Of times gone by
Sam gave her a "event review" on the phone on Tuesday evening. Akka didnt come on the phone or talk to her
She texted Akka, what to II was a funny note
"Shubhang will be Shatabdi" like she was wishing him 100 years of life
But Akka didnt respond
It was quite extraoridinary for II to have skipped a family event. They were almost 9 years apart yet they were "twins" for many purposes
She was with Akka every minute, when she met Athim, they "courted" and married, at 16 she wanted to know dirt on suhaag raat
Akka and her would stay up late at night when she visited from Munirka occasionally
Mnay times Athim would show up at midnight or after, because he "couldnt sleep" without her
Now that II thought about it there must not be much "sleep" happening anyway
She would beg them to let her sleep with Akka while Athim slept on the divan
AKKA WOULD ACTUALLY KICK HER OUT
She would go sleep with Amma Appa scrunched up on their bed
Akka wouldnt be up when she left for college in the morning, she would find her
coming back home early and picking up her things and returning to Munirka a day or two earlier than promised
When Akka became pregnant with Shravu she was the first to know, every barf every dizzy spell II heard about or wanted to know
The second person to experience Shravu kick was II
She imagined Shatabdi's already pink face sore because of the havan heat
He would have smelled like shikakai and sesame oil today his first ceremonial bath
The evening festivities of laying him in the crib for the first time and have his name written on a bed of grains underneath
She would have been in charge of the art work
They couldnt afford much when Akka had Shravu she had decorated the living room with streamers and balloons now she could have done orchids or roses
Like wealthy Punjabis decorated their cars before bidaai, rich and elegant, all with fresh flowers
she wanted to invite the chef to do a "stylish dinner meal"
She walked over to the showroom window peeking out at the early evening traffic
The married dude wandered outside talking animatedly "making up after a fight"
He looked at her, kinda glared and looked away
"thats right, go ahead dont give a damn for your boss, your new wife is way important" II chuckled self deprecatingly
It was the 4th time she had spotted him on the phone today
II was a fantastic manager, her social nature extended to her leadership skills
She wasnt anal about work hours or spelling errors on emails
She didnt even check on Amit Bhavna and Chanchal on most days
She began to trust them early on, and would just write a "rule" in Outlook to send emails from them to various folders
On quiet Sat or Sun afternoons she would sit on her divan at D II and sometimes
read a sampling of emails from such folders just to make sure there was nothing to be worried about
She gave trust and she received trust from Bally in oceanful. She suspected he never even opened a sampling of emails from her on quiet afternoons at Vasant Kunj
He would be bold and forthright in meetings when an II issue caused crisis
"I already have a over worked team, I will not let II take on any more" he could see Bansal in the eye or Gurti in the eye and say it
II would not be around the table but in a chair along the wall
in the conf room, while stepping out she would look at him in awe and say "Bally aap mujhe marwaogey, I can do it over the weekend"
"Iyer, ek baat bata...Boss tu hai ki main?" he would ask sternly
"Nahi... woh to aap ho, but mujhe laga Mr B wasnt happy"
"I want a pony and a race car too, too bad we cant have everything we want" he would scoff
"Pony chhota nahi hoga aapke liye" II would tease
"Iyer dimaag kharaab mat kar, I will go right back in and tell them I changed my mind"
He would give her a customary hug and leave quickly
He was supportive, objective and non interfering, and best of all she had his complete total support
"I will go with you wherever you go, coz I dont have the courage to work for anyone else" she would frequently utter
"Zyaada dialog nahi samajh gayi, u went on to get three degrees, after Bachleors, is baniye ke saath life bitaane ke liye lee kya?" he would argue
"Kayasth bhi chalta, waise" she would mock his caste reference
"Zyaada bakwas nahi Iyer" he would warn
"I am used to reporting to u, u stay off my hair" she would whine
"It comes with time beta... u cant have it all with a new manager on day one" he would coach her
"why cant I have you for ever?" she would cry, quelling his ambition to manage bigger teams
"Because Suman tujhe zinda gaad degi, agar tu allow karti hai to bol Suman ka kuch kar dete hain apan dono phir (gesturing partnership)
main tera tu meri" "Kyon Iyer?" she would urge
"U have Ankur and Anay, I want a girl" she would tease
"arey, adopt kar lenge beta" he would tease, jokes apart the most dignified, polite, affectionate leader. She had heard of horror stories
about sexual harassment at the workplace across India where "managers expected rewards" when they discovered their direct report was "ambitious" like II
But Bally was totally harmless
He would sit her down some evenings in her cube after everyone left and
coached her on things like, autonomy, vision, perception, crisis management
He had one masters, he was a million times shrewd and effective than II
He was a star accordingt o her
She missed him... he would have unconditionally allowed her to take Tuesday off no questions asked
In fact he would have come to see the baby one evening after work
He was the "old world" manager that socilaized with his direct report's family. He was not the new Corp India mgrs that
didnt even know if his/her direct reports parents were alive or if they were married or had kids, he invested
emotional energy in trying to understand her life and the life of Amit Bhavna and chanchal.
