Nomadic & Iyer Pride
Part 96
Monday...
Baldev :Suna AGM hai Excelsior mein...?
II: really?😲😭
Bally: Haan date ka pata nahi... not sure what will change for us yaar, grapevine has it that tera hero,😳 (stopping) I mean THE HERO might take flight😭
II:Oh! (expressionless)😭
"Do u see him?"
"Ummm... not really... rarely..."😭
"Rarely matlab, kaam ke bahar milta hai tujhse?"
"Nahii... Akka ka beta uski sis ke bete ka best friend hai"
"Oh wow! Sahi hai yaar.."😃
"They meet kabhi kabhi I go pick him up"
"Marliese hoti hai wahan?"😡
"Nahi" II said sadly
NO SHE IS NOT THERE... THEY MUST HAVE A REALLY OPEN RELATIONSHIP AND "I" MUST BE REALLY SHAMELESS TO KISS SUCH A MAN😡
I CONSTANTLY THREATEN AKKA THAT I WILL TELL APPA, BUT YET WILLINGLY WANTONLY FALL INTO HIS ARMS🤢
SUCH DEPRAVITY II. ITS ALMOST LIKE MY BRAIN STOPS FUNCTIONING IF I AM AT HOME... SUCH A DESPERATE SICK CREATURE IVE BECOME🤢
I CRIED AND ACQUIRED A FEVER AND INFECTION AND STAYED IN BED FOR 7 DAYS AND THEN WENT RIGHT BACK INTO HIS ARMS
UNDER THE PRETEXT OF ADMIRING HIS CHIVALRY THIS HAS TURNED INTO A WEIRD FRIENDSHIP-ENEMITY-SEXUAL REALTIONSHIP🤢
"Uski sister ne tujhse kaha tha na about Marliese?"
"I dont see her, I dont go there every day Bally"
"Chal chhod... whatever the guy doesnt seem to be making good choices" Bally said confidently
it hurt II like hell...😭
HE READS A LOT, HE MAY BE A SCHOOL DROP OUT BUT HE READS A LOT, HE CARES FOR HIS SISTER, HE ADORES NANDAN, AND IS REALLY GOOD TO SHRAVU HE MISSES HIS MOM😭
She looked out the conf room window at the cube farm... she sniggered at herself, at the thought of trying to defend such a man... he was a total antithesis of who Appa would pick for her😭
Sreekanth had not occupied one hour of her brain resources, he called everyday and texted everyday...😲
"Kab hai AGM" II asked
"Grapevine... matlab Ranjan ka admin hai na woh banda kya naam hai... he said 3 weeks? aisa kuch... that chacha character seems slimy yaar, he wants R&B to sell out"
"Maybe he will return to Paris" II muttered pretending not to care, scrolling down her email...😭
"They are rich but soch kitna politics hai" Bally said smugly😈
II couldnt gloat... it hurt her to hear Bally gloat 😭 she was beginning to know them closely, Sam seemed NICE, Tanmay was a peach... R&B?
He evoke no sympathy or compassion or maturity in her when they interacted at work, she was at her irrational impulsive best in getting back at him... it was almost like he was targetting her?😡
Or so she suspected because of the strange and sudden passionate encounters that began a week into knowing him?☺️
It was heady and intoxicating and addictive, it was like she couldnt get away... it was like she had to have her fix every few days😳
The fact that he didnt talk much at all maybe contributed to the mystery of the attraction? He could be cheating on Marliese, or if Marliese was actually OK what did that make II?🤢
She was so grossed out she accidentally shut down her email😭🤢
"Kis duniya mein hai" Bally asked
"His sister is not spoilt or bratty Bally, she is a gracious host, she always says nice things, woh to Akka se milne is hafte munirka bhi ja rahi hai" II sounded troubled👏
"Thats nice, baap ek dum teda hai aur beta bhi but daughter seems nice huh?" Bally and her jointly wondered😭😲
"Chal 4 baje milte hain, mujhe uske baad nikalna hai Ankur ka aaj phir X Ray hai" he said
She nodded sadly
"Oh! Iyer kya hua? Kisi EK BANDEY ko haan keh de baat khatam...😆" Bally said winking
MEN HAD A STARIGHTFORWARD DIRECT APPROACH TO EVERYTHING. Women ALWAYS took the longest route
"In a way its good if he sells his shares and leaves, rodey nahi atkayega, apna kaam jaldi hoga, already is project ROI kaafi naale mein hai" Bally said seriously👏
"I agree he should just leave" II nodded like she didnt care😭
"Tere saath koi future nahi hai, baap se banti nahi hai, Chache ko uske shares chahiye, girlfriend French hai" Bally listed it all BLUNTLY...😡
"Hmm" II nodded... it JUST HURT A LOT😭
"He must live life like that u know, back packer types? Uski duniya us ek back pack mein hogi, laptop, baap ka paisa, aur condoms" Bally laughed😈
"And books" II muttered😭
"Chal usko genius bhi bana dete hain, tera aashiq THA na" Bally winked
She punched him...
