CHANDRA'S NANDHINI
Chapter I
Nandini stood before the massive gates of the five star hotel " Empire Maurya. A place of grandeur and elegance. The facade just looks stunning in the morning day light...It is just 8 o clock..a chilly November morning in the outskirts of Musoorie,Uttarakhand. The colored lights still illuminate the frontage, is particularly striking
She can see the sprawling well kept grounds and garden, with a lake and a nice fountain.
She has had shoulder bag hanging in the right side .At the outset she has a demure personality. She wore wrinkled cotton salvar-kameez in a conventional way
She had a round shaped unblemished face..her fair skin was soft and had a natural attractiveness
..her eyes were dark and looked as if they had a sparkle in them, and had arch shaped pencilled eye brows. Her petite features made her look so innocent. If she smiles, her perfect features will definitely radiate her beauty further
The lithesome girl adjusted her duppatta and timidly approached the watchman of the hotel
The burly middle aged watchman was the long time employee of the Chairman's family .
He was scribbling some data on the register inside the shed.
The wind rushed thru , and blew away her hair and some curls gingerly placed themselves on her forehead
Nandini called him " sir".
He took off his eyes from the ledger and raised his eye brows " yes..madam. what can do for you.At once she took a white cover from her hand bag and showed a letter to him
"I got this appointment letter from the chairman of the hotel,I have come here to join duty"
" Oh..you are Nandini..plz come with me".
Ram, the watchman led her to the exterior front side of the hotel. She was impressed by the clean cut marble path and the courtesy area. They entered a large drawing room that contained large sofas of convenience and elegance. The central area was decorated with an oriental rug of delicate flowered pattern and in the centre stood a huge brass lamp of six feet with intricate antique designs. It shone like gold in the morning sunlight. She was seated at the first chair and her stomach was doing flips like a sea world dolphin.
Meantime, there were two intense eyes with piercing gaze, looked down at the delicate figure.
"So at last you arrived into my den,"
He murmerred to himself. There was some tapping of the door.
A waiter with impeccable white uniform brought a tray of morning coffee and scrolls of bread with butter,scrambled eggs and a pint of orange juice. There was also a cleanly folded news paper in the corner.After placing on the teapoy he silently retreated closing the door behind him .As the chairman of the hotel, he had taken this suite as his living quarters. He can have an entire view of the surroundings from this point of view. Perhaps, he was waiting for Nandini's arrival from the morning 5o clock and scarcely slept the whole night
Chandra..Chandra Patel , the chairman of the hotel " Empire Maurya " started to scan the headlines of the news paper .It came quite a surprise to us that Chandra Patel was not more than twenty nine years old.
And walked like there was a straight vertical stick tied to his back .He was man with one day stubble and still in his night dress .But had a dashing personality of over six feet height with defined cheekbones and concrete jaw.
Again a tap on the door..with some annoyance he called out "yes come in.
A woman of twenty five entered the room.She called herself as C.E.O of the Empire Maurya
Hotel Empire Maurya is a (private) limited company. Nalini's father is one of the major shareholders of the Hotel. After completing her MBA in hotel management, she pestered her father to join her as the CEO of the hotel. Though Chandra has no immediate need of any CEO at present, he has to oblige his counterpart Gangadhar Agarwal. She gets anything she wants basically and wants others to treat her like a princess. She believes she is successful, even if she is not. Always looking for an opportunity to meet Chandra and has a conversation with him
She enticingly asked him
" Chandra, a girl, what is her name..ah..Nandini has come with an appointment order, but no category is mentioned. What job can I provide..plz Chandra help me"
Chandra with out even raising his head from the paper Mallika it is you head ace..don't bother me with these frivolous questions..you do whatever you like with her.
"Oh Chandra..sorry yaar..haven't you have your breakfast, shall I serve you"
" No Mallikai, have you contacted the interior decorators for our new wing"
"Yes Chandra..they will be here around 11o clock..shall I leave?"
"Please"
Mallika took an instant dislike on seeing Nandini, when Ram brought her to her office. A sort of jealousy crept over her;Nandini's model like features, even in no make up and crumpled clothes made her outstandingly beautiful; suddenly Mallika felt inferior to the naive girl in front of her; A question loomed into her mind " How Chandra knows this girl.But when she went to his suite , she cannot fathom up her courage to raise the question. His off handed reply gave her a sort of relief from her disquiet.
Nandini was waiting outside Mallika's office room. She arrived there, followed by Rani, one of the basic servants of the hotel.