She had emailed him in the morningt o ask if he was going to Shatabdi's naming thing in the evening, the cradle event
She hadnt heard, with II no longer reporting to him, he may not feel the need to respond to emails immediately or be socially connected to her
They were growing apart... she hated that... shittt!! she cursed out loud
It was close to 7 the workshop was winding down for the day, the showroom closed at 8 the last of the car deliveries were occuring
She went back to her desk, and picked up the daily reports from Amritsar and Chandigarh
there were emails from Ritu in her in box, her hand hovered over the monitor, tryingt o shut it, but she didnt, sat down and read them all
Most were routine, Ritu read EVERY email and ack it with a "Thx"
II knew it wasnt "automated" because on some she said more than "Thx"
Different style
Different style, thats all there is to it
DRAMA QUEEN YOU ARE.. II
OK FINE...
I AM NOT GOING TO LET IT GET TO ME
ITS OK IF SHE READS ALL MY EMAILS
NOT EVERYONE CAN BE LIKE ME OR BALLY
JUST BECAUSE SHE READS DOESNT MAKE HER A BAD MANAGER
I NEED TO GIVE HER THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT
SHE MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHING BITTER HAPPEN AT IBM
WHO KNOWS
"Hey II I know Gurgaon showroom and workshop are still WIP (work in progress), but in scanning
Lajpat Nagar and Uttam Nagar showroom reports I see hand written notes saying, each time system reboots they get a
pop up indicating conflict with Transpro being installed on those machines, and upon rebooting on safe mode, the app wont open from the desktop
AYYYO!!!!
WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?
She checked Outlook for when Ashwini was returning, over two weeks left
"I dont know when I will be done in Punjab I can look at it when I return, I obviously cant be remote for the issue you quote?" she wrote and sent
"I realize you have to be here in person II, but this has to be priority" she responded immediately
"I can return after Amritsar is done?" she offered HOPING it was not sarcastic
MY HUSBAND IS IN DELHI
NOT SURE FOR HOW LONG
CAN I PLEASE COME BACK AND BE WITH HIM
RAKSHASAN... HE WONT EVEN CALL ME EVERY HOUR LIKE THE NEWLY MARRIED DUDE WANDERING OUTSIDE
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW AWFUL IT IS TO GO TO SLEEP WITHOUT MAKING LOVE
HAVE U GONE THREE DAYS WITHOUT EATING CHOCOLATE?
UMM... YA... "THAT" BAD🤣
"Umm.. no thats not necessary, lets stay on track" she said in her email after 5 minutes
II had told her casually over IM chat about the naming ceremony
"Nice!!" "every culture in India seems to have their own beautiful traditions" Ritu had said as if she was some blog writer
ARGHHH!!!
Even now... her email... No thanks no good byes, no "have a great evening". Not one line about how did your family event go?
I am sorry u couldnt be part of it. "I wish you had asked me sooner"
"Why didnt you take the day off?" "Why didnt u commute Monday night to be able to attend it on Tuesday?"
"How could you miss the event, u shud have attended it and logged on from home later in the afternoon"
"I would be furious if I were your sister and u stood me up like that?"
As II formulated those "ideal" answers in her mind she stared at her Macbook pro screen with tears filling up her eyes
"I am going to have one, no matter what" II wore a devilish smile as she slammed her PC shut..
Edited by Nisha0604 - 8 years ago
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