Ananya stepped into the elevator and could immediately smell the pan masala stink that was permeating the lift. Pan masala acted like a deodorant for the pot-bellied man who shared with her the small steel box. She tried not to gaze at him and made some movements with her nostrils to show her disapproval. The man merely looked at her with the corner of his eyes and ignored her looking blankly at the ceiling. Thankfully for her the door opened at her floor and she moved out hurriedly to her office. She was clearly not in the best of her moods today. She had a little hectic schedule in the office and had received a harried call from Lalita, her house maid, to excuse her for the day. Her husband had beaten her up last night in a drunken state and all the relatives had shown up this morning to iron out things. Though she had all the love and sympathies for Lalita but she could not help cursing her husband. The thought of returning to the house in the evening which was in complete disorder with utensils piled up in sink, dirty laundry and heap of clothes thrown on the bed, added to her gloom. On her way to her cubicle , a junior, waved a hi to her and asked her to join for some tea. She was always wary of the people who were so pleasant hence declined the offer politely and went straight to her seat. The white and Blue office bore a carefully created spartan appearance and cubicles and bays were aligned to maximise the space. She switched on the PC, took out the drawer key from her blue Hidesign handbag and pulled the drawer to throw her personal items in. She was about to keep her bag in her table drawer when she noticed a yellow stain on her dress. The oil from her new tiffin box had found its way through her pink and brown jute bag, meant to house her water bottle and lunchbox, on her stark white dress. The sight raised her irritability to unimaginable level. She rushed to bathroom to clean her dress. After sprinkling some talcum powder on the now crumpled dress she went back to her seat numb and bitter. The loud laughter from the cubicle of ‘that’ pleasant girl pierced the drums of her ears. She checked her out. Sandhya was looking fresh and beautiful in her smart black trousers and floral shirt. She exuded confidence and charm. Somehow all the mirth that surrounded her made her even more bitter. She checked the time. It was in another fifteen minutes that her boss would be arriving. She scrutinised her checklist and in right order of priority paid electricity bill of her’s then her parents, recharged her mobile and checked her bank account showing surplus balance mocking her lack of vacations. Her bucket list was ever increasing and there were hardly one or two things that she had struck off from it. The list consisted of varied things, from travelling to adventure sports to financial goals. She wondered whether the bucket list increased her stress or decreased it. She saw her boss arriving with a relaxed smile, Sandhya greeted him and made a small, light chat with him. He seemed to be nice to her. Ananya did not like the way she buttered her way in the Appraisals. Though these little things never bothered her, she herself was doing well but today she was smouldering with negativity. She saw herself in the selfie camera of the mobile. Her face had lost the sharp contours and was looking round. She could see the double chin. With that crumpled dress and fat face she felt cold and humid at the same time. She made a mental note to fire Lalita for using so much oil in the tasteless food. She started her work whilst simultaneously checking G Talk. She picked up her desk landline and dialled her Boss’s number, as usual after three rings he picked up the phone. He sounded gruff for reasons unknown to her. She was happy to note that like her many other people might be in a grumpy mood at the start of the morning and not everybody is rolling with joy. Ananya took a deep breath and with a measured voice started to give feedback of the work that was done. The occasional hmm… was sometimes replaced with ‘OK’ and towards the end her boss sounded relieved if not very happy. She took this as an opportunity to seek his time to meet him after lunch. Ananya was sincere in her work and never fooled around like others in the office. She checked her resume which was quite impressive as far as her experience was concerned. Some diversification was required to make a requisite jump in her career. She glanced towards Sandhya. She was bubbling with energy and happiness. Other than days like these even Ananya considered herself quite a happy go lucky girl but when she used to look at Sandhya, she found Sandhya’s energy levels annoying. Who likes ripples in the sea always? There should be interludes of calmness too.
The cabin of his boss was in a state of usual disarray. She wondered with hardly any files around or papers lying here and there how someone can make a cabin look so cluttered. Pens flying in all directions. Glass and coaster way apart. Mobile, earphone and charger abandoned on table like socks hanging out of the Chester box.
With great sincerity she started detailing her ability to push through the tasks allotted to her. There were quite a few things she was still working on and was pending since long. She, after taking a deep breath, carelessly mentioned lack of co-operation of colleagues. She was quick to notice that she mentioned this fact so vaguely that it did not prompt him to enquire further. She further continued and this time very surreptitiously mentioned Sandhya’s name. Boss continued his work on his Laptop. Before leaving she asked for change in work profile. This time he looked up and nodded “most certainly “. Ah, what a change in events of the day. She felt surge of happiness. She badly needed change in her work profile. She knew she can persuade her way through.
As she sipped her evening coffee with Sandhya and few of her friends, she saw through the glass windows that weather had become pleasant with promising clouds looming large in the skies and spreading their shadow on earth. The collective smiles of all of them added a rainbow to the pleasantness of weather.
It started raining rather heavily as the evening progressed. She was waiting for the cab to head back to her home with her Umbrella held firmly in her hands lest it would fly away. She saw Sandhya driving towards her in her bright red swift. She downed her window and asked her to hop in. Sandhya maneuvered her way through the crowded roads and dropped her to the nearest possible spot from where she could easily manage to reach her home. She had just got down and waved a bye to Sandhya when an auto rickshaw just drove by in full speed splashing all the muddy water on her face, dress, bag and everything. She just stood there aghast for a while.
“Karma “she thought…. “No just another little mishap” she muttered …. “Remorse” ..”May be may be NOT” .
