Pride & Prej with a twist - Page 17

Scholar’s Quest😳

A couple of weeks almost went by, Naina met Inder at her office and went out to lunch and refuse to pose for pictures over lunch and did not take any selfies either

But she kept it going unabashed

Only Viveka knew because one evening when she was supposed to go pick Naina up at her office in Gurgaon, the girls were going to go shopand take a Metro home to Rohini

She saw Naina and Inder at the coffee shop cozying by the window, as Inder drew circles on the rim of his water glass staring into her eyes, as Naina did “her thang” ofreeling him in

Viveka smiled and shooked her head resigned

He was enamored completely it looked like to her

“Sorry Veev… plz plz plz don’t be mad… plz plz” Naina almost went on her knees

“Stop it” Viveka pulled her up

“Hello” Inder reached for a hug

Viveka was in her saree and wearing a large leather tote intan her sunglasses hanging out of the edge, as she wore her glasses back on

“You look lovely in a saree” Inder placed a hand on his heart and swore

“Heyyyyy I LOOK NICE TOO” Naina whined

“she looks better” Viveka smiled

“There is something about the whole art house cinema lookyou have going… I am sorry I don’t… I mean”

Viveka burst out laughing

“You think I dress for an image”

“Oh no, not at all, but you look like Konkona Sen? Kangkana?”he was unsure

“WOWW.. that’s a huge compliment” Viveka nodded shyly

This afternoon she was wearing a plain navy saree with darkpink border and blouse

“You just look smashing” Inder smiled and nodded

“Babe…. She is gorgeous AND has a very smart brain” Nainanodded “Ask her everything about India’s economy she will know”

“No I don’t” Viveka smiled

“Good to see you”

“Its great… to see you too… were you planning to go back?”Viveka quizzed

“Umm.. yea… umm.. not really” Inder’s expression tightenedhe looked at Viveka wondering where that Q came from

“Naina will butcher me for asking I suppose” Viveka smiled disarmingly

Unknowingly Raanav Parashar’s insinuation had crept into her mind.

Inder hung out for the whole shopping trip, Naina of course did not want to try anything on without having him see it first

Viveka didn’t mind but felt like she was shop lifting the whole time, looking over her shoulder and being uneasy

Viveka had a “talk” with Naina that night

“You are seriously going to get killed

“Ma is at the end of the rope”

“Veev I LOVE HIM” Naina rubbed astringent on her face with a pout

“Ma Papa think its lust….”

“Well.. what can I say Veev… they don’t know anything” Naina claimed

“Pagal ho tum” Viveka grit her teeth, sitting down on herbed, yanking her long lustrous hair painfully, sighing audibly

“I cant just stop seeing him dude”

“WHY NOT”

“HAVE U SEEN HIM? U have… he is SOOOO hot” Naina sighed

“Have u gone off to do it too?” Viveka panicked

“Umm.. just twice”

“WHERE…. &^%$#.... NAINNAAA” $$%&^@” Viveka gasped

“Oh its fine” Naina waved a make up brush “There was no one at his aunt’s house”

“$$#@&”

“I have never heard you swear so much”

“Well I do… I work with and hang out with a bunch of brokeIAS and CA aspirants… if u remember all anti-establishment”

“Kya kehti ho tum” Naina looked dazed

She did not have 10% of Viveka’s fire…

“IF… sorry WHEN Ma Papa discover I will feign ignorance ”Viveka left her

“Will you sign the forms Papa?” Viveka walked out of her room in a daze, it appeared like she had not slept a wink

“SOYI nahi beta?” he panicked pouring out his wife and his chai

“Oh I did” she mumbled and yawned

“Raat waale kapde bhinahi badle aapne?” he looked at her worriedly

“I am fine… I had to prep for my class today and I have to go drop off this grant package with the forms at Delhi School of Economics”

“So no Kharagpur huh?” he smiled handing her one cup

“No… no that’s my dream, but they wont invite me yet… or Ihope they invite me…” she said wistfully

“Shaadi karni nahi hai aapko”

“Whoaa?”

“Mazaak kar raha hoon” he lied

He wanted someone sharp, intelligent and forceful and strong as her

But she wasn’t meeting anyone

“Akash meri chaiii?” Anu groaned

“I stole her tea” Viveka whispered walking briskly to herroom

She was tired and her head was beginning to hurt, she poppeda pill, took care in getting ready, went to JNU for her class and took a Metro backto DSE to turn in her application. She wanted a journal from the School of Socialwork, when she visited the main campus she walked 10s of miles every time

The landscape reeked of academia, the lush trees and thechirping birds, DU North campus was her favorite

She entered the building trying to find an annex where the archive room was… accidentally walking into a door on the3rd floor with a wood insert with a label “Records” only to see two wash basins and two stall doors, before she could turn around realizing she was in the wrong office .

