Wish Upon a Star (SaJan) - Ch 18 Pg 137 - Page 2

Samrat Shergil was in a foul mood. It wasn't because the day was rainy and gray, with dark clouds looming over the horizon like ominous bearers of bad news. It wasn't because his pampered and over-paid cook had inexplicably burnt his breakfast omelette (how could you burn an omelette of all things, Samrat had thought, but had kept his silence at the breakfast table, not wanting to make a scene in front of his mother and Suhani), nor was it because his meeting schedule was full to bursting and he felt like playing hooky from the office and taking off for a long drive instead in his newly acquired Mercedes convertible. It was none of these things.

Quite simply, Samrat Shergil hated change. And today, his PA and good friend from school and college days, Dia, had announced that she needed to go on her maternity leave earlier than she had anticipated and she had lined up a series of interviews to appoint a new PA "as soon as possible". Which meant that his comfortable routine of coming into office every morning and having his whole day mapped out due to Dia's efficient management, was now going to be changed. And he didn't like the idea. At all.

"Lekin itni jaldi kyun chhuti lena chati ho, Dia? The baby's not due for another three months! Tum teen mahine ghar mein baith kar karogi kya? You'll get bored stiff!"

Dia sighed patiently and tried to explain the same thing for the fifth time that morning.

"Sir, doctor ne kaha hai …"

"Don't 'Sir' me, Dia," he interrupted, his eyes narrowing. He knew what she was doing – purposely putting distance between them so that he couldn't use their friendship as emotional blackmail. Dia sighed again.

"Look, Sammy, I told you. Benji ne bhi tumhe phone par poori baat batayi hai. Tum jaante ho ki mujhe leave par jaana itna zaroori kyun hai. Sammy, yeh baby hamare liye bahut precious hai, main koi chance nahin lena chahti. Please samajhne ki koshish karo. Please?" with a winning smile as he tried to protest again.

"Tum ghar se kaam kar sakti ho," he tried, but she shook her head. "Tum late aao, jaldi ghar chali jaao …" Dia smiled ironically and he knew that was impossible. With her job, that of being his, Samrat Shergil's PA, Dia often had twelve to fourteen hour days and Benji usually joked that Dia spent more time with Samrat than she did with him, her own husband. Which was why Samrat liked having Dia as his PA - not only was she bright and smart, but also not too many other men would be comfortable with the kind of hours Samrat had to spend with Dia, without getting the wrong ideas. Nor would too many women – and Samrat Shergil didn't like mixing business with pleasure, nor did he want his PA getting ideas about him. Samrat  enjoyed the company of girls, the more beautiful and flirtatious, the better, but he was not ready for anything more serious.

He tried a couple more times but Dia was ready for him with her arguments and her emotional pleas. Finally, with very bad grace, sulking like the boy he had been when he and Dia had first met in junior college, he gave in.

"Lekin mujhe voh ladki pasand aani chahiye jise tum choose karo," was his condition, but Dia was ready for that one too.

"No, Sammy. Iss baar main decide karungi aur use three days ka trial doongi. Agar voh mere kaam ke saath cope kar sakti hai, to main use appoint kar lungi.Main tumhe achchi tarah jaanti hun – tum kabhi kisi ko approve nahin karoge aur main yeh appointment karne ke liye ek saal nahin wait karna chahti. Mujhe to already leave par hona chahiye tha, leking pichhli fifteen girls ko tumse interview karaya, tumne sabko reject kar diya. At this rate, main delivery ke din tak interview karti rahungi!"

"Phir baby ko yahan le aana aur apna kaam continue karna," Samrat proposed instantly and gave a rueful grin when Dia gave him her "look".

"Okay, okay," he finally agreed glumly, realizing he had no choice, and Dia laughed. "Phir yeh sulk karna band karo," she told him and he had to grin again.

But Samrat was sulking – despite the promise he had given Dia reluctantly. Dia wasn't even giving him any choice – he had tried to shock her by insisting that she choose the girl with the shortest skirt so that "at least she looks good even if she messes up my life till you come back" but Dia was more than a match for him – she had simply known him too long.

