Translucence - Finished. - Page 92

Disclaimer - Unedited chapter. Apologies for the errors.

Chapter 25:

"Do you think Deshmukh is going to rub in about the alliance fiasco?" Varun asked dully.

"Probably. And when he is at it, he might even throw in under the belt insults," Maan replied casually.

"He could have done that by calling our proposal garbage and rejecting us in the first round itself," argued Varun.

"Well according to Emily this is one way of Deshmukh getting back at us for the public humiliation – by getting Khurana Heavy Transport CEO at his workplace and make a mickey out of him," Maan shrugged.

Maan and Varun were on their way to present their proposal and also a corporate presentation which every new vendor generally did before a service agreement was formally signed. In most companies a figurative head would generally perform the orals, the way it was called, but Deshmukh was very particular in this case.

"You should be the one taking the responsibility Maan," said Varun, his voice edgy.

"Now why should I do that?" Maan said his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Because you were the one who pranced around with an alliance deal with Deshmukh without ensuring the safety of the final voting," Varun huffed.

"I'll remember to bribe or blackmail them from next time Varun. I learned my lesson well," said Maan and looked back at his laptop. Varun simply looked at his Blackberry every ten seconds as if it was going to come to life and mollify him.

"Can't you go faster?" Varun unnecessarily said to the driver.

"Leave him alone Varun. Look around and see how pathetic the traffic is. We will get there in time, don't worry," replied Maan without much of a concern. "But then again, if you get late, Deshmukh might make snide remarks at you and your professionalism in front of press as soon as he gets a chance," said Maan and swallowed a smile. He loved being an asshole.

"This isn't fair Maan," said Varun repeating the same old argument again.

"Varun, you revoked my decision on the Deshmukh contract by using the CEO veto trump card thus you took the final responsibility. Now if you say that our pursuit for the alliance itself wasn't necessary, then it's a different thing." Maan said thoughtfully.

"I think you should have simply stuck to your old lifestyle than trying to change the world," said Varun bitterly.

"If my presence is causing problems, then please go ahead and fire me," said Maan going back to the presentation he was looking at on his laptop.

"I can't do that," said Varun helplessly.

"Of course you can," said Maan tonelessly.

"Dad will be furious," said Varun. Maan looked up and saw his brother looking totally hopeless.

"So what? You are the f**king CEO," said Maan, rubbing the obvious on his face. Varun didn't reply immediately.

"Look Maan. Why don't we simply let the things be? Things are running decently as it is and let them continue to do so. Why start making changes to vendors, contractors and employee policy at the same time and as a byproduct piss off people across the strata?" Varun asked.

Maan wondered if it was really Varun talking or he was simply the shoulder on which the gun was mounted and fired at him by Mitalee and Vikram. He didn't know nor did he care.

"Because I can."

Maan replied and went back to working on his laptop. Varun felt his breath catch in throat and he suddenly felt suffocated. His forehead broke into sweat with the AC on and he took deep breaths to ease out the burn in his lungs.

There was no grand declaration of bringing change, making profits, improving employee satisfaction, providing better services in industry, customer satisfaction and upholding Khurana Group as a whole. Maan's decision for doing whatever he was doing didn't have any tangible goals associated with it; no charts, statistics or numbers to back up his decision.

It was most primitive reason why things changed in this world constantly; the fact that there is someone who believes it's possible to bring that change.

Varun looked at his younger brother in half admiration and half jealousy in the ease with which he took decisions and stuck to it. His earlier decisions in life had sucked but so what? He didn't stop at that nor did he hide behind his father's reputation.

This trait in Maan might as well be a warning bell for Mitalee and Vikram, Varun thought.

Maan will be after them next.

-- o00o --

"How did it go?" Emily asked sitting on a chair next to Satya and opposite to Maan.

"Surprisingly good," Maan replied taking a bite of sandwich. "Varun was impressive." He said a moment later.

"And?" Emily asked when she didn't get the answer she was expecting.

"And we are in," replied Satya with a small smile. Emily noticed that his smile wasn't full.

"But?" She asked picking up other half of Maan's sandwich and took a bite.

