Part 1
Prerna went straight to the parking lot and brought her box of belongings to set up her cabin. Her working essentials included - her parent's photo frame, her favourite grey calendar, her diary and sticky notes and most importantly - her wind chime.
She was waiting at the reception, this time to be shown her cabin.
Anurag lowered his shades as he was about to leave the office premises - joining already?
She wasn't looking at him so he chose to ignore the entire situation and walked off. Yet again, for the second time in the day, she had disturbed him with her actions. She'd brought her things with her - she was that sure she'll get the job!
Prerna meticulously arranged her cabin neatly. After 2 hours of toiling oher the interiors, she sank into her chair.
Just then, Moloy entered her cabin. She straightened up and smiled at him.
"Prerna, welcome to Basu Publications", he greeted warmly.
"Here's your work list for tomorrow. We are planning on a fortnightly magazine and I want to draft a basic outline on what all can be included, and the layout.
She nodded her head and made mental note of things.
Moloy left after a few more instructions.
From her box, she removed a dozen of magazines from other PHs and sat down to brainstorm.
By evening, her table was full of yellow notes and her eyes drooping with tiredness.
"Enough for the day", she remarked to herself and got up to leave.
Elsewhere, Anurag was at his favourite spot - the terrace. His eyes were fixed onto the launch brochure of their new magazine. The announcing date drew near and there were a dozen of things to be done.
Moloy came and sat beside him.
"So, congratulations young man!", he applauded him for cracking a deal.
"Yeah", he nodded his head - disinterested. "Aren't you happy?", asked Moloy.
"Not much", he responded, finally looking at his father. "I mean it's not that big a deal."
Moloy's enthusiasm toned down a bit.
"Why?"
"Cause I had hardly worked for it. I mean I was the face of the deal but it was Nivi di who had done the base work."
Moloy patted his back - got up and left.
"I wish you can trust me enough dad, someday", Anurag wished silently.
Being the youngest Basu kid, he had always had things ready on a platter. He had faced no adversity whatsoever till date - whether it was his exams or getting this position. He didn't even know if he deserved it - he had never faced the fire of trial.
Everyone wishes for a perfect life, but perfection is harmful for growth, isn't it?
He longed for thrill, and responsibility and wanted to shoulder his company in true sense, and not just being the face of it with Nivi di or Dad seeing it all.
For Moloy, he didn't want his Son to feel burdened, specially when everything was fine or was, rather was apprehensive of giving him responsibility.
Nivedita had seen Moloy's share of struggle to reach the top and had herself worked hard to some extent, to bring the Basus on top. But Anurag hadn't. He was still a young boy for the family, who was unknown to the realms and bounds of struggle.
...
Anurag walked into the Projector room and took his seat farthest away from the podium.
He sipped quietly on water, until Prerna entered.
The presentation was in full swing in no time. He was impressed with details but at the same time, her ideas lacked creativity and sparks.
When she switched on the lights for a review, the design was met with a mixed response.
Moloy felt it was bland and lacked the mainstream points to attract public attention.
He pointed out all shortcomings and told her to rework.
Suddenly, he turned over to Anurag and asked him -
"What do you think Anu?"
He had his points but fumbled for words to present them.
"Me... umm, I feel it lacked colours and spark and fire", he snapped his fingers.
"Ah, the same thing", Moloy remarked and left the room, leaving Anurag and Prerna staring each other awkwardly.
She smiled at him and collected all her papers and left.
Anurag felt stupid. His dad never took his opinion on matters usually and today he did take. It was so sudden and unexpected that he was at a loss of words. He took a mental note to be prepared at all times.
He too, was about to leave when the Secretary came in and announced that he was supposed to help Prerna since he had a fair idea of the points that were missing in the layout. And he would also head this journal printing and was in charge, from top to bottom.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Finally, there was a chance to work independently, without his dad's supervision or Nivedita's advice and ideas.
He wanted to make it big with this chance and prove his mettle to everyone.
He nodded and asked for her cabin.
But would his coalition with Prerna allow him go succeed? Only time could tell.
Prerna dumped all files and was slightly annoyed. She was always welcome to suggestions but here, she felt it forced to add such cliched eyeball grabbing gimmicks. This was the only area where their magazine could stand apart from the million others. And importantly, she didn't like to do things that she didn't approve of.
Confused to express her ideas freely, she sat down and pondered over it. There had to be a middle way to sort out things. But who should she talk to?
Anurag knocked at her door and entered.
She was surprised to see him thus.
"You want anything?", she asked, when he didn't say anything for a whole minute.
"This is MY company", he reminded her.
"Yeah right", she responded with a grin.
"I'm here to supervise the magazine work", he spoke.
"Oh great", she responded whilst clearing a chair for him to sit.
"You're quite, err, disorganised ", he remarked.
She ignored that comment and continued speaking.
"Excuse me Mr. Basu but I feel that the design is just fine. I mean we can add minor changes but making it fancy and showbizzy like the others would steal the charm", she spoke randomly.
He noticed she had large, brown, expressive eyes.
Her rapid hand movements distracted him. This girl was something so different to handle. He had never seen someone directly opposing his views. But since he had this only opportunity, he chose to calm himself. This couldn't be wasted over satisfying egos or conflicting each other.
He decided to follow Nivi di's advice of explaining via examples.
He took a deep breath and began.
"Suppose you're in a Chinese restaurant and scrolling through the Menu card. What do you expect?", he asked, leaning over the door frame.
"Noodles, fried rice, Manchurian...?", she replied, quizzed.
"But what if you find little of noodles and more of Indian cuisine?"
"I'd be disappointed"
"But they're offering you a different cuisine than the other Chinese oulets"
"But I'll be looking for Chinese"
He smiled and said, "Precisely so. Mainstream content is a demand. It just depends how you present it".
"2 hours and I want the next design in my cabin", he said.
Prerna was left utterly dumbstruck.
Anurag had a huge smile on his face as he walked through the corridor. His first independent project and this was a great head start. Only if he could handle her so throughout the process of completion and launch...
Edited by Mishti_Dahi - 5 years ago
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