Rakshasan was missing ... Ranjan apologized to Baldev and her sincerely
"Jet lagged" "He is usually extremely charming"
"I can see that he must be very popular among women" Baldev said shocking Ishita and making her doubt his sexual orientation she made a mental note to check back on that with him later
The Project IS lead was with them... first Baldev discussed the time line of when they would begin which showroom would be pilot for it... they all agreed on Gurgaon, with its close promixity to both offices...
There was a knock on the door, the attendant wheeled in chai in fine china, she told Akka about it "THE royal albert pattern" she had bought a serving tray for Amma from Chicago...on her last and final trip for her IS degree...words like enterprise architecture and alignment and strategy flew around the room when a tall unshaven man wearing khakhi cargos and a moss green crushed tee showed up for the meeting... the attendant went of to get a pot of coffee for Ashwini Rao the IS lead
Ishita brushed off the strange sensation of hairs standing on the back of her slender neck as the draft caused by the door being opened...
She only saw his feet... FLIP FLOPS!!!
"Mandu(Idiot)" she cursed at the lack of work ethics or etiquette
Ranjan: Oh! Raman is here... we were waiting for you beta.. (kind)
Raman didnt give the man a second look just seated himself in the far corner by Baldev, stood up to shake hands with Baldev and waited for Ishita to walk up to him, she did not... he didnt either...
"I was just telling your Dad about how his flowers became the talk of the town on Wednesday" Baldev made small talk trying to fold Raman into the meeting..
The IS head was a woman in her 40s... sharp as a tak no nonsense, didnt care to make small talk or waste time... Ishita but older...
Raman looked impassively as if he didnt know... "I sent flowers because she helped me buy pastries within my budget" Ranjan gushed Ishita squirmed
"Some things are the same" R&B hissed to himself
"Do we have benchmarks from North India?" he asked Ishita bluntly
"No Mr Bhalla we wanted a week remember? Tomorrow makes a week... we are here today on invitation to talk about deployment go live, pilot site etc" (THERE! YOU MORON! YOUR DAD HAS BOUGHT THE SW take your questions and shove it up ur beep" tone)
"I would still like to see it before we have your teamcome in to Gurgaon
He wasnt even there HOW did he know they picked Gurgaon she wondered
"He lives in Paris" Ranjan began offering more unnecessary detail about his son
"Is there a showroom in Paris ?" she asked meekly...
He shot her a look from across the room "Nope! ALL HERE, ALL OF IT" he said softly biting on every word... whether he spoke of the scandal or of the showroom only he knows
Baldev and Ashwini talked about changes in timeline due to a new product release from the M company a new SUV that was rolling out late March... that would delay the testing and go live...
Ranjan shared brochures from the M car company
The attendant brought coffee and poured it out along with the chai... she left the cookies alone, he observed that...
He picked up a tablet computer and ran some numbers on it... "It says on going maintenance is until 2019... but uve priced it out until 2022... why is that?"
Ishita looked up from her laptop
"sorry"
"U are charging the company one half in maintenance? Rocket ships are less expensive" he said bluntly
"Oh! Raman thats because I spoke with Bansal about a parts management tool"
"Are they are accounting firm or a software company?" R&B asked as if he was looking at crazed individuals
"You will pay for something that you dont know whether u will buy or not?" he continued...
Baldev and Ashwini talked amongst themselves about begin date...
"Can I have a cost break down of everything, every key stroke?" R&B asked Ishita
"You bet...I can have that arranged"
"TWO things then? Bench marking data and pricing structure"
Ishita wondered why Ranjan did not share already
"sir I was told Mr Bansal sent those to you"
"He did he did I will Ms Iyer..."
"Its a huge model Mr Bhalla 18 tera bytes I think... " condescending "Tumhe SAMAJH to aayega nahi WHY DO U WANT TO LOOK AT IT"
"Excuse me?" R&B asked incredulously... " What does the size of the data got to do anything with"
"Its an extremely detailed break out of every cost every service that will be provided for the next three years, the hourly rates the fixed charges, the allowances all of it... each showroom is priced differently" Ishita gave it back the resentment she held for 4 days pouring out confidently she ended with "Its complex" (u wont get it" tone)
"I will TRY to "get it" Ms Iyer. he said coldly
They were given all the phone numbers and took all the relevant ones... they talked about halting it for a week during the new SUV launch in March... Ranjan talked about their partnership with M company.. and how he LOVED the Sales Director they had assigned for North India
KMPG was aware of the suite of software M company forced all their dealers to use... they talked about that...
Ranjan talked about how much he loved South India, and asked if Ishita visited frequently... she agreed she did... to R&B it was difficult to say if it was sheer curiosity or something worse... but he witnessed it play out...
R&B left the meeting... almost towards the end...
She hated him even more today... unreasonably... illogically... she hated him even more
~~
It was past 11 PM
They had parked miles from the event hall on Moti Bagh Road... Ishita had gone to a Carnatic concert December season as its a popular south Indian tradition...with her parents, since someone was already singing on stage Amma did not insist she sing
She wore a saree though... and upon much insistence a nose ring
Amma was heard lamenting to Appa earlier in the evening when she was in the shower... or they thought she was "Ivlav tall aa irukka, she is so tall, WHERE WILL BE FIND SOMEONE"
"Its not always about someone Madhu" Appa reassured her
"She cant be home forever Vishwa" "Kalyanam panna vendama, she should get her married"
They worried and talked and worried...
She wore a chiffon in lemon yellow and lime green... she wore sarees because she loved to wear them... she wore because she knew how good she looked in them...Luscious and slender at 5'9", string of jasmine though was irritating her today by sliding off her hair every few minutes... the pin was crooked...
They walked talking about all the kritis that were sung... almost bumping into a group of people...
It was Ranjan Bhalla, R&B and a tall very pregnant woman
Ranjan was very very pleased
II made the intros...
She assumed the pregnant woman was the daughter in law
Sam:Can u give me some math training? (giggling)
II: your Dad is too kind
Sam: and you are like a genius I am told
II squirmed
Amma asked her when she was due and put her foot in her mouth "Ur husband shudnt let u walk like this at night"
Sam:Hes my BROTHER" punching R&B
R&B's eyes were roving over Ishita's glittery nose ring... she lifted a finger to feel it... as if it was falling off... a string of jasmine stroked her left arm... she picked it up and pinned it back again as he watched how she did that...
Ranjan and Appa talked "government" Amma talked about babies and Carnatic recitals
R&B and Ishita looked at their phones
Amma wanted to know if R&B had a real name Samyukta laughed and said "We call him R&B Rhythm & Blues"
Amma looked confused "Is that a band?" she asked... Sam explained
They were told they were returning from dinner at a friend's and the car was parked too far because of the wedding nearby...
Ranjan told her how much good the deployment plan is Appa was beaming... Ranjan hoped they could all meet again soon
Ishita thought "Sure! when u get rid of this good for nothing wannabe of a son"
They said their good byes quickly as they walked to II's car...
Excuse me was heard, she turned... he stood there with her string of jasmine... "Did u want this?" he asked expressionlessly
"GIMME THAT" she didnt say it but acted that way...
He still wore flip flops she noticed... AND A GLINT IN THE EYES WHEN HE HANDED THEM TO HER
That night two things will be Googled by two individuals a few kilometers from each other in Delhi
BOTH in balconies...
First "Iyers"
Second, "Rhythm & Blues"...
