FIGHT AGAINST DESTINY- PreRish FF [Thread1 Ch 1 - 14] - Page 39

Originally posted by: MishtiNew

She didn't even reply to my PMs....😭😭😭

Originally posted by: WaqtZaya

chal baccha ek saath ro lete hain 😭😭

😭😭😭

I told her to update...she said she would, soon...But...She vanished...🥺

Originally posted by: MishtiNew

😭😭😭

I told her to update...she said she would, soon...But...She vanished...🥺

Originally posted by: WaqtZaya

thoda nazar ghumao dikh jayegi tumko 😏

Huh?

She is in another world...😡

Hello Amazing People🤗

Hope you all are doing well. Here again with another chapter to this story. Hope you find it worth your time. Thank you all readers- those who leave a like or a comment or both as well the ones who choose to remain silent readers.

Disclaimer- I am not a management student, so please forgive me if things in the business rivalry doesn't make sense. 😊

Love 

-Sunshine

CHAPTER 10

TWO DAYS LATER (WEDNESDAY)

THRIVE BEVERAGES MEETING ROOM

11.00 AM

“So this is what my plan is for the new launch. I assure you most of the distributors and Retailers are now associated with us, I have already worked on this in the past 2 months. So we give maximum space and visibility at every retail platform. Not only this we market it extensively  to catch as many eyeballs as we can. We’d throw advertisements on Television, Digital Entertainment channels, Social media, collaborate with startups like Swiggy and Zomato, create augments games with lot to win for the players and get views and subscribers, official partnership with Sports series be it cricket, football, you name it. I have many more plans for post launch as mentioned in the document shared with you all. We will make this new launch a household name in no time. We assure you of that” members present for the meeting gave each other a look and some of them got busy in small whispering talks. That’s when one of the partners spoke and grabbed everyone’s attention back to the presentation. 

“Mr. Adhiraj, I think this makes sense as this is exactly what we want. But we need your insight on how do we project this new product. Do you have any suggestions on how would you plan to position this in the market? We have done our own research with other agencies, but we would like hear if you have thought of it too” asked the senior partner.

“I am glad you asked, In fact I do have a strategy on that. As your drink has no color, yet,it tastes like your classic cola one but a little less acidic. We all know how there is a trend purity and clarity, even the packaged drinking water brands are competing on the same ground. You have already named your drink as ”Crystal Fizz” and the word crystal again resonates with clarity and purity. It means a ‘light’ drink, light on calories, no caffeine, no preservatives, etc, so we hit on those terms. People love it. I will have a detailed campaign forwarded to you by this weekend if you all agree” Menaka looked at her brother and gave him a smile feeling proud of his in-depth research and how he was ready for anything that the senior partners had to throw at him.

“Mr. Adhiraj, but if we project this as pure and clear, don’t you think we’d be competing with our own original brand? That means we increase business here and lose it there?” asked another senior partner. 

“Regular cola brands have their own loyal market for whichever brand we may talk of. They ae less affected by anything as they continue to enjoy the regular caffeinated cola options available in the market. That’s the reason Turkey Hills your only real competition, still owns majority of it even when so many competitors around. Rather they have 2 variations in the same category and still going strong. It's not hidden from any of us they still own 4 times more market share than you do with no new product launch solely based on marketing. You have to target those who look at cola drinks as a threat or are leaving it because of several opinions that cola can cause health hazards, so you add another product with separate customer base then to cut into your existing one” said Aditya. 

“I think I agree with Mr. Adhiraj, idea is expansion and not a replacement for the existing line” said Menaka. “I have the following report that shows that there is a huge market for this and we can tap that” Menaka showed a few graphs and charts on screen.

“Hmm. Mr. Adhiraj are you sure you’d be able to get us that attention and space as you have promised?” asked another senior partner closing his laptop screen and looked at Aditya for an answer.

“I assure you of this, you will hardly find any place where your new launch and existing products won’t be available” Rishabh opened his jacket buttons and sat in his place.

“Okay then, how soon can we launch? We are ready with inventory and end this month is our target nothing beyond that” said Menaka. 

“10 days from now we launch” said Aditya and leaned back in his chair with a smile to look at surprised faces in the room.

“10 days from today? Are you sure?” asked a senior partner.

“I wouldn’t have said if I couldn’t. I have the contract ready too” He took out a document from his folder on the table that passed on to the Division Head. “I have added remaining details here including the plan details, profit sharing and payments terms in this document. Please go through it and revert by tomorrow morning to get everyone into action” Aditya closed his laptop.

“A contract, how do you know we’d have agreed to go with your organisation.” asked the head flipping through a few pages of the contract.