A guy walked out zipping up his pants

She fled the room panicking “Aaah” “Eeks” she mumbled unable to get rid of that feeling of shame

“Records room?” he asked

She paused cringing for a brief moment for being caughtturned took and deep breath and nodded

“I saw the door”

“What can I say bored social workers and their sense of humor” he shook his head

He pulled out the wood insert from the door and put an armout to indicate “this way”

“I am so sorry” she mumbled

“No, don’t be” he smiled

“Hi! My name is Viveka Mathur BTW” she smiled genuinely pushing her glasses up her nose

“I am Abhishek Karmakar”😉

“Faculty?” she asked curiously

“Umm.. u can say that… aspiring” he laughed

He looked like he was in his early 30s, with a goatee, glasses like her, DRESSED FORMALLY on a SATURDAY. That only meant he was about to plead or defend or beg for grants or was teaching a Saturday class

She smiled knowingly

“I wont shake hands because you know where Ive been” he said

She laughed out loud

He took her to the other end of the long circular hallway and paused in front of the door with the name missing.

“THERE” he slid it back in and checked the door

“Sorry, looks like its locked”

“Umm.. OK nevere mind” she was disappointed

“What did you need?”

“I wanted to get a paper checked out “Critical Perspectives on Sustainable Development Goals”

“Professor??”

“Ditto to your answer”

“Aspiring?” he asked shocked

They leaned on the corridor wall, staring out into the cover of dense greenery of the campus and began to chat

She explained where she was at in her research he in turn told her his specialization in including public assistance, social insurance, social services, health and mental health.Its focus is on the circumstances of the disadvantaged and impoverished.

“You can literally be my library” or “Questia or Google Scholar” she laughed

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds both unwilling to end the conversation so abruptly

“How about I get your article checked out and we can meet up at Sudama Ji Ki Jai at Kamla Nagar and you can buy me a nice cutting?” he beamed

She nodded enthusiastically

“Here is my number” he picked up his phone so she would too

She hesitated for a brief second

He turned his badge over as it was face down around his neck, and showed her

She stared at it and he watched her body relax when she discovered he was indeed legit

“I just wander School of Social Work (SSW) on Saturdays for such encounters pretending to be a Prof” he read her mind

She laughed again

She gave him her number

He sent her the first text “Hi! The guy that uses the Records Room to ---”

She laughed again and found him looking at her oddly

They walked down, he did too I mean, though she was the one leaving

She walked to the Metro station with a smile on her face… almost getting running over by a green line bus at the SSW crossing

Kalpana

Yes

Its beyond shocking

I have noticed a strange pattern, women singers live well into their 90s, male singers are always gone too soon. Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, R D Burman, (Sorry I listen to Hindi more or FOLLOWED Hindi more, these days they are all crap)

I was dearly hoping he would make it

SUCH a beautiful voice

During Covid, Sun and Jaya competed with each other to play old live Dubai Singapore Malaysia etc concerts in April and May, we feasted on it.

Little did I know.

Especially in each and every one of them he sang "Pani vizhum malar vanam" OMG! Breathtaking even into his 60s

The audience would go berserk each and every time such was the power of his voice.

Bollywood is too consumed by itself as always to give a rip

I am shocked he only won the Padma Bhushan an honor beep like Kangna and 10s of other undeserving POS have won. Shame!

He deserves a Bharat Ratna sadly posthumously

Hmmmm......Abhishek Karmakar...Marathi surname / Puneri ??

Nisha...is he the Wickham angle being Veeved in ?!

Raavanjee .... Abhi aapka Kya hoga ?!😀😀 Waiting with bated breath for the trio to meet face to face 😊

@Vee

YES, he is Satyen Parashar's right hand man, Chief of Staff Mr Karmakar's son🤣

Pochudaaaa !!!

Now the fat hits the fire with a vengeance 😂😂

Abhishek seems like a nice dude. Will appearances deceive? For now Viveka and him have hit it off.

Originally posted by: Nisha0604

@Vee

YES, he is Satyen Parashar's right hand man, Chief of Staff Mr Karmakar's son🤣

This is too smart a veev Nisha! You wickam ( wickedly veev'ed' him in seamlessly👍

The karamkar guy is an effortless charmer and has got a pretty good sense of humor and an ability to think on his feet. Very interesting and befitting intro and wickam feel alike. It's majorly First impressions isn't it?

You said it on SPB. Pani vizhum is so soulful .Also, If you can please listen to SPB's song from the movie duet which goes En Kadhale ennai Enna seiyya pogirai. One of his very best.

Here you go, this is one of SPB's gem for Naina and Inder's situation and so called class difference 😍 that's got the set of parents concerned in many ways

https://youtu.be/yej6UCRLvuk

Mangai Inamum Mannan Inamum

Kulam Gunamum Enna

Thegam Thudithaal Kannethu

Koonthal Kalaintha Kaniye

Konji Suvaitha Kiliye

Intha Nilaithaan Enna Vithiyo

Abhishek Karmakar.. seems to be a sharp, perceptive man with a spontaneous sense of humor.

