Ripped Apart... (Maaneet) part 18 updated - Page 14

"Beta I hope you have all your certificates and their photocopies, you may be required to submit them to the HR department there" asked Mohinder as he drove towards the Khurana Estate, Corporate office of Khurana Group. "Haan ji Bauji, sab kal hi ready kar liye the" Geet replied her dad amidst replying to a message she had received from Anu. "Waise Bauji, I've mixed feelings related to my acceptance at Khuranas" A small frown appeared on Mohinder's forehead as he said, "Kyun beta?" Keep her phone aside Geet replied, "Kyun kya Bauji, humara Hoshiarpur ka programme phir cancel ho gaya" Quickly looking at Geet, Mohinder replied, "Toh kya hua? Hum next year plan bana lenge. Right now your career is more important. Anyways God knows why you want to go there, as we have no one there" Geet who by now was completely turned towards her father's side, determinedly replied, "Mujhe jana hai. Bas! I want to see the place where my Bauji grew up" Bringing the car to halt, right outside the tall glass structure with a signboard that read, Khurana Estate, Mohinder threw his hand up in surrender as he said, "Ok ok, I get it... Hum agle saal jayenge, now you need to hurry or you may get late". Geet, quickly wished Good bye to her dad while Mohinder kissed her forehead and wished her luck. Geet stepped outside the car and walked towards her destination. Mohinder kept looking at his daughter's retreating back with a solemn look on his face and mumbled to himself, "I'm sorry beta but we won't go there ever". As Geet entered the building, he re-ignited the engine and drove off.

"But Veerji this is not done. You can't go" said Anu agitatedly to Maan who was trying to call Mr. Ajay Gupta, Khurana's trusted aide and General Manager-Marketing at Khurana Estate. Waving his hand towards Anu, Maan gestured her to keep hush while he spoke on the line, "Good Morning Gupta Uncle. Ji, maine aapko yeh batane ke liye call kiya hai that I'll be away for two weeks. You must be knowing about the worker's issue that has cropped up at Bangalore factory site and dad has asked me to head straight there. (pause) Nahin, you are required here while I'm away (He looked at Anu who was sulking at the sudden turn of events while he heard was Guptaji was saying) Yes please mail me the details. I'll handle all that, you don't worry. But what I want from you is that you know we have trainees joining in today (pause... while Anu immediately looked up at him and made a puppy face) yes, I want you to arrange for their orientation and assign them tasks. I'll look into their progress once I'm back and would take it from there... (pause) ok. Thank you uncle." he concluded his conversation as he disconnected the call and looked at his darling sister who had been acting weird by every passing minute.

"Anu, What is it? Why are you sulking bachchi" Anu was pouting as she looked at him and replied, "Why am I sulking? Veerji aap aise achanak nahi ja sakte. No aap apna trip cancel kar do" she folded her hands across her chest and sat upright. "Anu you are being unreasonable. Main pehli baar toh out of town nahi ja raha and you have never behaved this way before" He tried to reason out. "But you were supposed to go to office!" replied Anu. Exasperated, he sighed as he tried to calm Anu, "Yes I was supposed to and I was going to but its right in front of you that dad called up and have asked me to head straight towards Bangalore". "That's so unfair of him. It is necessary for you to be in office" Anu blurted out. Puzzled, Maan asked, "necessary?" Realizing what she was saying, Anu fumbled, "I mean you... you... haan you were saying na that trainees are joining in today" Maan smiled at Anu as he replied, "yes, but Gupta uncle will take care of them. You don't have to worry about them" Anu made a face as she mumbled to herself, "yeah right. Pehle pata hota ki Gupta Uncle is going to take care toh Geet ki jagah Ms. Margaret (Anu's marketing professor who must be in her 40s) ke acceptance ke liye pray karti".