"Order your own Emily," Maan said with his mouthful only to be ignored by Emily and Satya.

"But he wants Maan to overlook the initial three months performance," said Satya motioning a waiter. He placed Emily's lunch order as his boss and his girlfriend barely paid attention to what he was saying and were busily polishing off a sandwich. He sighed.

"Forget it," said Emily after swallowing a huge bite and Satya took a tissue paper and dusted off breadcrumbs from her blazer. "We don't operate based on our client's whims and fancies especially with the likes of Deshmukh. I have a feeling he is playing something big," she added looking at Maan and completely oblivious to Satya's ministration.

"Well tough luck there because Varun agreed," said Satya. Emily looked at him in surprise. "He is a good orator Emily there is no doubt about it. He has had his own agenda all along and for few moments we forgot about it and we totally underestimated his authority; not to mention his association with Vikram and Mitalee." Satya said wiping ketchup from Emily's chin once he had finished dusting of breadcrumbs.

"But his idiotic decision now puts us in an awkward position Satya. Did Deshmukh ask for a contractual obligation or was it simply verbal?" Emily asked Maan without being awkward or embarrassed about Satya's doing.

Maan was staring at the couple in front of him paying zero attention to the conversation. When he didn't respond and continued to stare at her, Emily and Satya exchanged a look.

"Yoo-hoo," Emily waved her hand in front of Maan. "Is any one home?" She asked continuing to wave her heads.

"Sorry," Maan apologized, coming out of his trance. "You two looked awfully comfy with each other. It was endearing to watch," Maan replied smiling.

"What was endearing, creep?" Emily's eyes had already narrowed. Satya vigorously shook his head when Emily turned to look at Maan – Don't answer. Maan cleared his throat.

"Whatever it is, all that matter now is that we have an entry to petrochemical domain. And that's saying something," said Maan, content with their achievement.

"That's true. But you know that we have barely scratched the surface right? Your brother is going to keep an extra eye on you, going forward," said Emily sipping on green tea.

"I think he already is, but that's expected," shrugged Maan.

"Sir, chairman has asked you to meet him at the earliest. It's regarding the policy changes," said Satya several moments later.

"How do you think he is going to take it?" Emily asked.

"Emily, we are trying to change compensation policy for the company. So of course he is going to be pissed. I mean we all led a cushy life by putting as much as 40% of the employee's pay under the variable component bracket; meaning 40% of their salary would be paid based on the performance of the company in a given quarter. So if a company failed miserably in a quarter, the employees would get only 60-70% of their net salary next quarter which makes takes the risks of the company off the books and puts it directly on to the employees. And I don't like this f**king cheating model because some innocent guy is paying for management's failure," Maan snarled.

"So I am splitting 40% to half – 20% will still be company performance," he said and added when he saw Emily frowning, "What? I am not a saint Emily and I cannot change business process too drastically overnight especially when we are totally f**ked," he said. "And the second half, 20%, will be dependent on the employee's performance," he finished.

Satya and Emily didn't answer.

"Where do you see the problem?" Maan asked.

"I don't, actually. It's a decent working model but we will have to make few modifications for our performance measurement processes. Besides that, it seems feasible," she said.

"I agree with Emily. And if you present the overall matrix for individual compensation benefits across the performance spectrum, it should be enough to present for chairman," Satya added.

Maan smiled at the two.

"I think we need to celebrate one of these days. I am so tired holing up myself in my office or apartment." Maan complained. "And I am not getting lot of time to spend with Geet," he groaned.

"I heard she made lunch," Emily quipped. Maan stared at her.

"I am going to present a dictionary to Geet which has the words – privacy, butt out, personal, none of your business, spy etc." Maan said dully. Satya snickered while Emily laughed.

"Emily, why is that…"

"Hello Maan."

Maan's words were cut short when an elderly woman's voice called him out. Emily saw him going pale when they heard the woman calling him.

"Hello Maan." She was now standing right next to their table.

"Hello mom," Maan replied softly.

Emily and Satya looked on with matching shocked expressions.

What was Maan's mom, Damini, doing here?

To be continued.

Music companion of the day: In the waiting line by Zero 7