"Main khud short skirts pehen lungi aur tumhe roz email par photos bhej dungi," she told him, and added  "… complete with nine months tummy!"

Samrat pretended to puke, and gave up. "To mujhe tumhari yeh angel kab milegi?" he asked and Dia grinned.

"Main aaj interviews shuru kar rahi hun. Tume use tab miloge jab voh mera three day test pass kar leti hai," she promised him and he had to accept that.

****     ****

Gunjan Bhushan was nervous. It showed in the way she twisted her hands constantly in her lap as she sat in the comfortable waiting area along with six other girls. It showed in the way she frequently pushed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ears again and again, smoothing it down completely unnecessarily. It showed in the tightness of her grip on the file in her hands, holding her all-important papers and certificates. And it showed in the depths of her soft brown eyes, hidden behind her glasses, which glanced constantly at the closed door behind which Dia Swami was conducting interviews for the job of secretary in the office pool.

When the fourth girl had walked out, her name was called. Gunjan closed her eyes briefly in silent prayer, picked up her file and walked into the inner room.

Dia looked at Gunjan in quick appraisal but her face showed nothing of what she thought. She held out her hand for the file and was silent for a few minutes as she went through it. Then she looked at Gunjan again.

"Tumne iss job ke liye kyun apply kiya hai?" she asked directly, emphasizing the 'iss' and Gunjan looked at her in surprise. That was the last thing she had expected.

"I'm sorry?"

Her voice was beautiful, Dia noted absently, well modulated, cultured, soft yet expressive. Dia tapped at the file in her hand.

"You're a business graduate, you have a great academic record, excellent recommendations from your professors, and you're taking evening classes for your MBA. Tum secretarial post ke liye kyun apply kar rahi ho?"

Gunjan tried to pull together her thoughts. She'd thought that by applying for a job for which she was overqualified, she would have a better chance at getting it, but it didn't seem to be working that way. She needed the job, wanted it desperately – what should she say? Being Gunjan, she decided on the truth.

"Main … mere paas koi job experience nahin hai," she said uncertainly. "Maine abhi abhi padhai complete ki hai. Maine socha … shuruat ke liye … shayad under-experienced hone ki vajah se … at least qualifications hone se job milne ke chances …"

"Apne aap ko kabhi undersell mat karna," advised Dia bluntly but kindly. She looked at Gunjan's file again. "Main tumse kuch questions poochna chahti hun. Ready?"

Gunjan took a deep breath and nodded. For the next few minutes, she concentrated firmly on what Dia was asking, and answered carefully, slowly, her habitually methodical mind picking up the hidden nuances in the various business scenarios that Dia was presenting her with and analyzing them as she answered. Finally Dia gave a satisfied nod.

"Tum mere saath agle teen din meri shadow banke rahogi," she told Gunjan. "Tumhe daily allowance aur transport costs milenge. Teen din baad, main bataungi agar job tumhara hai ya nahi."

"Secretary ka job?" asked Gunjan, slightly confused. She hadn't attended too many job interviews, in fact this was her first, but somehow this seemed a complicated way to appoint a simple secretary. Dia laughed.

"Phir se tum apne aap ko undersell kar rahi ho," she told Gunjan. "Gunjan, kal subah, sharp nine oclock. I'll see you here. Late mat hona. Samrat ko unpunctuality bilkul pasand nahin hai, even though voh khud time se kabhi nahin aata. Besides,tumhe subah jaldi aane ki aadat daalni padegi, taaki tum uske aane se pehle sab kuch tayyar rakh sako."

"Samrat?" asked Gunjan, even more confused. She thought she had applied for a secretarial pool job with Dia as her boss. Who was Samrat? Dia smiled again.

"Job milega to pata lag jayega ki Samrat kaun hai," she told Gunjan. "Nine sharp, remember."

She punched the intercom button and spoke to the girl in the outside office. "Nancy, bahar aur koi wait kar rahi ho, to unhe ghar bhej do. I'm done."

She nodded dismissal at a still confused Gunjan and walked into another inner room through a door behind her, which Gunjan hadn't even noticed.

Slowly Gunjan picked up her file and left for home, puzzled at Dia's cryptic remarks, but relieved that she appeared to have more than a fair chance at the job.