Hello All , here comes part 20. Hope you all will like it ...do read and let me know your thoughts on the same...eagerly waiting for your comments.
PART 20
"Hello , is it university college hostel?"
"Yes!!"
"I need to speak to Naina Agarwal."
"Naina Agarwal?? There is no Naina Agarwal staying here."
"What ?? She is a new lecturer who just joined."
"Sir , She is not Naina Agarwal. She is Naina Sameer ." The moment I heard this, I had a smile on my face.
"Yeah , that's her name after she got married. I am Sameer her husband . Can you call Naina please?? I will wait ."
"OK.."
After 2 mins , I heard her voice. My Naina's voice.
"Good Morning Naina...and All the best dear. Today is your first day ..so ..."
"Thank you Sameer. Had your breakfast ?"
"Yes and thank you for the gift. I am wearing your ma's chain and the kurtha you gifted me."
"You liked it ??"
"Yes dear , did you have breakfast."
"No, not so early. I will pack it and take to college. Probably eat a lil later"
"Naina , don't Skip your breakfast. Its not nice."
"I know. Hmmm...Your are right I shouldn't be. I will have it once I reach college. Promise!!"
"Are you ok Naina?? You sound very low..."
"New place ..will take some time to adjust. Will be fine."
"Naina, you don't have to do this. You don't sound good. Shall I come and pick you ?"
"No Sameer, this is what I want to do ."
"Ok..if you are not well , you will tell me ..right?? I will come and take you to doctor."There was no response from the other end. It was like she was thinking.
"Naina ?? Are you there ?? You heard what I said ??"
"Hmm...yeah...Got to go Sameer, else I will be late. Bye for now."
"Ok have a nice day ahead. I will call you at night. Take care..."
"Ok..you too"With that she hung the phone. Poor thing sounded so lost and low. All because I was a fool. I need to join her soon. I started going through the files, checking the timelines of the project made by our business partner. One look at it and I knew , it was made by someone who had no experience as there was no schedule window given for quality check from our end , hadn't given enough time for the production and a lot more errors.
"This is going to be a long day "I thought. I started correcting each of those and that's when I heard people outside the Cabin, which means it was about to be 9:00. This was one thing good about this office . People were all on time , something that Nanu was strict about and no one broke this rule. I got up to stretch myself and suddenly saw a group of people walking towards my cabin . I saw the group was headed by Kamya. Dad , Nanu , Mumma and Kamya's uncle Ramnath was following her. I quickly sat on my chair and acted as if I was reviewing a file.
"Come in.."
"Good Morning Sameer!!"Said Kamya in a very excited tone.
I could have kicked her out, but I couldn't . I just gave a node. One look at me and people knew I was not in a happy mood.
"Sameer , show some enthusiasm on the first day of the project."
I ignored dad's statement and said , "Please sit..Coffee or tea??"
"Coffee for all ", Said Kamya.
I keyed in the numbers to my secretary's desk and Said , "5 Coffees."
"5?? We are 6 people Sameer."
"I have had mine sometime back."
"Common you can have one more with us."
"Nope , we are not here to discuss how many tea or coffee I should have. Let's concentrate on work.
Nanu , There will be changes in the roles done by few people in the office. My secretary, Kishan will be working with you Kamya. We have your Cabin ready , the one close to dad's cabin.
I have hired two new people to help me. They have previously worked with me for couple of my Bombay based project."
"That should be ok Sameer." Said Dad
"I was not asking for opinion. As I said in the morning , since I am leading I will take decisions. You all can give opinions/suggestions. But decision will be mine. In short I call the shots.
Now that we are clear on that , I will call our two new team members who will be working closely with me."
With in two mins, they My friends , my saviors , were in my Cabin. Yes , Munna and Pandith!! I had thought of only roping in Munna. That's when Munna , reminded me that Pandit was into media business and the two of us thought, having him with us would help to curb unnecessary news getting on to newspaper. At the same time we will also get to know what Kamya and my dad are upto. Pandit had done mass communication course in college. Though his family had couple of restaurants and hotels, he preferred the world of media. One year back he had taken the contract of providing cable TV for our area. His business thrived and he had literally managed to capture larger part of Ahmedabad.
These two were taking their time out from their business to help me. They knew I was in trouble. Many a times even in school they have helped me . For the world , I was close to Kamya and Raghav. But only we knew what we were for each other.
