Posted:
8 years ago
Living Image
When she went to the office, ON TIME on Monday, there was no news from any school until then
They had "promised" to let every parent know, "even if their child did not make the cut off"
Suvi was hoping Aadhya made the cut off and she would get called, so it wont be a "thanks for applying email" but a real live phone call
Whatever Aadhya lacked in academics, Suvi hoped she made up for it by being cute and charming
Back home she was urged by neighbors to "let her model"
Suvi couldnt bring herself to do that
Even friends acquanitances at CST and locals would urge her
She was too focussed on fleeing Mumbai and fleeing Rutwik to worry about how to make money off her daughter.
She had too much to do, as Creative Director, at the moderate size agency, she hesitated to befriend people at first but slowly shed her inhibitions
Prayag was her lunch friend, he was "safe", he had a girlfriend so she wouldnt be foolish enough to sleep with him to stroke her gutted self esteem
She met Neel in the elevator, she smiled politely
"Aapko aaya phone?" she asked
He at first didnt know what she was talking about
"Apeejay se?" she explained
"Nahi... abhi to nahi, abhi Monday shuru hua hai" he mocked gently
"Barobar" she nodded
She wore black dress pants and a offwhite shirt, he decided he "liked" her in Indian outfits
She was not skinny, curvaceous infact, Wesetern work clothes werent a good fit... quite literally
"Mere chaaron campaign mein mujhe aapse consultation chahiye" she said politely
"Mera calendar updated hai, u can get some time" he nodded
He walked the other way from the reception desk
The walls were covered with print and TV commercials, Mckinsey & Morrison had developed
As warned, she showed up at his desk at 10, he hadnt accepted the meeting but she showed up anyway
Gomez was going on and on about some office lease expiration, he hated "housekeeping" biz.
In fact he hated many things now, he was finding it hard to concentrate, since Nupur was gone
"Trademax ka copy dekha aapne?" she asked
Trademax was a stock broking firm...
They discussed the copy, he asked questions about budgets and what recommendation she had made to the client, based on the "fancy location shooting"estimates
Trademax had wanted beach visuals, and ski resort visuals to depict vacationing after stock market wins
"Green screen to chahiye nahi na unko" he was irritated
"Budget hai... Neel' "Can I call u Neel?" she asked
"Naam hai mera... zaroor... kyon nahi" he grunted
She placed an ipad with choice of "vacation videos" the agency had in their archives, tipping over Nupur and Nihar's picture from their beach vacation
It fell back without shatering the glass topped table
He picked it up not amused
"Arey yeh bhi beach vacation ka hi foto hai" "Goa?" she asked kindly
"Nahi" he said trying to change topics
"Nihar looks so smart..." she said with joy... "Ur wife is beautiful" she said
He reached for his pic frame
"She "is"" he said
She didnt know what to say, but the silence was unnerving
They waited as if a band would walk in start playing
"ROI to kuch hai hi nahi, he flipped the estimate pages from the Account Mgt team" he said
"Depends kaun se markets mein ads screen karenge"
"Dadri aur Mewar mein se we cannot expect huge upsides" he said bluntly
She looked a lil starled at that blunt cynicism
"I am sorry... Tier I Tier II Tier III cities ke TV airtime estimates hain" she said softly
Sitting back quietly
He reviewed everything for the next two hours, still left unhappy
"Metros ka kahiye kar sakte hain, we cant do Tier II and Tier III spot buying at the rates u have" he said firmly
She got up to leave...
Turned back from the door and paused
"Foto nahi toota na?" she asked
"Umm..foto nahi toota" he said she nodded... calmly walking away, he leaned back and looked at the frame