He Googled something and showed her the site
"Ruk tujhe bhejta hoon"
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/top-signs-you-are-a-backpacker/
She had fallen for a nomadic man😲.. he didnt take life too seriously..."everything is temporary nothing is yours" they would sacrifice relationships in order to wander
the earth...
The painful realization caused tears... she hadnt known anything but permanence in fact starting 6th grade she lived in the same house 16 years... she took the same route home from work😳👏
He didnt sleep with the same woman two months in a row most likely...😭
It was like she was a different person at the office/home and a different person outside of it...
They didnt make any demands on each other, they didnt have any expectations from each other, yet it felt like they were a couple
She was being pursued by a suitor, and he was in a relationship with a foriegner, BOTH IDEAL for the kind of people they were...
YET they were only drawn to each other?
She reviewed the progress, met with Ashwini and ate lunch at her desk, checked on Akka, promised to visit later in the week
Akka kept asking "who all were there at Sam's" she said "ya her brother was there too"
She responded to Sree's texts and call... he seemed uncomplicated and simple... 😭
She met with her team, they all teased Diwakar... he returned from caring for his Mom only to fall in love and get married all in three weeks... he worked remotely for a while in order to juggle caring for her
Amit was a loud mouth that tended to cross the line frequently... she just observed, did not ding him, but made sure she "talked" about it during ratings reviews
She was personable and approachable but did not go overboard in interacting with them, "how can a boss be a best friend?" she would argue with Appa
Her team sensed the reservation, except Amit, who on certain occasions deliberately attempted to be over friendly
In India everyone expects all single people to be married sooner or later, so there were lots of jokes swirling around such topics
"Dont worry I wont be gone so easily" she would smile
"Honeymoon mein bhi remotely log on karoge kya" Amit asked🤢
"Thats for ME to know and YOU to speculate" she ended it right there😡
She wore her favorite white and blue stripe Burberry and a blue pants... carried her stack of paper emails and laptop all in her hand and punched the elevator key
for the 4 0 Clock at Excelsior
Mr Ranjan stood in it beaming... "Just in time it looks like" he smiled
"Are u returning from lunch?" she asked to be polite
"No, we have our AGM coming up soon, so I was at a lawyer auditor meeting" he said honestly
"Oh! Nice... you met some of my compatriots then?' she said smiling
"I did Ms Iyer, they are a tough lot, I tell you👏" he shook his head in despiar
"Well when AGM is over I dont have to deal with them for a few months" he laughed😆
LOOKS LIKE WE ALL RUN AWAY FROM THINGS THAT SCARE US, SO WHAT IF WE ARE A FANCY CEO
SHOULD I ASK HIM WHEN IT IS? NO I SHOULDNT I WILL MOST LIKELY READ ABOUT IT IN A WORK EMAIL... I SHOULD JUST WAIT
I WILL KNOW SOON... SINCE IVE DONE SUCH A FABULOUS JOB OF "GETTING OUT" OF HIS LIFE, LETS SEE HOW HE DOES...
HE WOULD PROBABLY PICK UP HIS BACK PACK AND HEAD TO THE AIRPORT AND NOT EVEN LOOK BACK😭
He let her lead the way, greeted the guard the receptionists, and made polite conversations..