"Come in Munna and Pandit. Sit down please."
"Team , I don't think these two would need to be introduced to you all...Munna will be handling all accounts and Pandit will be handling PR and Media. So from now on any news about our organization will be going to the paper or TV thru Pandith.
Pandit, kindly sent a note to all the newspapers and TV channels , that if they publish anything about MY ORGANISATION or PERSONAL LIFE that is about me and my wife, without my approval, I will sue them ."
I saw the expression of everyone's face . I was enjoying it ,to be in power. Now I understand what Naina and Rohan had said. The sheer joy of getting things done your way was too good. It had a taste of its own. Nanu was enjoying it and my poor mumma was worried as she knew, her husband wouldn't be liking it.
"That's a good decision Sameer. " Said Nanu
"Thanks Nanu. After this meeting I need you to come with me to visit the two factories that would be getting our orders ready. Munna you also come with us . In case some repair/maintenance is required we can ask ur team to fix it soon "
"Sure Sameer" Nanu and Munna said in unison.
"Sameer , why don't you take Kamya with you instead of Munna . She has already prepared the project plan. Have had time to go thru it?? asked Dad with authority.
"You prepared it?? Good lord!! I was wondering who had prepared that. Because from 7.50 am in the morning , I have been trying to get it right. There were no schedules for quality check, time given for production was very less ...and I don't think you considered people count while you were preparing it...a lot of mistakes..Finally I just threw into the bin and decided it was better to start a new one rather than correct it.
Raghunath Uncle , I am sorry. I know you wanted to get Kamya on board but we need to work with people who have experience. We just have 3 months to complete the first batch."
"That's ok Sameer. I understand."
"So Sameer, why don't you take her to the factory along with you. She will also learn that way."
"You are right mumma. She also needs to learn but this will be a lil too big project to start with. I have a better idea. Anyways you need some help at NGO as Naina is not working there anymore . Why don't you take Kamya to your NGO and teach her the basics of running a business. At NGO, you have the same production line , only difference is , its in a smaller scale.
Let her sit through couple of orders, probably for next 6 months. Then we can think of getting her on board."
"But Sameer..I mean Kamya at NGO...I don't think she will be able to adjust with the ladies over there. I mean she is used to moving with elite crowd ...so..." mumbled Mumma
"Mumma, If she can't adjust there , then how do you expect her to adjust with people here in the factory. Besides you ladies can go for shopping and attend kitty parties. Wont you enjoy it Kamya??
"Of course Sameer . It will be nice aunty. Let us try."
"OK Fine."I knew mumma was irritated. Well I had no choice . She pushed me to do this. I had told her not to interfere in my job. But she had to do it , to please her husband . Have fun!!
That evening I came home and called Naina, but the phone was busy. I tried for nearly one hour and didn't get through. I was wondering if she was waiting for my call. I didn't know if calls after 7:00 was allowed. So, decided that I would speak to her in the morning.
Most of my days were spent at the factory than in the office. Pundit kept an eye at the office . Ever since he had taken over the PR role, no news came about my personal life , though photos of Kamya with my parents at parties or charity functions were published at least once in a week. That is something I couldn't control, so had no choice. Most evenings I waited to speak to Naina. Some days she would talk to me about her classes, some days she was very quiet, especially the days when photos of Kamya with Mumma and Papa appear in the newspaper. I avoided all these functions blatantly. Media thought me as a rude guy and I didn't mind that image.
One and half month had gone by , thankfully Kamya didn't interfere much. Probably her uncle had told her not to. Naina being away from me was making me frustrated. I told her that I will meet her during the weekend but she refused to meet me. She said, if I was coming there to meet her , then it was to stay with her forever else talk via phone. I needed one more week to finish the first batch, we were ahead of time. Our people were willing to work in shifts and some of them even did stretch for two to three hours every day. I had no other option but to be satisfied listening to her voice. When I missed her too much , I would hug the pink Saree and read her diary. Reading her diary was painful because like now , even then I had only given pain to her. But there were moments which I cherished. My presence with her at school was elaborately written. I loved the fact that she loved me so much but at the same time to know that I had never reciprocated her feelings pained me. I felt guilty of my behavior towards her.
