Chapter 12

Meet & Greet

Fast forward…  two days, beginning with bribing the doorman with TWO Rs.1,000 bills got him the department she worked in but no luck with last name

 after somehow finishing up the other interview and scheduling a follow up interview for the first one at the Juhu hotel, he burned midnight candle to find a connection at the hotel

He slept on the terrace at Mendy’s chembur flat

He stayed up watching the clouds, making progress bit by bit, running inside when showers took over and then coming back out when the sky cleared

He loved Mumbai…

I do… he spoke out loud

He even wondered if he should ask the Hiring Manager of the first prospective employer if they had a connection

But eventually after digging deep he was able to connect with a West Region Reservations Head for the hotel chain

An acquaintance on Wall St was related to this person

Mrunalini Ghatge… he was told

He immediately Googled her

She had no internet presence

A girl as gorgeous as her had no digital footprint!!

Woww!

Finding her address was going to take a while

Every now and then he wondered WHY he was on this mission

But finding her had energized him

Finding her happily married with two kids like Mendy’s was going to help him wrap it all up and set it afloat on the Arabian Sea

Silly really! He shook his head

He didn’t believe in premonition or gut or destiny

The divorce had sent him on a path of self reflection… NO NOT that Kind of self reflection 😊!

made him realize of all the women he had hooked up with in life… she was the most memorable.

This was exciting, this was giving him “something to think about”

Mendy had heard him downstairs and came up at 3 AM ish

“Neeche so ja man!!”

“Nah I am good he lay back down

Mendy leaned on the waist high peeling dimpling cement wall

Atty sat up

“U know her name you know what she does… now what?”

“Nothing… it makes me happy” Aatreya lied

“C’mon mann!!” Mendy mimicked a famous actor

“Fiine… I am going to ask to speak with her”

“Then what?”

“Ask her if she is married…”Mendy was laughing out loud

“Like I said a week ago I could find you many women with blue eyes”

“Speaking of which she didn’t have blue eyes two days ago”

“So you have been in love with a fantasy then?” Mendy yawned

“That can’t be right”

“Course not…” Mendy rolled his eyes

“I asked her multiple times if it was contacts”

“U didn’t”

“No not in so many words…”

“Ha”

“she said she has her Dad’s eyes? Or Mum’s?” Aatreya was confused

“she must be sick of random dudes hitting on her”

“Probably” Aatreya yawned

“Go down man”

“Nah… I am good” Aatreya rolled over and fell back asleep

Spoke to his mother, and sister, and went off to meet a lead

He was excited about the second interview at the Swiss bank… the chances were low as they were very very selective, and he had voluntarily resigned a VP level role on Wall St to return to India, banks like to poach he thought, not interview people at the level he was applying for

Nevertheless he was stoked

Half way through to the job lead’s office  in Dadar, he asked the cabbie to drive to the hotel in Juhu

And went up to the lobby and asked for Mrunalini Ghatge

After answering 50 questions he was asked for a name

“Atty Rao” he said

The guy took it as AT Rao”

20ish minutes later

Mrunalini Ghatge appeared like she did in his dream… knocked his breath out as he stood staring

She looked preoccupied

She was wearing a “IT type” badge on a lanyard today no pin up badge

She yanked and fiddled with it as she approached the guest relations desk

“Hey?” “Who is here?” “From the lawyers or what?” she asked confused crinkling her eyes to scan the gleaming sprakling lobby with his crystal showers like waterfalls and other water features

He noticed she rubbed her fore arms to warm herself, just like she had done that night…

“Its her” he nodded to himself

The guest relations guy was on the phone, he pointed to Aatreya

She approached him

“Hi!... Mrunalini?”

“Yeah?”

“Aatreya Rao” he said with a warm smile

She looked at him like she had just seen a ghost