"Statistically Insignificant" significant work
He noticed her expression of shock upon seeing Abhishek’s text but did not push it
She was busy trying to arrange, auto, cabs etc for the group of craftspersons to get to Kautilya Marg
She did not ask him if any one could ride in his car
“Do you need help?” he asked politely
“Oh no… I think we are good, Ishwar and Ratna both have cars yeah they are as broke as I am but they are wealthier than I am… parents are” she laughed throwing her head back
“Oh”
“Umm.. so that leaves 4 of us, I will do a cab”
“Umm.. u”
“No no its fine… I mean…I don’t think it would be right” she smiled one of her gloriously pleasant ones
“I am going that way”
“Umm.. I don’t know… its OK “
“Do u want to ride with me?”
She was floored, she took a second to compose herself and cleared her throat
“Umm… uh… umm… nahi main bhi cab mein chali jaaongi”
“Didi yeh inko dikhao” the young girl popped out with yet another gorgeous sunflower yellow drawstring purse in silk with pink flowers on long green stems
“Umm.. aap dikhao” she smiled awakwardly
“Apni bife ke liye le jao sir aap” the girl was a great saleswoman
“Raanav this is Suhani, Suhani yeh Raanav hai” Viveka introduced cheerfully and stepped in to wrap up and bag all the samples to be carried with her
The power went out and came back and went out
It was a muggy monsoon evening, the shed/office was in a busy gully with tons of evening traffic, autos and bikes and honking and women walking to stores
It was in an extremely low income neighborhood, her work in this sector was statistically insignificant
With her rag tag team of two people she was far behind big names
“Generator le lete hain” Ishwar mumbled
“Pehle yeh trip confirm ho jaaye”
“Yaar hum khud road show karte hain” Ratna nodded
She was a photo journalist, bored wealthy daughter turned into an activist
“100 baar baat kar chuke hain hum” Viveka just folded heavy dhurries
She paused and looked out
Suhani was in awe of Raanav, she was fluttering her eye lashes and just twirling in place
A brief pang of searing jealousy swept through her
Suhani did not wear glasses and had short “hip” hair
Raanav peeked inside and met her gaze
“can I buy this?” he cut through her jealous shrew thoughts
“Umm… haan haan”
“Didi maine inko discount de diya aapke dost hai na?”
“Thank u” she laughed
She didn’t ask how much
2 hours later, their meeting happened and and it was over in 10 minutes
The MP was decent but two of his groupies were creeps
Viveka was always nervous herding young craftgirls
She was answerable to their parents and in Delhi it did not take more than 15 minutes for a girl to end up as a statistic
It was 8 ish when they were done
The personal secretary promised food for all
Raanav waited outside the gates since he did not have a “pass”
He did not call in to have him be walked in on a red carpet
She knew where two of the girls lived she didn’t know where the 3rd one lived, the 4th one rode with Ratna.
They were migrants that usually found sympathetic NGOs or host families
“Do you really want to wait until I drop them off at their homes?” she asked outside the gate
Her hair was up in an even higher knot, her pallu tucked in, her shoulder weighed down by an even heavier tote bag
He was completely smitten
He did not know of any girl he had ever dated that would spend their ONE day off on her hands and knees on a dirty Shahpur Jat dwelling, checking every inch of a rug and a shawl
“I will” he nodded looking up from his phone”
“Kitni der wait karogey tum… ufff… Kalyani ko phone dogey to main baat kar sakti hoon”
He watched her speak in rapid fire Hindi
“Nahi ghar chalo” he growled
She smiled and looked sideways to hide a blush
“You sound like Piyu… Piyush u know, whenever he would come over when he was little he would hang from my arm “”He couldn’t say Viveka… he would say “Bhibhu Didi ghar chawo” “Naina mujhe Veev kehti hai” “VA, LA sab nahi keh paata tha”
“have dinner with me” he was tired of trailing her he wanted her in his arms at home
“AAAJ”
“yes”
“Umm… Ma abhi lauti nahin” she smiled pushing her glasses up, or trying to, and he did it for her
“I don’t care… just for an hour” he ached
“Hmm… aa jao phir I will drop Mukti and Nirali”
He nodded walking back towards his car door unlocking it
Hang on” she whispered running after him
“I will give you a hug for not complaining for a second” she cheerfully proceeded to give him a tight squeeze followed by a giggle
Knocking his breath out with her impulse
“Thanks” he muttered
“Chalo.. trail karo phir se” she laughed and waved and walked towards her group
Udne Ki Aasha
Veer Hanuman
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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