Maan who just couldn't comprehend Anu's rumblings gave a final try to coax her as the car stopped outside the arcade and softly said, "Ok fine. Let me come back. I'll make it up to you. We'll go for a nice family outing if that would please you" Anu, exasperated at the wide disparity in her and her brother's thoughts, looked up and muttered under her breath, "Hey Bhagwanji, kya hoga mere Veerji ka, yahan main inke honeymoon ke plans bana rahi hu aur yeh family outing pe atke hai" ... "WHAT??" bellowed Maan, as he slightly caught on Anu's statement "kya kaha tune?" Quickly realizing her mistake Anu fumbled again, "Maine? Nothing... kuch bhi toh nahi... aapko der ho rahi hai na... you move on... Bye Veerji" saying she at once got out of the car and rushed inside the arcade before Maan could say anything more. He shook his head a little and instructed the driver to come back here to pick Anu once he drops Maan at the airport.

Geet received a warm welcome at Khuranas. Couple of more trainees had joined in along with her. Khuranas knew how to get the best from the pupils. So they had introduced competition right on the day one. Trainees were promised that at the end of the internship whoever performed the best would be immediately taken on board after the completion of their course. So the challenge and goal was set for them. But Geet cared less. "I would deliver my best" was all she promised to herself and the organization. Geet along with other trainees were introduced to the organization and each were assigned their respective duties and were introduced to their respective mentors or reporting authorities. Geet was more inclined towards Marketing and communications, so Mr. Gupta took her under his wings. Geet resumed her duties and time flew by. She was so busy in meeting everyone in the organization, learning about business that she didn't realized it was time to head home until Rano called up post her official timings to know when she would be coming home. Once outside the building she realized that Anu didn't even call or message even once during the whole day.

At the Khurana Mansion, Dadi was still trying to soothe Anu who has sulked the whole day! "Relax Beta. Ab Maan kaam se hi toh gaye hai na aur humne toh aapse pehle hi kaha tha ki there is a great possibility of Maan and Geet not meeting at all." Grumpily Anu replied, "Dadi Ma aap bhi Veerji ki side le rahe ho. Unhe aaj hi bahar jana tha" Savitri devi laughed and patting Anu's cheeks said, "Beta ab agar unhe Viren ne jane ko kaha toh woh kya karte." just then Viren entered to have a word with his mother and Anu received a call from Geet. Anu at once received the call and as usual before she could say anything, Geet started, "Oye. Kahan hai tu? Poore din mein phone toh dur message tak nahi kiya". Anu walked over to the window and replied, "Haan woh I thought you would be busy. How was the day?" Enthusiastically Geet started telling her about her day, "Just too good! Everyone is so friendly and approachable out there. I would report to Sr. Manager, Marketing, Mr. Gupta and he's an amazing Boss. Didn't get to meet Mr. CEO, I overhead Mr. Gupta saying to someone that he's gone out of town. You know, I also found out that since he heads the marketing team, if it was not for his trip I would have been reporting to him directly..." "WHAT! (Anu shrieked... drawing both Savitri's and Viren's attention towards her) This isn't done. It's a conspiracy to fail my plans. I'll call you later" she cut the call, leaving Geet baffled at her sudden outburst, and turned to her dad. With a cute pout and puppy look on her face, she said accusingly, "sab aapki wajah se" and ran out of the room. Viren looked aghast and Savitri understanding what must have happened fell into a fit of laughter.

Days at Khurana Estate were smooth enough for Geet. Within less than two weeks, she had impressed one and all. She knew everyone working at the office by their names. Soon enough people at Khurana Estate also grew fond of her. She was soft-spoken, friendly, innocent and lovable. She could make people laugh just by the snap of her fingers. She stood out in the competition undoubtedly. Her dedication, hard-work and originality had not gone unnoticed from Viren too. Maan, on the other side had sorted out the worker's issue at the factory very efficiently. It was time for him to be back. Anu was relieved that finally after two long weeks, Maan would be finally joining back. On Monday morning, Maan came out of the airport and headed straight towards the office. Anu prayed that nothing should come up in between now.

