Development
“Kya haal hai bhaisaab?” Satyen called Akash a day afterAnubha left for Ireland. He was already on the edge, making and canceling plansto spy on Naina… repeatedly
He was almost getting PTSD over it
“Arey aap?” he said waving his admin to leave the room
His office was in one of the nicer buildings, DLF Bldg inSansad Marg
He was the GM so it came with some perks like window office
He got up to pace nervously
“Kaisi sewa karen aapki?” He asked in his best bank managervoice
“Arey rey, kya baat keh di aapne”
“Waise aapka account hai hamare State Bank mein?” he askedand chuckled
The odds of a man of his stature ever banking with a Desibank was zero, Bank of America had their office in the same bldg., he probablygot concierge service there
“Who to hamare CFO se poochhna padega sir… I am clueless… Idon’t know many many things” he said politely
“Oh.. umm.. chaliye theek”
“I should know these things, but over the years, sinceRakshit started managing operations, and Raanav started doing corp dev, I ammostly big picture bhaisaab”
“I cannot imagine doing what u do sirjee”
“Arey you probably work… I mean u are many … more efficientand have better leadership skills” Satyen chose his words carefully so as tonot hurt or insult
“India mein public sector banks ke GM qareeb qareeb 10,000hongey, public limited stock market traded, profitable, employing 10s ofthousands, mushkil se 10” Akash returned the flattery
“You should ask my sons how they do it” Satyen passed thebuck benevolently
“The shareholders decide the board members YOU must bedoing something right” Akash insisted
“Mujhe jab apni tareef sun ni hogi aapko zaroor yaadkaroonga”
The men talked about the pollution and weather next
“Kaise yaad kiya?” Akash checked his phone
He had a call with the Vigilance Officer about some fraudthey were investigating… he had to get off soon
“Mujhe… aapki bitiya ka number chahiye tha”
Akash’s heart sank like a block of concrete sunk in ashallow lake
He wondered if Naina was in trouble again
“Office mein hongi abhi” he blurted
“Job bhi karti hain?”
“Haan haan Interiors design kartin hain”
“Arey wah multi talented” Satyen was impressed
“Mujhe… mere ko asal mein ek project ki baat karni thi” “Aboutthe”
Akash relaxed and nodded “She is very interested in fashionand style wagairah wagairah” he laughed
“Achhha?” Satyen was shocked
“Aap kis bitiya ki baat kar rahe hain?”
“Naina?”
“Arey sorry sorry… bhaisaab… I am talking about the oneswho has the most unique name”
“Viveka?” Akash was delirious with joy now
“jee jee bilqul”
“OH SORRY… Viveka JNU mein adjunct Faculty hain, aur baaqike time, ek pair par khadi hokar kahin par Ph D program mein enroll karne kitapasya mein lagin hain”
“Aapne kaha us din” satyen reminded Akash gently
“Oh sorry sorry”
“I love hearing abot her, mazaak kar raha tha”
Akash proceeded to breathlessly tell him everything Vivekahad ever done
The call went on for over 30 minutes
“Hamey number dene ka kya lenge aap?” Satyen begged
Akash laughed out loud “Bas ghar ke pakora aur chai, yahamey to peeli daal ki khichri bahut pasand hai… jee… jee wohi”
Akash nodded to the ingredients satyen listed
“Chaliye baat pakki”
“Jee phir to aap ABHI lein number” “989XXXXXXXX”
“Thank you” Satyen hung up the call and swiveled in hischair and smiled and sighed
He called Viveka Mathur around 5 PM that evening, Abhishekwas returning at 2 AM she was beyond happy
She was tired o texting with him… at nights she evenventured into the s---ting territory
They had planned to spend a day together, she didn’t knowwhen that was going to be
His Baba wanted to throw a party first
Akash forgot to tell her, so when Satyen called she wasconfused at first
He introduced himself and asked her if he could come meether about the work she was doing with self employed womens’ initiative
Viveka expressed the same objective joy she usually didwhen approached by people eager to learn about her work
They set up time for the following week so she could meethim on campus
She went home that night and told Papa about it
“Hope he is not like other rich people all talk and nocheque book” Akash sighed
“I don’t care Pa, I just want to spread the word, maybesomeone in his Corp Philanthropy depptt might be of use to us later?”
“U have a great attitude beta” he patted her back
“This development sector is already so rough, having toomuch cynicism just bogs me down”
“No… I need to learn that from you”
“U think he asked his wife’s permission?” Viveka muttered
Send Akash into hysterical laughter
He realized his daughter had the same piercing sense ofhumor like Anu
Father daughter were jointly cooking dinner
The twins were doing HW
Naina was still at work
“Ma raat ko call karengi I will tell her what u said”
“She will probably ask me to rope Mr Parashar into ascholarship program or investment in a handloom factory” Viveka laughed almostchoking
“Haan we need to show his wife under the garb of charity weare looting her unsuspecting husband”
“In Dubai” Abhshek texted
Causing Viveka to blush
“Kaun hai?” Akash nettled
“He just landed in Dubai”
“Hoye shabaash” Akash nodded
“I do like him Papa”
“Ma ko mat keh abhi”he whispered and winked
comment:
p_commentcount