"Rani, take her to the housekeeping store room. Give her a mop and adequate cleaners to clean the first floor bathrooms and latrines..you..what is your name..Nandini..go after Rani..change to basic workers' uniform.by tomorrow morning your ID card will be ready..do you know what is an ID card? Do you have a passport size photo with you"
Nandini could not comprehend anything there..she as a toilet cleaner...oh.. this madam has mistaken me..I am a post graduate in IT..was working in a refuted firm as a System Administrator..was getting salary of Rs 20000 per month...here..what is she saying..something is completely wrong
" madam..I think you have mistaken me..I am a post graduate..can I show my degree certificates..yes I know..there is no job specification..but I have sent the Xerox copy of all my certificates, kindly give me the appointment order with job specification and quoting my salary also"
"Madam can I go and see the chairman in person"" You..to see the Chairman..I am the CEO of this hotel and you do the job allotted to you..no more gimmicks "
"but"
Suddenly she remembered the whole sequences of events in the previous week
(to be continued)
CHAPTER II
Padmanandh ,aged 52 years, is an ordinary law binding citizen, working in a concern in Dehradun, in the accounts department He earns enough to run his family moderately. His family is no more than two persons..himself and his only lovely daughter Nandini. She was quite intelligent, got laurels during her college days, passed her post graduation in IT with flying colors and in no time got a job as System Administrator in an Interior Design company.
BEST-INTERIORS Design Group, Inc. is an internationally recognized and award-winning interior and exterior design firm with expertise in residential, commercials,multiplexes,hotels and so on. It is based in Dehradun,Uttarakhand.Nandini is the system administrator and is liked by all of her colleagues. Siddharth, the marketing head of the company has an affection for her and is friendly with her within reasonable limits
Padmanandh kept all of her salary in savings for her marriage.But he could not understand why she was evasive, whenever he took the topic of marriage. She was always in a dream world and her face held an ever present gloomy expression.
she completed all her assignments for the day... all the designs, the list of pending customers, the progressing plans were categorically filed in the systems and she left the company. Two of her friends accompanied her and they reached the bus stop.
A high profile white car Jaguar XE with tinted glass windows passed by her side and suddenly the speed was reduced..after a few seconds it took a U turn and again ,it skirted by her side, stayed for a minute and flew away quickly.
Her friends nudged her
" hey what a beautiful and expensive car..who is the lucky girl or the lucky guy inside"
Nandini seemed not to care for the that car ,for that matter, no other car on the road, reached the house and completed the evening cores. She is fond of books from her childhood and so with an English Novel by a famous author retired to her bed at 10 O clock. She had no liking for serials.
But now a days she often hears from all her colleagues a name, Rajat Tokas. They seem to be captivated by this young actor doing the historical serial Chandra Nandini
She was secretly amused and at the same time saddened by the combination of the names Chandra and Nandini.
At that time she did not know that an intense trophical storm will hit her family and claim higher share of destruction in her calm life. The strength and intensity of the whirl wind carried her away and in no time her calm life came to a pathetic end
Suddenly her father's company was closed with out any proper reason. But the GM of that company was kind enough to find a job for her father in the same clerical department in an export-Import company of electronic goods.
Bharath Exports and Imports is one of the sister establishments of a big conglomerate of companies running thru out Uttarkhand .
The new office of Padmanandh boasts of hi-fi systems ,from desktop to web and everything in between., The office has powerful new appliances and features that help you do great work anytime,
When Padmanandh entered into his cubicle, he was expecting a desk full of ledgers. But to his surprise...no... to his distress , he saw a PC with all the other accessories
.For his daughter's sake ,he was ready to learn the computer jargon and related softwares, but the new system eluded him; the confusion over took him and in the process could not tally his accounts for Rupees twenty lakhs
The after effects of the above significant unpleasant event, took place in an unimaginable speed and the final verdict was that if he could not produce that huge amount with in a week, the office categorically asserted that he will be remanded in jail for embezzlement of 20 lakhs.
On her father's behalf, she went to his company and begged for an appointment with GM..
That GM was very conservative and a man of very few words.His ramrod like lean structure gave her no hope;as expected he did not accept her repaying the amount in small instalments .Instead, from under the drawer produced a white cover and asked her to go thru the letter.
It was the same appointment letter she produced to Mallika. The GM wasted no words. If she was willing to take a job in that five star hotel for a non specific period, her father will be out of danger..In that period, she won't be allowed to meet her father , rather any of her acquaintances .
Hence she is there in front of Mallika to do the cleaning of bathrooms and latrines
Rani was very sympathetic with her
"... this Mallika is always behaves rudely. don't worry..you are educated..I will teach you every thing.. ...one more thing..I know the timing to meet our chairman..he is a nice man...you can directly go and request him"
With that, she put on house keeping uniform,(got her ID card also).With all the modern day cleaning liquids, it was not of much difficult for her to clean toilets..
...but her biggest challenge was mopping..She used to observe the mopping techniques from her " colleagues" and in the nights wept silently( sleeping in a common hall of the house keeping staff)
At nights a figure looks at her sleeping posture from the window, with so much concern, but strides away shaking his head despondently
On the fourth day Rani came running to her
" Nandini , Mallika has gone out and won't be back till the evening. You can go and meet the chairman..he is in the third floor suite..hurry up"
Nandini was in the house keeping uniform, but just adjusted her hair and wiped her face with a towel and now standing in front of the suite door, tapped it
From inside he heard the voice
" yes, come in"
When she entered the chairman was near the window, looking outside ,showing her ,his back .She gingerly stepped inside
" sir. I have a request..my name is Nandini,the daughter of Padmanandh. ,your employee in Bharath exports and imports in Dehradun...sir..I am a post graduate, but CEO allotted me the job of cle..."