"I was asking Raman for recommendations last night on phones, I am tired of Samsung and Apple I want to move on" Ranjan said😳
"Oh! I am still an Apple bot" she muttered
"He is too, u both are alike. Except he doesnt talk" Ranjan laughed😳
"No we are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT" she shook her head like "No do not draw similarities, I am a mess already" tone
"I hope he has been polite and gracious Ms Iyer" Ranjan asked😳
"Oh yes he has" II said carelessly😭
"I chatted with him and said we are all a team if we are to accomplish this goal then we need to depend on each other, in order to do that we must collaborate" Ranjan said cheerfully
"Thanks Mr Bhalla we are good" II said
They stood outside his door...
Mrs Sagar brought a stack of papers
"R&B is not here, do u want to sign?" she asked
"Sure, desk par rakhiye I am meeting KMPG at 4 uske baad?" She nodded and left
II walked to the conf room and set up...
Bally and Ashwini came in followed by the Excelsior folks, Gurgaon showroom, the workshop and their IT head..
R&B showed up last in brown cargos and a striped SHIRT, half sleeves, curling at the edges, worn and cotton like all his clothes...
he carried his open laptop for a change but still had his ear buds on, he seemed taller than 6'3" when the entire room was sitting...
"Oh there he is!" Ranjan smiled happily
The workshop mgr made small talk, he signalled he had ear buds on, and took it off let it hang from his sunglass strap...
"Oh! I was working in the terrace" he said softly😳
He looked at her from across the room... and did his own finger kangi to calm his tousled hair
Something about that sent her insides on a tailspin...☺️
"I am the ONLY one in this room or this building that knows how that hair feels"☺️
"He loves the outdoors, he can only take so much of an air conditioned office" Ranjan declared proudly😳
The other men looked at him in awe wondered WHY they didnt have that free spirit...😭
He? His eyes were on the Burberry...☺️
She felt the aquamarine pendant... as his eyes lingered over it...☺️
Bally was talking with Ashwini, he went first.. and then it was II's turn...
"Two things", she began going straight to the point, we have been able to prove conclusively on the handicap control Sawtooth SUV that M Company's legacy price list is CAUSING the new TransPro software to hang
She ran the simulation on her PC, and tested it many different ways... every time the SW errored out...
It gave her a high😈
"You might want to invite Mr Subramanian again and meet with him to go over this, he declined Baldev's invite stating "conflict"" II did air quotes theatrically😈
"I was told M Co had nothing to do with this" Ranjan asked R&B😕😲
He kept looking at her "Because Ms IYER could NOt make a case at the Gurgaon showroom two weeks ago. We went with what we saw. Ive just been shown its the M Co price list" he said blandly
"So, THAT was issue number one on your 7 pointer... I will call it "Hold until Client responds?"😃
She went on to 2, 3, 4, and nailed Excelsior on all
Coming to 5, I have 16 days of reports from your Gurgaon showroom that tell me the Cashiers DO NOT use the TransPro SW... this is a serious violation😡
We have cut back on other heads to give you more training and we find the Cashiers treat it like its some YT video...😡
So until a decision is made internally to address this, we will go on and begin deploying all over Delhi and the the three workshops😈
"Wait a minute" he waved for her to stop "Its not over because YOU say its over Ms Iyer, we have to agree on what you propose... he looked at the Gurgaon showroom GM "Mr Bhatia ko bulayiye please"
HE WAS ALWAYS SO GODDAMN EXPRESSIONLESS, LIKE HIS FACE CAME DEVOID OF IT FROM THE FACTORY... COOL AND ALOOF LIKE HE WOULD KILL SOMBODY AND WALK AWAY LIKE HE PRESSED A GODDAMN ELEVATOR BUTTON😡
Ashwini shared reports of how two weeks worth of testing had not revealed ONE bug... and how whatever slowdowns were happening were because of bandwidth being compromised and not because of TransPro
He listened to it with zero interest... II was GLOATING to the point of dancing on the conf table
They reviewed the Gurgaon workshop installation. there werent any red flags there either, it was a good day for her and for KMPG..👏
The workshop carried the same parts from 11 companies in some cases, though M Co recommended "THEIR" parts ONLY, most workshops offered cheaper badly tooled parts from local guys
Thats where Chachu was making a killing...😡🤢 stealing from his own brother
"TransPro is expected to align with poorly written inventory tables from local manufacturers, I suggest your company reviews and standardizes the amount of parts options u will offer"😡
"Making decisions for US Ms Iyer?" he asked silkily😃
"I am HAVING to Mr Bhalla because it impedes the progress of something I OWN" she shot back😡
"U do realize Excelsior is a huge company dont you?"
