P&P Part II - Page 107

Such a nice heart warming update .Satyen is the glue that holds this family

Nice update Nisha.

So much happening now in all their lives.

Naina will not change her ways. Has Inder thought about their future?

Dadi is irritating, like always. When will we she go back to her village or town?

Harsha and Varsha are having a long honeymoon, nice!!!!

Satyen is back home and that is indeed happy news for everyone.

Smrita, as usual, wants her son to separate from Viveka.

Lekha, Smrita's perfect protege.

I guess meeting Raanav's friends showed Viveka further how different their worlds are.

Smrita and Lekha are cold enough to cause frost bite. Satyen is trying his best to break the ice for Viveka. She should go ahead and call him dad or papa. He will be so happy.

Raanav and rowdy? We have not seen that aspect of him.

Looks like Naina and Inder are hanging out again with no thought about where they are headed. But the worst thing Naina is doing a freezing her sister out.

Nisha, im missing the chemistry between raanav and viveka, those engaging conversations about econ and the romance, would love to see them having econ arguments and their hot makeup after fights ❤️

Thank you Nisha ❤️

Hope you're well. Have not heard from you recently.

Big hug 🤗

Power v People

He had held her hand in the car on the way home from the pub and kissed her when they got out of the car. There were no stars ever visibly in the night sky

But it was magical, her arms wrapped around his waist she allowed herself to be seduced

“Did not have a good time?” he demanded nibbling her lips

“You have so many friends” she smiled politely

“You haven’t met 10% of them yet

“You are the life of the party I noticed”

“Hah” he grinned impishly

“Agar masti karni ho to tumhe call karna padega” she said looking into his eyes

“That bad huh?” he smiled

“Nahi… I am, Ive never been to such a gathering before, sometimes Piyu Harshu will have friends over they talk SO much cricket mera dimaag ghoom jaata hai”

“Ouch” he laughed

“They don’t care for Econ, they don’t care for NGOs, I mean lets face it, their Dad owns a jewelry store chain”

He nodded smiling

“My friends are nerdy and angst ridden mostly

“Mostly?”

“Yeah except when drinking or feasting, on food and umm.. u get my drift”

“Feast on me” he invited softly

“I did remember?” she whispered caressing his cheeks with the tips of her fingers

“I cant remember” he whispered

“I love the amnesia” she chuckled as he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and walked slowly towards his suite, Satyen was reading a book by the tall windows upstairs

He smiled as he noticed them walking

He wondered what they were talking about

Their arguments were so combustible he thought, before the wedding

She needed a strong dueling partner, hope Raanav is one

He looked down at his book and looked out the window

He secretly wanted to see their kids first

“Tum aa jao beta weekend, Raanav ko bhi lekar” Anu urged as she floated back down to earth

“Sure Ma I can”

“Aise mat bolo” Anu voiced it inaudibly

“You should know… lying to Dadi never works” Viveka mumbled

“Mere saamne hi meri baat chal rahi hai?” Dadi looked up from her Ramayan

“Arey nahi Dadi, bas Ma to yeh keh rahi hoon, kal bhi aayi main aaj bhi aa gayi”

“To? Bitiya ghar nahi aayegi?” dadi was protective

“thank u” she laughed

“Tum Ma ki mat suno, mAIN keh rahi hoon, roz aa jao raat ka khaana khakar chali jaana”

“I suspect foul play” Anu texted Viveka

“Jee Dadi try karoongi”

“Rukogi na? Munna ke aane tak?”

“Jee is liye to aaj bhi aayi,” Viveka smiled gently

“Dadu bhi yaad kar rahe hain tumhe” dadi waved her little book

“Jee main baat kar loongi” Viveka smiled

Ma had the day off since Dadu didn’t feel well this morning, Akash was not back from Chandigarh, he had left yesterday

Now Karuna was walking with him up and down the corridor

“Ma Mayank Asthana and Karuna were chatting at the wedding” Viveka chopped onions furiously as she whispered to her mother

“Haan dekha maine bhi, she is not even 20, he is 27”

“Piyush would say age is just a number”

“He wanted You to marry Mayank, tum us se 3 saal badi thi,” Anu was not crazy about it

Akash returned at 4 ish and was literally jumping with joy, bonking his head on the front door’s side frame

Father and daughter spent the hour discussing the front page news of Econ Times and Financial times over plates of pakoras and chai

Viveka ate the pakoras visited with Akash and took off around 5

She reached home to find Satyen in a work meeting in the courtyard

Smrita was in a corner admiring her husband visually as she read or watched something on the ipad

Her brother and wife were missing

She hadn’t even spotted Inder that caused her stomach muscles to lurch

Smrita gave her a polite smile and went back to her device

Satyen stretched out an arm inviting her to join

“I will go wash up” she smiled

“You look fine to me beta” he nodded

She was back to her “work clothes” wearing a brick red cotton saree with a turquoise sleevless blouse pairing it with a turquoise shawl as it was not a bitingly cold December day

She sat down tentatively as Satyen introduced her to the group there were 4 men and a woman

After the pleasantries the conversation veered toward the Aurangabad factory wall collapse and the arbitration agreement, and also involved transfer of some tooling work to the Yavatmal factory in what seemed like a decision made without consulting the union at Aurangabad

Satyen invited to offer expert opinion, so she took notes

“He should be here I can check with him” Satyen flipped through mounds of files

“I am sure we have a clause in here to submit grievance in writing and Not file a case with Labor relations Board” satyen peered “Dekho cam u check”

Smrita watched her new DIL listen deeply and write down stuff on a note pad

He handed Viveka a fat file

She smiled at him

“I know what you are thinking” he chuckled

“What?”