Maan stepped outside his car at the gates of Khurana Estate. As the driver, went ahead to park the vehicle, Maan walked forward towards the building. With hawk's vision, he scanned the entire area to ensure everything was perfectly fine, just as he had left it. The security man immediately stood up to wish him Good Morning and escort him towards the elevator, when Maan saw two stems of yellow tulip kept upright in a small vase on the security desk. Maan looked at the flowers intently, when the security guy followed Maan's look, he gave Maan a toothy grin and said, "Geet Madam ne diye" Maan looked at the security guy with a stern look as asked, "Geet?" Security guy immediately replied, a little scared now, "New trainee Sir". Maan nodded once at him and moved towards the elevator.

He had called a meeting in the conference room to get a quick update on the progress of various projects that the company was undertaking. All the project files were presented in front of him for his introspection. "What about the launch details, Mr. Joshi" he asked looking up from the file in his hand. "Here it is sir" replied Mr. Joshi, handing over the file to him as he continued, "Geet finished it last week itself" Maan took the file and carefully went through it as the HR manager lightly commented, "I guess we should just abduct this girl. She's just too good with people. Mr. Gupta are you sure, she won't change her mind about switching to HR from Marketing". Mr. Gupta smirked, "why don't you ask her yourself Sunil. Lets see if the HR's persuasive powers works on Geet or not" Everybody shared a laugh while Maan intently listened to the discussion while checking the contents of the perfectly collated file.

As the meeting dispersed, Maan and Mr. Gupta sat in Mr. Gupta's cabin to discuss the new trainees. "I must say Maan, we have really good interns this year. They are all one better than the other. Competition streak is high." Maan listened to Mr. Gupta and said, "That's really good. We need efficient people when the markets are booming." Mr. Gupta nodded in agreement. Just as Maan was sipping his coffee, his eyes fell on a Music CD that was kept on Mr. Gupta's table. He picked it up and looking carefully at it asked, "Gupta Uncle, I never knew you were interested in Classical music." Mr. Gupta humbly replied, "Yes a little. You know I have been looking for this CD for a while now. Geet is a sweetheart, she got this from her mother's collection" Maan looked up at Mr. Gupta as he said, "Kya baat hai Gupta Uncle, jab se aaya hoon bas Geet ke bare main hi sun raha hu" Mr. Gupta laughed at this and said, "Maan tum abhi abhi aaye ho, abhi toh tumne kuch bhi nahi dekha" Maan looked puzzled and excused himself to go over to his cabin. He paused at the door and before moving out of it said, "Gupta Uncle please let me have the progress reports of the trainees; I would like to meet them tomorrow with the presentations."

As Maan was heading towards his cabin, he almost bumped into the office boy who was carrying a glass of juice with a grin plastered on his face. However, as the office boy soaked in the gravity of what could have happened as Maan looked at him annoyed, he said," sss... ss.. soo... soorryy sir... Woh Geet madam ke liye juice leke ja raha tha" Hearing Geet's name once again, Maan rolled his eyes and stormed inside his cabin.

Maan was angry, annoyed, irritated... this was the limit! From the time he entered, it has been Geet, Geet and Geet. Her gestures were simple but it seemed the whole office was just talking about her. This was his office... his grandfather... his father had built it and here this girl comes by and in just couple of weeks have managed to proclaim his territory and also managed to alter the loyalties of his staff! Everyone just seems to be talking about her. Is there any place left where she has not marked her presence? Even his own cabin was not spared! The only difference was, where at other places there were small and pleasant additions, here in his cabin a huge porcelain vase was gone! This girl had apparently come in to keep some file and had banged into it and the beautiful artifact that Savitri Devi had imported from Italy was shattered to pieces as Hiralal the office boy had reported! Maan hated it when anyone touched his things. And Savitri had specially called for that piece immediately after he occupied the cabin. If that was not all, Sapna, his Secretary had immediately come in after hearing the commotion and on learning what the matter was immediately quipped in, "Sir. Please sir, it was not her fault. Usne dekha nahi tha, it was just an accident. Poor girl also cut her ankle with the shattered porcelain" Maan was surprised and looked at her with squinted eyes. Sapna who never spoke until it was official or of utmost importance was here trying to defend that girl, speaking something other than business for the first time in two years since he became the CEO! He asked them to leave and then looked at the new trainee's academic record which illustrated nothing else but excellence.