“To be honest, I didn’t. But right now looking at you all respected members I feel you will. I’ll leave you with it and would like to take your leave if there are no further questions for me” Aditya waited if anyone had any questions. 

“We are good Mr. Adhiraj, we’ll go through the contract with other team heads and revert” Division head got up to shake hands with Aditya. Aditya acknowledged everyone and winked at Menaka with a smile while everyone was busy discussing contract terms..

He was about to get into his car when his phone buzzed. He checked his phone and saw Menaka’s message notification on his private number. 

“Congratulations Adi Bhai, I think you are getting this one too. Terrific presentation, start your preparations. Proud of you!” 

Aditya buckled up his seatbelt and left with a victorious smile on his face.

---------------------------------------------------

A WEEK LATER (3 DAYS BEFORE LAUNCH)

ACHARYA FOUNDATION, CALCUTTA

10.00 AM

One of the staff members burst a huge balloon and Prerna and Ayesha were both covered with sparkles. Ms. Acharya instructed both the girls to cut the cake together and begin the celebration. “Girls do it quickly as all of us are waiting to enjoy this tasty cake, especially our kids from Basanti who have joined us today. Haina kids??” All the kids cheered in a unison who stood surrounding the stars of the morning. 

After cake cutting Ms. Acharya raised her glass of water and grabbed everyone’s attention. “I am so proud of each one of us here, especially these two young girls, who worked relentlessly on the project report and our first set of funds of 20 LAKHS has been released today. This has been the biggest ever installment since the inception of this foundation and there are more to come. Isn’t it amazing. By the way, this means we have to do a lot more hard work, and reach out to as many lives as we can with Kids at priority. After this little celebration let's get back to implementing our amazing plan”

Veena and Mahesh were also there amongst the people who had joined for the celebration. Veena felt nothing but pride for her daughter and her achievement. It was like her dream come true hearing Ms. Acharya praising effort and hard work of her daughter. Veena’s eyes welled up with tears when she saw everyone congratulating and appreciating her daughter, especially the connect that she saw between Prerna and Kids from Basanti.

Prerna saw her overwhelmed mother and reached out with a huge piece of cake for her and Mahesh. Embracing her mother in a tight hug Prerna asked “Aap khush hai na Maa? Main bhi. Mahesh thank you so much mere is chhote se celebration ka part ban ne ke liye” she hugged Mashesh too.

Ms. Acharya’s voice broke her moment with the family. 

“I am really sorry Veenaji, but mujhe aapki beti ko aapse abhi ke liye thodi dur le jana hai. Ayesha, Prerna aur mujhe abhi Basanti ke liye nikalna padega. I hope you don’t mind” said Ms. Acharya.

“Ye aap kaise baat kar rahi hain Bandanaji, yaha Priyu aapki hai. Humein to yahi samajh nahi aa raha hai ki aapko kin shabdo mein dhanyawad dein, humari bacchi ko ye mauka dene ke liye. Hum khush hain aur aapke shukreguzar bhi” 

Veena almost folded her hands to express her gratitude but Bandana  stopped her and wrapped her hand around hers. “Maine aisa kuch nahi kiya hai Veenaji, aapki beti hai is sab ke kabil. We are proud to have her in our team. Acha abhi humein nikalna hoga, aap log jab tak chahe yaha reh sakte hai Pooja aapki help ke liye hai yaha. Acha to hum chalte hain. Namaste. Prerna jaldi a jao” Ms. Acharya left with Ayesha. 

“Acha Maa main chalti hu. Mahesh tum aur Maa ghar dhyan se jana. Bye” Prerna quickly grabbed her bag from her table and joined Ayesha and Ms. Acharya.

BAJAJ INFRA GIANT HQ, NARIMAN POINT

Rishabh’s cabin, 2.30 PM

“Excuse me Sir, Mr. Mehra has been trying to reach you for quite sometime now. He is on line” Nidhi handed over her phone to Rishabh.

“Yes Mehra! Tell me. No my phone is away, I was a bit busy. I will call you wait” Rishabh gave Nidhi’s phone back and called Mr. Mehra after she left. 

“Yeah Mehra tell me now” Rishabh got up from his desk and picked up a cigar and lighter from his table. 

“Sir, Thrive is launching a new product this weekend, I could not get more details on it as the R&D team is under Ms. Menaka and you know she’d never allow any details to leak. But I do know they had a meeting with Mr. Adhiraj a week back for this. And polaris has become very active with retailers and distributors in the past week, post their meeting” said Mehra.