Tomorrow packaging will start and day after it would be shipped, I hope it goes well. By this weekend everything should be done. My only confusion was should I wait till weekend to meet her or should I leave after its shipped. I wasn't able to decide , so best was to take a quick shower and hit the bed. I was walking towards the bathroom, that's when Phone rang, I checked the time it was 10 in the night . Thought it would be Rohan.
"Hello Sameer..."
"Naina??!! What happened ?? And from where are you calling ??"
"I am calling from...well...how are you ??"
"I am fine..but why are you calling me so late?? Is everything alright??"
"Yes...I just felt like talking to you...that's all..and..."I understood she was crying...I could hear her controlled sobs..
"Are you crying ?? You don't sound fine...I am coming there...I will be there in another 2 hours.."
"No ..No, I am fine, have slight cold that is why I sound different. You please don't drive at night , I will be tensed. I just can't take tension now..I mean can't take tensions anymore. You stay there and be safe.
Listen , for 3 days we won't be able to talk . There is some arts fest in another college, so going with the students."
"OK...so where are you people going ...??"
"hmm...forgot the name of the college...its somewhere nearby.."I knew she was not telling the truth. I don't why but from the time she left , I felt she was hiding something from me. But I didn't think it was right to question her because she might feel that I was doubting her. She is one person I would never doubt ,...its just that I was scared for her safety...wondered what could she be hiding from me and why ..??
"So , you are going to stay there??"
"No, I will be here but coming late, ...you normally call me every day..so I thought best to inform you.."
"OK...so in case I need to contact you , with whom should I leave the message?? "
"You can call the same number, the leave message with the girl who is there in the reception."
"OK...Naina is there something you want to tell me dear.."
"LOVE YOU SAMEER . I MISS YOU A LOT. "
"I do too Naina. Do you want to change your mind...Shall I come there to pick you ...not now but tomorrow morning ??"
"No... She was crying , I could hear her sobs..
"You are one stubborn person."
"So are you Sameer !!"
"Go to go Sameer, good night."
"Good Night Naina...love you.. She hung the phone.
There was something wrong , seriously wrong . And I needed to find out what. But I didn't want her to think I was spying on her. When it comes to her I didn't want , to go wrong with my decision. I had to trust that she is fine and whatever it is , she is able to handle it , else she would have told me. I decided I am not going to hurt her anymore. Anyways I was going to be with her in a weeks' time. I was feeling uneasy and restless . I blamed it on her phone call.
For the first time , I walked to the Puja room at night . Lighted the lamp kept in front of Lord Krishan and prayed for her. To keep her safe , happy and healthy, to give us the courage to take right decisions in life and lastly to help us to be able to stay with each other. This time both my heart and brain echoed that there is something that is not right or something that I am not able to understand. That's when I heard my phone rang again. I rushed to pick it up thinking she might have called back to ask me to bring her back home...but to my astonishment ...it was ...
"ROHAN !! What happened."
"Nothing Bhaiya...just like that ...so how is everyone?? How is Bhabhi??"
"Hmmm..you know our state...but my heart says that is not why you called me...tell me what happened??"
"Bhaiyaa...for the past one week Preethi has been not her chirpy self...Today when I called Chachi said she has gone to stay with Bhabhi for three weeks. "
"So what is wrong in that . Wouldn't you come and stay with me , if I was staying away from home. Havnt I come and stayed with you for a month in US?? Its very natural."
"Then why did she hide from me. She had decided to go and stay with Bhabhi a week back. She could have told me. Chachi thought I knew it. Bhaiya something is not right. Did you speak to Bhabhi..??"
"Rohan , I spoke to her ...she said she is missing me. Probably , Preethi accompanied her to pep her up and there is some arts college fest going on here..so Preethi might have wanted to see it as well."
"Ok, then it makes sense..alright Bhaiyaa.."
"Don't worry , everything will be fine."
"Good Night Bhaiya."
"GOOD NIGHT!!"
Knowing that Preethi was with her made me happy , at least she was not alone . But why did she not tell me about it ?? And why was Preethi hiding it from Rohan. Both of these girls knew we won't be having a problem if they are staying together and if Preethi was going to be with her , why did she say that she is missing me..Lord !! Its so difficult to understand these girls.
I decided once shipping is done , I would go to my Naina. I wont wait till the weekend. Anyways , along with Pandit, I had already started working on our new business venture , into media business. I will have to find a house near to her college and set up an office there.
God !! keep her safe...take care of her please...and Preethi too!!
Fan Fictions
Anupamaa