His economic, educational and professional background plus his camaraderie with Veev.. makes the perfect recipe to p___-off Raanav just on sight! 😳

Achcha hai na.. he's been too smug for his own good so far! 😆

An amazing 'Veev' indeed!👍🏼

Inder appears to be a charming and decent guy.. But the couple's being extremely reckless!!

There was no one at his aunt's house.

If word comes out about this, it'd mean so much trouble for the Mathurs... Smrita might never let them live it down, never mind the fact that it could've been her nephew's idea in the first place! 😳

Lucky Paneer

She made the first move

On the Metro she texted him about another article and lo and behold HE KNEW the author, he promised to reach out in a day or two and getback to her

Then it was a easy back and forth

By the time arrived home, she had exchanged 50 messages

Some long some short

About her undergrad, her fave profs, her fave classes andDr Ansari and her plan to pursue Ph D soon

He told her he studied at UC Berkeley and she teased him about being a “Left wing activist in Oakland” and he sent her a bunch of protests he himself had led on campus

She teased him about returning to India and he told her, he had to return to be with his Dad as his Mom had passed away

“That is wonderful” she told him

“No, just anyone would do” he claimed modestly

“I don’t mind living by myself” she said

“Oh really?”

“Yeah… my mother nags me about eating sleeping, showering”

He sent many laugh emojis

“You sound like a gamer”

“I LOVE video games I beat my sisters all the time”

Then she told him about her highest scores in her favoritegames

“You are competitive” he said

“Well I hope to be” she said jokingly

That evening she tried to sneak in as many text convos aspossible with Abhishek

Mostly about their respective fields but here and thereabout each other as well

Like for example how they both loved palak paneer

“Viveka, Bua ko text kiya? Teen hafte ho gaye beta, shecould have asked her help if they found your earring”

There we go!

Nagging mother!

“No Ma… I forgot”

“I cant keep doing everything for you. Naina never loses anything”

“Papa told you not to compare” Viveka scowled

“Papa also told me you should be married at 22, if you want to go that route, its easy for me” she laughed

“He never says anything to me”

“Kyon kahenge bhai tumse, tum to unki economist panel ki buddy ho” Anubha chopped palak furiously

“Can I make palak paneer?” she asked

“Aloo ubaal diye maine, aloo palak banegi beta”

“ma it’s a Saturday, pleez pleez” she begged

Anu pushed the large bowl of palak toward her

Viveka went out to buy paneer and texted him

“I am making palak paneer for dinner”

Lucky you” he said

“If you lived close by you could come over” she said

“that’s progress, you refused to give me your number 6hours ago” smile emoji

“IKR Palak does strange things to my brain” ROFL emoji

When Naina s-xtedthat night with Inder

Viveka went to bed and texted Abhishek

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mehul ji” “You can go to California for your son’s commencement in May, I will manage for two weeks” Satyen checked his calendar on his PC

“I only need a week sir” Karmakar promised

“Your son is graduating, it’s a matter of pride, main gaya hoon har baar”

“Thanks but with the Singapore fiber optic project, theproposed collaboration with Caterpillar for tractor parts mujhe lagta hai”

“Aapko jo bhi lagey, I think you should go, its my gift forall the 80 hour weeks, HR se Ms Nupur ko kahen aayengi” “Yes, congratulate yourson on my behalf, I will make sure we pay for his round trips also” Satyen wasdone talking he began to shift uneasily

CEOs didn’t have time to sweat the small stuff

“thanks so much sir… completely unexpected” Karmakar was moved

“Well.. you deliver Mr Karmakar”

Karmakar went out and texted his son Abhishek after pinging Ms Nupur

“I can go with you for commencement” “And my company is paying for BOTH of us”

“You are my lucky charm” he texted Viveka not too long after

They had met nearly 2.5 weeks ago, he was still trying to get her article checked out, but their conversations were continuing

“Why so?” she asked after getting out of her teaching class sprinting to lose the 20 somethings following her to ask a Q🤣 "Ms Mathur, one Q" "Ms Mathur on the 3rd chapter" "Ms Mathur do u have our tests back?"

She was too excited to text Abhishek

“Well I wanted my Baba to go with me for the grad ceremony, as u know they call it commencement, he has been refusing, now he tells me he ANDI get a fully funded trip.

“can I get a job there?” Viveka joked

“You could… but you would transform it” he joked

“You know… our ideas look good on paper, never good when they are put to action” she responded sadly reminded of the millions of articles she had read and cited over the years about growth and development

“He works for a large engineering company”

“Oh which one? Ma works for Ingersoll Rand”

“Oh this company makes farm equipment and is trying to install subsea low latency fiber optic network across the Pacific and South China sea or something”

“Huh”

“Must be a big company”

“I think they are part of the Power Equipment Systems Group”

“Oh” she said trying to recall where she had heard that name before

“When are you leaving?” she asked feeling a strange pang

“May 12”

“Oh”

“Do you want to meet for lunch?” he propositioned her for their first date

“tomorrow?” she offered, just feeling it