OFFICE
Tucking a stray strand of hair into her otherwise pristine French bun, the elegant lady strutted through the sparkling corridors that led to her private office. The rhythmic echoes of her Jimmy Choo heels against the porcelain floors were as much a style statement as they were an intimation to the remaining staff of their 'Madam's' arrival.
Swinging open the door to her cabin, the petite lady dropped her expensive Dior purse on the table before taking her seat on the inviting leather chair. Out of habit, she instantly opened a drawer under her table and grabbed a lighter along with a pack of Silk-Cut.
Having lit the cigarette, she gracefully crossed her legs and then leaned back on the swivel chair - drawing in a puff as she did so.
'Heavenly' she thought to herself as she scanned the white ceilings of her cabin. Actually, large room more like - luxuriously large - for a HR manager, at least! However, that's how she'd wanted it and she ALWAYS got what she wanted - be it her cabin, her position or even her husband.
Being the wife of the CEO, she could have easily laid claims to a much higher position. However, she knew where her talents lay - in managing the people around her!
Her lazy glances then trailed around the room till they stopped at the row of files arranged on her table. She smiled at the embossed logo that marked most of them -
JA JA Group!
It was the LARGEST Steel corporation in India and SHE was the wife of the dashing young entrepreneur who singularly owned it. All of it! Mrs Ruqaiyya Jalal-ud-din Mohammed loved telling herself that fact - at least twelve times a day!
Shortly thereafter, her glimpses fell upon an older file right at the bottom of the pile. Snapping out of her thoughts in a spell, she leaned forward and pulled it out.
It was the proposal she'd prepared ages ago - a proposition to open a new textile design branch under the umbrella group of JA JA corporation. It'd been a long-standing wish of her's - pashminas, shawls, scarves and silks! She'd have the silks exquisitely designed before exporting them! Why, her gay friend - Hoshiyaar Khan -a Nationally renowned fashion designer had even promised to help her start up!
'I know my stuff...the plan would be foolproof!' she'd thought to herself as she'd prepared the proposal four months ago.
Then, why was this significant project of hers now lying abandoned at the bottom of a pile?
She remembered his sly frowns when she'd told her husband about her plans that lazy Sunday morning. Placing her arms lovingly around his neck and putting on her sweetest smile, she'd waited for his reply - hoping he'd approve her offer instantly. However, he'd come back with a pretty-much-expected answer!
'Whatever your proposal Ruqaiyya darling...prepare it...have Badi Ammi proof-read it...and when SHE shows it to me, I shall have a look at it...'
Drawing away from her thoughts, Ruqaiyya pressed the buzzer on her intercom impatiently. No sooner than the secretary at the other end attended the call, she meted a stern instruction 'Send for Mrs. Maham... IMMEDIATELY!'
********************
A short while later - a few gentle knocks were heard on the door
'Come in'
A middle-aged lady walked in. Spectacles sitting on the brink of her nose, the woman was dressed in a plain white cotton saree and a matching white blouse - as always!
Briefly studying the lady's garb from top to bottom, Ruqaiyya couldn't help but stifle a sneer. She had NO IDEA why the lady'd chosen to stick to this facade of purity - seeing how she'd never heard the lady recall her expired husband's memories even once!
'Whatever!' she sighed to herself eventually - Maham's wardrobe was the least of HER worries anyway.
Indicating to the file in her hand, she went on to cease the silence in the room with a questioning glare 'Why is this file lying here Mrs. Maham?'
Maham stared at the file in her mistress' hand and then looked back at Ruqaiyya. Her cunning mind had already formulated a hundred justifications to cover up for her actions.
'Madam Ruqaiyya' she began with apparent disdain 'Isn't this the file that you'd prepared some months ago? A project for some fashion business you were looking to come up with?'
'Yes...so...didn't you show it to Jalal as I'd asked you to?'
'Hmmm...I did...' the older lady replied with mock concern 'However, he didn't think that the information in it was sufficient to render it presentable at a board meeting...'
Ruqaiyya couldn't believe her ears 'Then, why didn't you tell me so earlier?'
'Well...you didn't ask me' Maham replied with a seemingly sympathetic smile
Unfortunately for Ruqaiyya; though she was 'boss' at home, it was Maham who ruled the roost at office - a set-up that she hated from the very beginning. However, she could do little to change it. It was how things worked long before she'd come into the picture!
