Surabhi gave herself a good look in the mirror of the office washroom. She combed her hair, patted her face with face powder puff, adjusted the wrist watch and shut the door behind her before rushing out of the washroom. She checked the time. It was already late. Surabhi stayed with her parents in the busiest and oldest area of Mumbai. She had a College friends get together at a suburban high-end restaurant. A long pending get together was happening in the evening today which was enough make her excited as one little girl. The moment she saw Ananya her face became sullen. Ananya worked hard and with great responsibility. The diligence that Ananya had in her was appreciable but the way she measured Surabhi with the same yardstick irritated her. Surabhi could feel the demeaning attitude of Ananya every now and then. Not every person lives on weekends. Some people live every day. Ananya did not seem to understand this. Her competitive attitude and her suspicious mind were a potent combination of negative energy. Surabhi sat on her chair and yawned. She had hardly slept last night. Her college friends were busy deciding the place for today’s get together. This kept her awake whole night. A thousand times the place was finalised, and cancelled another minute. She slept by three in the morning. Ananya eyed her with an annoying look. Surabhi wanted to ignore her but still gave her a “get a life look”. Ananya looked at her cluttered table and gave a sigh. Surabhi noticed this and again gave a “mind your business” look. Without wasting any further time Ananya asked for a reconciliation report from her which she was supposed to send. Surabhi had completely forgotten to send the same to her. She was busy on phone every few seconds. She sent the report to Ananya and flopped lazily on her chair.
Ananya gave one look to the report and felt agitated. It was complete but the formatting was shabby and could not be marked further. She again called Surabhi and asked her to correct it and send the same again. Surabhi was irritated. The minor corrections could have been done by her too. Surabhi rated Ananya’s look as 3 on 10. Ananya looked so tensed and so less charming. She checked her WhatsApp and found a good forward. She sent the same to Aditya on his personal WhatsApp. Off late she had noticed Aditya hovering around Ananya a lot while Ananya seemed to look very disinterested in him. Surabhi liked Aditya but he seemed to be unaware about her presence. Aditya’s growing interest in Ananya made her dislike Ananya even more. A reminder email in her inbox reminded her that she was supposed to send the report to Ananya. She reluctantly started correcting the report when she saw Ananya charging towards her with not so warm look while she was chatting on phone. She immediately tried to look sincere. Ananya stopped short of her bay and was seen worried. She was saying something about the maid hassles. Surabhi felt bored and apathetic. Apparently Ananya had nothing better to talk but to chat about maid woes. She felt sorry for Aditya who seemed interested in her.
“This is not the way it should be done” Ananya tried not to sound rude.
Surabhi checked the time on sly. She was running late.
“Why do you forget the instructions so easily” “You are clearly not interested in your work”
Ananya turned her back and was on call for few minutes. To maintain the privacy of the conversation Ananya moved towards the corridor. Surabhi without losing any time switched of the system, picked her bag and left the office. On her way out she saw Aditya smoking at the gate. She gave him a breezy smile and hailed a cab immediately.
The eatery was abuzz with laughter and chatter. The aroma of food mixed with the various perfumes wafted in the air. Surabhi went to the washroom first and checked herself. She came out after good 15 minutes and moved towards the reservation table. She was amused to find none over there. She messaged her arrival on the WhatsApp group. The replies were as inane as reaching in ten minutes, stuck in the office, urgent work etc. etc. Surabhi slumped on the leather sofa feeling a bit low. She saw missed calls of Ananya and decided to call her back.
“Why did you leave without dropping a word to me?”
Ananya’s voice was unusually calm in a clear effort to hide her anger.
“I had severe stomach ache and was feeling unwell “
“Things are hectic in office, my maid has not turned up since last ten days, even I don’t feel well most of the days Surabhi but I do have responsibilities to full fil at office” Ananya tried to sound reasonable.
Surabhi heard Aditya’s voice in the background. Was it really him or just her imagination? She felt agitated and replied coolly
“I am sorry, will not happen again, feeling sick and want to sleep, bye” Surabhi hung up the phone in utter dismay.
Half an hour had already passed and no one had turned up until then. Surabhi felt that all her college friends were irresponsible and good for nothing with no sincere intentions of meeting up with old pals. Anger was rising in her bosom. She gave this get together priority over everything and everyone else was so casual about it. Finally, as clock struck 9 pm they started showing up. All dressed up chic but not as carefully as her. As the evening progressed, she felt a bit relaxed and got into the mood.
The food had barely arrived on the table when she saw Ananya walking in with someone who was unknown to Surabhi. Surabhi felt uncomfortable and wanted to hide but as she saw her zooming past and she was not in the line of her sight she became again relaxed. Surabhi was curious to know who was the man she had walked in with. He looked little more than thirty with medium height and slightly heavily built. It made sense for Surabhi to leave immediately and she almost ran out from there. She felt disappointed. This is not what she had thought about this evening. It did no go as per her plans. Ananya was not the only reason she left the place but her friends who came casually dressed and gave not much importance to this get together had made her even more provoked.
“How are you? You did not call in sick today!” enquired Ananya
It was 9 am in the morning and as always happened Surabhi was caught spending her time leisurely. Surabhi evaded the question and walked towards the water cooler. She was curious to know about her romantic status but she could not stand her either. Ananya felt disgusted and walked towards her own cubicle. The WhatsApp group was abuzz with plans to party at Friday night. As usual Ananya seemed disinterested. Surabhi wanted to show her willingness to join the party but going by the current mood of Ananya she hesitated to reply. The initiative was taken by Aditya and Surabhi was only too eager to join the party. Moreover, she did not want to sound reluctant to him. But what infuriated her was Aditya persuading Ananya to join the fun. He did not even bother to notice whether Surabhi had replied or not. This made Surabhi even more sullen. Surabhi kept on wondering about the man Ananya accompanied yesterday? Finally, Ananya gave in and said yes for the party. This annoyed Surabhi for the rest of the day.
It was raining heavily on Friday. Surabhi felt at ease. She could not stand Ananya and tolerating her in a light gathering was much pain for her. Today’s plan hung in uncertainty and Surabhi prayed for more rains. Aditya taking interest in Ananya was a recent development which did not sit well with her. Probably it was best that the party should not happen at all today. Ananya seemed to be in a good mood today. She was, for a change, pleasant to her as well. After all her maid had returned. Surabhi felt so disgusted. Showing excitement over a maid? What kind of a person Ananya was? She had nothing else to talk about but maid. Towards 4 pm the sky became denser and darker. It rained heavily and finally the plan was cancelled. Surabhi felt elated. She passed one more hour in the office and got up to leave. They were allowed to leave early due to rains. As she hopped and jumped her way towards the station in an excited mood, she saw Aditya and Ananya sharing the same Umbrella and rushing towards the station. Surabhi felt a gush of heat rushing towards her cheeks while her hands quivered with cold. As she took the train for her home, she overheard a girl talking about her maid. Her head was about to blast. She plugged in her earphones and vowed not to pray for more rains anymore.