Secretly, Maan also felt awe for this girl whom he was yet to meet. He had taken two years to learn about the people who worked for Khuranas and here this girl had accomplished the same task in 2 weeks! Mr. Gupta had worked with Khuranas for 15 years now and Maan didn't know that he was fond of classical music but she knows it already... What was she upto and who was she? He had to find it... and see whether she was really as good as people said. She couldn't possibly fool him. Determined he sat back on his chair and started working on his lap top.

Geet had been busy, preparing a presentation that she would require to present before the CEO tomorrow. He was back. Though they had not met him yet, the air in the office today was different. In the morning when she noticed the behavioural changes in people around her, she didn't understand what was happening. It was only when she met Sapna near the coffee machine in the morning did she got to know that The Maan Singh Khurana is back. She felt weird the way people were running helter skelter in the office as if the house was on fire. In the afternoon, Mr. Gupta had summoned all the trainees and briefed them to prepare a presentation. Apparently, a new client had walked in and was wanting to build a mall in Agra. He wanted Khuranas to take care of all the aspects of it. Right from the design aspect to the marketing and sales plan of the mall till the final execution. All the trainees were briefed about the project and were asked to present their outlook on the mall design and a marketing plan for their design. Now this was the real challenge in the real field. Geet was being cautious and careful in completing the details of her presentation. Finally by the time she was done it was past 9:00 pm. Three hours beyond the office timings. She shut her system, grabbed her purse and got up to leave. As she reached near the elevator, she noticed that everyone had already left. She mentally cursed herself for not keeping track of the time.

Just as she was about to move ahead, the lights behind in the huge working space flickered and were turned off. She was standing in the middle of the dimly lit corridor, the end of which was marked by the elevators. She was scared now to go all by herself. Geet was scared of the dark. Even at home when she was alone at night, she had the habit of sleeping with the lights on. And this dark corridor was long and she has been working here for only two weeks so this place was also relatively alien to her. She couldn't help but remember the spooky corridors she had seen in a recently watched horror series. "Geet tujhe time ka khyal rakhna chahiye tha... baaki sab ne bhi toh thoda bohut kaam kal ke chod diya na. toh tujhe kyun saare MBA lessons aaj hi apply kare the (she chided herself and took a deep breath) Ab himmat kar... jaana toh padega na... yahan khade rehne se toh kuch nahi hoga... (looking upward) Babaji mere saath rehna please..." mumbling to herself she moved forward with faltered steps.

And then, as she turned to look back, she immediately flipped her head forward quite sure that she caught something moving from the corner of her eyes a little distant from her. To add to her horror she even heard something or someone calling out, not once but twice. "Wah ab yahan ke bhoot bhi mujhe awaz dekar bulane lage hai... Shabash Geet, bas ab teri zindagi main bhooton ki hi kami thi" Scared, she started moving a little faster and she started mumbling a little loudly. "Altu zalaltu aayi bala ko taal tu... Altu zalaltu aayi bala ko taal tu... Altu zalaltu aayi bala ko taal tu..." she kept saying in an attempt to ward off the spirits and ghosts. Just then someone placed a hand on her shoulder... That was it... Instintively her eyes got shut and she screamed in an ear-splitting sound "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" before being the roughly turned around and being shut by the force of a strong palm on her mouth.