The middle aged vixen who stood in front was no ordinary lady! She was the one who'd raised Jalal ever since his parents had died in a car accident a long time ago. Starting off as an ordinary nanny in the family, her importance had grown by leaps and bounds when she'd decided to take the orphaned little one under her wing - him AND all of the fortune that he was going to inherit! Whether fortunately or otherwise - it was Maham who'd brought up the young heir and got him educated in one of the top universities in the country. It was Maham who'd made Jalal the astute entrepreneur he was today - capable of inheriting AND expanding his father's legacy!
Jalal was no ungrateful ward either. He respected the lady more than he did anyone else in his life - and not primarily because she raised him or had had him educated, but because she earnestly fulfilled a wish of his that was dearer to his heart than any other!
'Damn that Amul Gold homogenized toned milk' the disgruntled Ruqaiyya thought to herself, yet again. It was a brand of milk that Jalal loved as a child - the only brand he'd drink. Therefore, Maham had taken it upon herself to loyally traipse down to the Kirana store every morning for seven years to bring him a fresh packet. [Actually, she had opted for a home delivery option after a month or so, but none at home really knew about it!]
It was due to that very Amul Gold homogenized toned milk that Jalal found himself indebted to Maham for life!
Standing up, the enraged businesswoman kicked back her chair as she paraded up to the comparatively composed nanny. So what if Maham was ingenious with accounts and business, Ruqaiyya was no less either. She wouldn't take this insult lightly.
'Don't mock my efforts Mrs. Maham...' Ruqaiyya said, puffing her cigarette 'A lot of effort has gone into it...I hope you understand who you're talking to...'
'I very well do' the lady replied 'I'd never intended disrespect...however, you must realize that this is a steel group of industries...'
'Steel! Steel! Steel!' she'd nearly thrown a fit there 'That's all you can think about...and thanks to you, that's all Jalal is obsessed about too! Nothing else!'
'Obviously' the crafty nanny reminded her 'After all, that's what his father's company was to begin with...which has now become this big empire thanks to Jalal's hard work!'
Her patience was wearing thin 'It doesn't mean we can't experiment in other areas too...'
'Madam...madam...madam...' Maham interrupted her mistress abruptly, unaware that her annoying habit of addressing people 'three-times-over' only riled Ruqaiyya more! 'I will talk to Jalal once again, when the time is suitable'
'And when would that be?'
'Which would be never again' Maham thought to herself slyly.
The gifted woman that Maham was, she'd learnt the workings of JA JA group like none else through the course of Jalal's upbringing. So much so that she'd grown to become his advisor in many-a-business-affair!
However, there was one area she was NOT an undisputed leader in and that was FASHION. Her sense of fashion was for want of better word - abysmal - in comparison to Ruqaiyya's. If Mrs. Jalal-ud-din Muhammed managed to get her way and open a fashion branch, she'd have no say or power in it. Now, THAT was something Maham would never let happen!
Surveying her sceptical mistress, Maham reiterated herself - this time with a wide smile 'Madam, I WILL speak to Jalal when the time is suitable...trust me...'
'And WHEN exactly would that be?' Ruqaiyya came back again - her tone sharper. She could see precisely how the lady was trying to sabotage her dreams!
'Another day Madam...not today...' the nanny explained 'As it is, Jalal wasn't very pleased with you for misplacing his treasured shoes last night...'
'What?' Ruqaiyya exclaimed under her breath. How could she have known their private conversation? Unless of course, the old woman was peeking through their bedroom door yet again last night!
Disgusted, Ruqaiyya interrupted the old lady 'Enough of this! I know its never going to happen Mrs. Maham...so I shall take matters into my own hands now!'
Seizing her mobile phone, Ruqaiyya quickly texted her husband
'Jalal, I need you here now, xo xo xo!'
She was aware of how far her husband disliked any such distractions - especially when he was in meetings with clients, but she did it anyway. After all, she knew she 'ruled his mind' and whatever the matter - he'd be at her cabin in no time!
Glaring at the disapproving Maham, Ruqaiyya quickly finished up her cigarette, as she waited for his arrival.
Soon after, there was a knock
'Why is he knocking?' Ruqaiyya thought 'Come in...'
The door swung open and in staggered a gruffly-dressed man in khakhis. The smell of alcohol instantly permeated the room as the boor clumsily brought a paper towards them.
Edited by lashy - 11 years ago
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