The figure slowly turned to her...when she saw his face she was thunder struck and immediately started to run out of the room
" stop Nandini..you still have the art of running away in the middle..do you?"
(to be continued)
Chapter III
For chapter I & II refer to
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4862955
( Nandini a beautiful girl came to Hotel Empire Maurya with an appointment order.CEO of the hotel allotted her the job of cleaning the toilets and bathrooms.She as a double graduate wanted to correct this anomaly and went to meet the chairman , Chandra Patel...ON seeing him)
Nandini did not stop ,but managed to fetch her shoulder bag and ran towards the entrance. She was completely disoriented. Luckily Ram was on duty..he saw the dishevelled Nandini running towards the main gate. Some guests were arriving and he was also regulating the traffic
Intercom inside his shed buzzed; he answered the call and saw Nandini near the gate .Immediately he got hold of her
In the course of 3 days, he had developed a fondness for her, and was also witnessing her troubles under Mallika
"Nandini, where are you going? Any thing happened"
" No Ram kaka..plz allow me to go outside"
" How can you.Beti..as a watchman I have strict orders not to allow you to go out side the campus"
At once Nandini came to her senses and felt defeated. Her present condition and her father's impending jail sentence struck her like a hammer..
Slowly she retreated to the hotel and started her work again
In the evening, Mallika welcomed Nandini to her office with fire works
"How dare you go to chairman's room without my permission..do you think that your charm will entice him"
"You got promotion within 4 days of time .He has changed your work order .here after the 10 rooms in the third floor come under your charge. You have to house keep the rooms. The details you ask Malthi. Now you can go"
On the way, the cleric Vishnu called her
He said " you can occupy the corner room in the second floor. You can collect the uniform from the store room"
He also handed her a key.
With numbness she took the keys..Rani ran to her and exclaimed
Didn't I say Chairmna is a good person..you don't mind Mallika's bullying. Come ..I will clean your room."
The room..no.. a cubicle of 6' by 8' was in the left corner of the second floor, besides the steps to third floor .It had a cot like bench and a small cupboard and nothing else
As the care taker of 10 rooms ,she was provided with 3 sets of beautiful uniform sarees.
Malathi was a darling girl, taught her the art of tucking the beds. Her duty includes..the supervision on cleanliness of rooms, filling the fridge with fruits and other requirements(no hot drinks will be loaded), and setting the flower vase. As an artistic person by nature, she welcomed the type of work provided to her.
Compulsorily she shut out the memories of Chandra..yes..the memories of Chandra Patel ,the chairman of the Empire Maurya
She lied down on the bench. She was so tired due to the emotional and physical work of the day and went to a deep sleep. When she woke up in the morning, saw herself lying on the ground, covered by a heavy rug..she would have rolled down due to insufficient space..but the costly woollen rug..
She steadied herself and in no time was ready for the morning work. When she came out of the room,
Rani exclaimed
" Oh Nandini,you look so beautiful in that saree..anybody seeing you will fall for you"
Nandini chided her and went to third floor..Alas.. her first assignment was in the suite..the very suite occupied by the chairman.
She tried to tap the door,but when she placed her palm, it opened automatically. With the renewed courage, she entered the room. There seemed to be nobody in the rooms, but finally saw a figure lying on the floor with out any pillow.She could see that it is none other than Chandra,she can recognize him even from the silhouette.With out making any noise, slowly put a pillow under his head and started towards the entrance
"Where is he"
Involuntarily Nandini turned towards him and saw two blood shot eyes staring at her
She asked " who"
"Your husband I mean..has he ditched you as you have done to me"
" sir, I will come after some time to set right your room...plz excuse me"
" Nandini, you didn't answer my question"
But she was gone.With trembling hands, she completed her allotted work
The cleric Vishnu called her.
"The chairman asks you to bring his morning breakfast"
"me..."
"yes you"
".. that is not my allotted work.."
"..here you cannot speak of rules..Do as I instructed"
She collected the breakfast from the kitchen, put them in a trolly and once again entered into his room
To her surprise, he was in crisp, clean and well fitted clothing with a clean shaven face ; a pair of high quality modern shoes; a hair cut flattering and up to date; a fine cologne
She lost her composure and stammered "... sir shall I leave"
" who will serve me"
While eating,he saw her under his eyes; she was intensely looking at a l scenery on the wall
"Nandini, how do I look"
Her heart quipped a little..but she started collecting the utensils...
" you have developed the habit of not answering your boss..ok.."
He came very to her and looked at her(she can hear his breathing air) and said
"you look the same; same midriff and the same bust,the same beauty,the same curls"
" sir you have no right to describe another man's wife and an employee of yours like this"
" ah..another man's wife.. my foot..you cheat..you are a snake..get out of my room"
With that she pushed her away and suddenly left the room, loudly banging the doors
(to be continued)
.