“Hmm.. a new product is not much of an issue but distributors and retailers do look like a matter of worry here. Anyway Mehra you keep a tab on everything and feed me with all the information that you receive” Rishabh lit his cigar and reached her table. He dialed Nidhi’s extension and asked her to see him in his cabin after 5 minutes. He puffed on his cigar and ran his hands through his hair trying to connect the whole thing with Thrive’s new launch and Aditya’s involvement. He had been thinking about this ever since he heard of Aditya that he was up to something big, it's just he wasn’t sure of it yet. 

Rishabh heard Nidhi’s knock and crushed his cigar in the ashtray.

“Ms. Nayak, I need you to work on some reports on urgent basis and have them submitted in the next 48 hours” said Rishabh and took his seat and gestured her to take a seat too.

“I will have it done Sir. Just let me know what all you need” asked Nidhi and she kept her tab ready to feed in all the instructions.

“1. I need you to get me a daily revenue and sales report from BICP office for all our products manufactured at Turkey Hills. I need an overall report and a break down for individual products. Make it for the past couple of months along with a summarized one for last 2 years. 

2. I need a distributor and retailer wise report as to how much they stock at present and any increase or fall in that, with reasons. Biggest retailers, best sellers, Comparison of space vs earnings, everything.

That will be all for now. If needed visit BICP in next two days and use all the resources available, you have my permission. Just get this done”

“Sure Mr. Bajaj, I will get this done. In fact I will leave right now. Anything else before I leave?” asked Nidhi saving the file on her tab.

“Now that you are leaving for BICP, arrange a meeting there with Turkey Hills Indian R&D team, three days from now first thing in the morning at BICP. Have them flown from Bangalore without fail. I want them all there on Sunday morning” said Rishabh marking the meeting on his schedule calendar over his phone.

“I will reach out to you if I need any more information. Take an office car, you don’t have to strain yourself driving for hours in crazy Mumbai traffic” Rishabh focused back to his laptop screen.

“Thank you Mr. Bajaj, everything will be arranged. Please call me if any further details are required” Nidhi excused herself and left his cabin.

BASANTI, CALCUTTA

4.00 PM

All three ladies from Acharya Foundation were making rounds in the community meeting different stakeholders who were going to be a part of the project or it’s beneficiaries. All three of them visited several houses in scorching heat without a break. 

Ms. Acharya walked ahead with some ladies who were sharing their issues with her, while Ayesha and Prerna followed her surrounded with smaller group of ladies. All of a sudden Prerna felt dizzy and ran away to a corner as she felt like she was going to throw up. Ayesha immediately ran to check on her and offered her water. One of the ladies in the group randomly asked if Prerna was pregnant or something. Both Prerna and Ayesha were stunned when they heard the elderly lady. 

“Kaki aisa kuch nhi hai, itne dino se Prerna mehnat kar rahi hai. Aise ghumne ki adat nahi hai usey aur aapne khana tak to poocha nahi usey. Aur apko to pata hai humare sanstha ki policy hai ki hum Pregnancy mein kisi staff ko kaam nahi karne dete. Aap bhi kuch bhi bolte ho” said Ayesha as she felt Prerna’s sudden discomfort with her comment. 

Ayesha reached out to Prerna and said “Are you alright now?” Prerna nodded. “Please kaki ki baat ka bura nahi man na. Yaha per mostly ladkiyon ki shaadi young age mein ho jati hai to inhone tumse bhi kam age ki bachion ko pregnancy se guzarte dekha hai. Waise bhi inka aur humari duniya aur soch mein fark hai aur usi ke liye to kaam bhi karte hain” Ayesha tried to explain why the elderly said so.

“I understand Ayesha. Mujhe bilkul bura nahi laga” Prerna could barely meet Ayesha’s eyes as she knew whatever the elderly lady had said unknowingly was nothing but the truth.

“You go and take some rest in the bus. Waise bhi ab thodi der mein humein nikalna hi hai. I will inform Maa. Pinky, idhar aao. Prernadi ko Bus tak chhod aao, okay” Pinky a teeanger from the community came running and escorted Prerna to their bus. 

Prerna sat on the bus floor and thought of what Ayesha said about Foundation Policy. She was soon engulfed in a guilt of lying to her friend and Ms. Acharya, both of whom not just trusted her but gave her every opportunity to grow professionally and personally. All of them were upfront with their life including Ms. Acharya who poured her heart out in the first meeting itself and here she was hiding such a huge truth from them. She hid her face in her arms resting over her folded knees.

Her chain of thought was broken when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her head and found Ms. Acharya looking at her.

“Are you feeling any better Prerna?” asked Ms. Acharya with eyes filled with concern for her. 

