind of thing would need some people specifically with skills in crisis management.” Varun added, causing Taani to frown and jot something down on a piece of paper. 

“So to summarize, we’ve got two new clients that are bigger than we’ve handled before, a campaign to run for an older client, we might be branching out into a new sector, and we need to do some hiring. It’s going to be a really busy next 6 months.” Taani said with a huff.

“That’s for sure partner! But I’ve full faith in us.” Varun said, causing a smile to come to Taani’s face again.

“Oh same here, I’m sure in 6 months we’ll be celebrating how successful we’ve been too, and right in time for SocialKraft to turn two,” Taani said. “But for that, we need to get back to work now!” She added blithely, making a shooing motion with her hands.

“Okay, fair enough! I’m going!” Varun laughed, getting up and heading back to his own cabin. 

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