"I do Mr Bhalla, thats why I suspect it requires more thought than picking tattoo parlors or piercing salons" she hissed😈
Ranjan literally pulled out the fire extinguisher🤣
"I can see you both love what you do, Dont they Baldev, I mean Mr Gupta?"
Baldev missed some of that fire exchange as he spoke with Ashwini, all of Excelsior watched it though... jaws dropping
"Oh! I wouldnt knock self employed people like piercing salon owners Ms Iyer, they contribute to more the economy than tax shelter seeking overseas corporations (LIKE KMPG)" he sniggered😈
ranjan cut in again... "OK lets look at what the final to do is alright?"🤣
II was boiling like a egg left too long on the stove...
The meeting ended in 15 minutes...
"I would like to have a word with u please" she told him directly
He walked out to his room...
She shut the door, left all her things at the conf room
"I am NOT sure WHAT ur problem is, but I suspect u dont want us to complete the project" II threw at him😡
He didnt respond..
"U either have a problem with WORKING WITH WOMEN, IT HURTS YOUR EGO TO have to take instructions from them may be?😡 she goaded him
He walked over as she leaned on the shut door
"IS THAT WHAT U THINK IT IS II?'😡
THATS EXACTLY WHAT I THINK IT IS" she hissed😡
"I" he began
"ashwini and I together clearly outsmarted you today... we had good data and great resolutions we were able to point where Excelsior went wrong and U HATED IT ...IF it were Baldev saying that u would have accepted it meekly, Oh! HOW CAN A WOMAN?"
"Thats ENOUGH II" he said gruffly, inches from her face..
They stood breathing audibly over each other...
Arousal? Anger? Rage? Outrage?
A mix of all may be
"Do NOT accuse me of something u have NO proof of"😡
"NO PROOF? U SAT THERE NODDING AT EVERY PATHETIC EXCUSE THE Gurgaon showroom threw at you the MOMENT Ashwini and I started to talk you sharpened your claws. You are a typical male"😡
"Shut up II" he said, his hand on her elbow...😡
"Do not sweep the multitude of issues at Excelsior under the carpet then... this is a complex installation being
stalled by by lack of expertise AND WILL of the client FACE IT!" she bit out..😡
"THE CLIENT? Oh! Excelsior? Its the CLIENT'S FAULT for not sucking up and using the shoddy piece of crap?"😡
"You are a SORE Loser R&B, u clearly did not want to give me credit today... get off that bloody high horse once in a while. Some of us are more intelligent ACCEPT THAT FRICKIN FACT" she shrieked😡
He looked at his flip flop clad feet, clenched his jaw... as if trying to control himself, as if holding off on the urge to strangle her?
He let go of her elbow
"Some things ARE more complicated than deciding if u should get ur tongue pierced or your navel, I expect you to think its a piece of crap" she spat at him smugly😈
He turned and pinned her on the door in a nano second, NOT touching her... one bit
"Does it hurt the IYER PRIDE II?" he asked softly... his eyes stormy but face cold as a block of ice "Does it hurt the IYER PRIDE to be turned on by some un classy uneducated Punjabi man" he asked softly on her lips...😡
"Oh you dont worry about the Iyer pride R&B. It takes a lot more than a high school drop out to dent it" she hissed..😈.
His hands were on either side of his face...
"Of course it is" he sniggered.. "The smartest Iyer in the world happens to get aroused by a man that does not possess half her intellect, such a shame" he goaded 😈
"If only you could train your body to quit responding... or train it ONLY respond to a Ph D's overtures? Maybe?" he goaded her mercilessly😈
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