“I am fine Ms Acharya, bas thoda thakan ho gayi shayad. I am sorry, meri wajah se..” 

Ms. Acharya cut her between and said “don’t be sorry Prerna. AIsa hota hai. Dheere dheere is naye environment ki adat ho jayega. Ayesha had actually fainted in my arms when she started working with us” Ms. Acharya said looking at Ayesha who was shaking her head in disbelief that her mother actually shared this about her. 

Prerna smiled seeing frustration on Ayesha’s face. 

“Anyway, do see a doctor. Aur ye request nhi, order hai. Humein tum healthy, fit and fine chahiye ho. Bhuat kaam baaki hai abhi aage. Okay” Ms. Acharya asked the driver to make a move. Everyone grabbed a space on the bus floor while Prerna again got lost in her thoughts about her Pregnancy. How was she going to face everyone at home and at work.

She was lost so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t even realise when they were back in the city. Ayesha informed her that her stop had come. Prerna thanked everyone and got down the bus. She turned back to the bus when she heard Ms. Acharya screaming, sticking her head out of the bus window. 

“Prerna do see a doctor right away and keep me informed. Work from home if you need rest; we don’t have any field visit tomorrow. Take care” Ms. Acharya screamed at the top of her voice to make sure Prerna heard in heavy traffic and constant honking on the road. 

Prerna responded with a smile and nodded. She looked at her watch and decided to visit a doctor. She thought of visiting a hospital far away from her place and hired a cab. 

SHARMA NIWAS, CALCUTTA

8.30 PM

Prerna came home and stood outside. She took a few deep breaths and stepped inside. Doctor’s words were still ringing inside her head making her incapable of thinking about anything but her pregnancy. 

“Prerna your pregnancy is now over 3.5 months. Aapne bataya aap ki job mein kafi field work and travelling involved hai. So I would suggest you think about your job because aap jitna physical and mental stress lengi it will affect the foetus and complications can happen in future. Aap ye medicines bahar medical store se le lijiye and regular checkups karwate rahiye”

As soon as she entered the house she saw her family waiting for her with a cake for her. They all had decided to celebrate her little victory at home as everyone couldn’t attend the party at her office. It was a pleasant surprise for her and she got busy celebrating with her family, forgetting about her uncomfortable situation for a while.

10.45PM

After dinner and spending some time with her family, Prerna laid on her bed trying her best to sleep. But sleep was nowhere. She got up and stood in front of the mirror and pulled her nightgown back to see if there were any signs of a baby bump. She couldn't notice and doctor had also informed her that she should expect to show clearly post 4th or 5th month. She knew it was less evident as she already had a thin frame.

She turned off the lights and came back to her bed. Hugging Kukki’s picture she stared aimlessly at the roof. She remembered how she had told Mr. Bajaj about her pregnancy so he could back out from the deal, instead he accepted the child. How he asked her to inform Anurag about it. How she informed Anurag about it on their wedding day and his reaction. And then Ayesha’s words that they don’t allow anyone to work during pregnancy hit her hard and pulled her out of her thoughts. She tightly squeezed her eyes and tried hard to not think about any of this anymore. 

When she could not sleep she sat straight and held head in her hands. After a while she murmured under her breath. “I will inform everyone, I can’t cheat so many people. Maine koi crime nahi kiya hai. Maine apne family se pehle bhi bhaut kuch chipaya hai ab aur kuch nahi. Ayesha and Ms. Acharya have trusted me blindly I can’t do this to them either. Jab tak unhe new joinee nahi mil jaaye I will continue and uske baad I will leave” 

She took a deep breath and said out loud “haan yahi sahi hoga aur main yahi karungi”

Determined Prena laid back on her bed again and covered herself with her duvet in a hope to sleep in peace.

Part 10- Page 59

Originally posted by: WaqtZaya

Mishti what update will you read? This woman update likhne ki jagah goes and chit chats at places not required trying to find non existent answers to questions that shouldn't even arise at the first place. Meenakshi i am disappointed 🙄

kar diya update🤔

Originally posted by: MishtiNew

She didn't even reply to my PMs....😭😭😭

sab PM ka reply to kiya.. ek ka reh gaya hai.. aisa ilzaam lagay na mishti😭

Originally posted by: WaqtZaya

chal baccha ek saath ro lete hain 😭😭

I will also join the rona team😭

Originally posted by: MishtiNew

😭😭😭

I told her to update...she said she would, soon...But...She vanished...🥺

I did not vanish.. I was writing the update..

Originally posted by: WaqtZaya

thoda nazar ghumao dikh jayegi tumko 😏

kidhar nazar gumana hai 😲