“why is this not digital?” You millennials”

“I am 30 not exactly a millennial”

“You are all way too young for us, Kyon Mr Chawla” he invited someone to comment

“Jee sir”

Raanav walked in his eyes lit up when he saw his wife in the center of the most unlikely crew of people

She ogled him silently, in his navy pants and a red and white stripe shirt he looked smokin hot

“the red color matches beta, you have started color coordinating” Satyen laughed

“He left at 5 AM” she mumbled not looking up at her husband with her hot cheeks

He made her woozy

People were talking around them, the couple gazed at each other

They were married for less than 10 days, it was torture to be away for too long, she had texted him as to why he didn’t wake her at 5 AM before heading out

“So you wanted to be allowed to sleep at 2 AM and woken up at 5 AM? Got it!” “Thanks” was his response

“I was just being wifely” she sent him a wink

“Forgot about that!” he flirted “I will make sure I get wifely service tonight”

“I meant MAKING CHAI” she sent caps

He sent her an emoji that was not decent

They flirted a lot during the day

She scoured the texts riding the Metro or waiting for a Metro

“If they go to Labor Relations AFTER lodging the written complaint the agreement is null” raanav said bluntly to his Dad

“We don’t know they did that, the timeline is not clear”

“It is to ME, I have an email complaint on Nov 10th and the writeup from Lab Rel Bd on the 11th” he looked at the guests

Viveka did not know there were two union reps in there

“having such a contract where they are not allowed to go to Labor Relations Bd is by itself null”

“THAT’S not what I said, letting the employer know through complaint about unfair labor practice and turning around and going to Labor Bd makes it null

“But WORK is being sent, these documents indicate it lays off 81 full time employees by shifting tooling to Yavatmal”

“It also should say the 12 month severance and retraining for 2 years with 1/5th pay is unprecedented employee perk

“Its not a perk when an employee stands in an unemployment line Raanav” she smiled

Satyen was amused and thoroughly enjoying the heated exchange

His DIL was smart and articulate, she pushed up her glasses agitatedly when she tried to make a point he noticed, he watched his son’s face to observe if he caught that repeated action

The union members were awestruck by how the CEO’s daughter was defending the shop floor workers

“This will be deemed as Power Engineers’ refusal to bargain” Viveka went on to quote the actual cases she dug up with a search from her Econ archive

“Sorry I don’t agree NOT when we clearly have it written down, that the Union pleads with the employers first, when arbitration ends in a gridlock THEN NLRB is allowed to intervene

After a heated hour long argument, she got up to go freshen up when it seemed like Satyen was persuaded to reword arbitration clauses to be more fair and just

She realized he didn’t really dig deep or interact with the trenches, he was quite hands off

As he was soaking his feet back in after the accident, he was beginning to learn everything ground up just by doing a listening tour

Of course he was a capitalist, he enjoyed building wealth he wasn’t about to give it all away but he was open to fairness

“Refusal to arbitrate does not constitute refusal to bargain” Raanav declared hotly

As she stepped out of the shower

He had entered the shower the night before last and ended up making love right when she was getting ready to shut it off and grab her towel

He was fully clothed when he walked in

A tussle had ensued and she had given in

“A grievance procedure does not preclude the union from approaching the Labor Relations board” she said calmly, tho a little startled

“You cannot rewrite labor agreements every time the union rep sits for a meeting” he said firmly

“I would be afraid to work for a employer which does NOT have union representation when agreements are written” she said in shock

“I want you to find an Indian employer that offers 2 years of retraining after retrenchment Ms Mathur” he bit out

“You build products there, you have to invest in the workforce, what is so magnanimous about that?”

“The definition of investing is paying a fair wage and benefits that exceeds industry standards”

He approached her, he yanked the shirt tails off the belted waist of his trousers, they begged for gentler treatment she could tell

“the definition of worker agency means giving workers a choice in what they do, you cannot throw money at them and expect loyalty” (there was a troubling trend emerging at Aurangabad of veteran employees quietly quitting one after another)

She took a step back as he closed the gap, leaning on the now shut bathroom door

She was wearing her signature home outfit, a stripe cotton salwar and a skinny tee in lemon yellow

“You used the word HUMAN CAPITAL” "thats what they are to employers a means of manufacturing finished goods, just like raw material and machinery"

“Would it make you feel better if I addressed them as asset?” he taunted smiling derisively

It stung her

They would NEVER be equal she realized in that stunned second

He did not value the things she did

“U can call them indentured slaves Raanav, but I want them to have a choice in when they are being let go and HOW they are being let go” she gasped as he bend down

“”No” she trembled trying to step aside

He leaned forward and boldly sucked a bead of water off her shoulder on her boat neck tee, his legs pressed against hers. He looked tired but was agile like a fox she realized, as he grabbed her waist,

He felt her hand by his shirt tail, he handed her an edge, she closed her eyes as her body connected with the hard wall of flesh a cm in front

He turned his head, the profile of his lips hardly moving he ordered “Hold me harder Viveka, I am not made of jello” he warned

The verbal flare up had quickly turned into s----l

This was amazing verbal duel.

Want to know how the other duel goes.

Thank you Nisha. Absolutely loved the update.

Power vs. people.
I am on Ranaav’s side in this verbal duel though.

Nisha, why did Viveka turn her head self consciously when raanav looked at her? When smrita hugged him?

Also, what about the reaction of her parents on seeing the ring? As much as I can remember, there has been minimal interaction betweeen raanav and anubha? Would love to see raanav gifting her a necklace for the lost bet.

Thank you for the chapter 😃