L O V E T R I A N G L E
PRASHANT SETA
L O V E T R I A N G L E
Rohit had moved to Goa from Vadodara, Gujarat to pursue a career with the pharmaceutical giant, Kashmira Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd (KPPL), Goa. KPPL was a good name in the business of formulation and development of drugs in South India. Kashmira Group had many enterprises across the country and Rohit held the post of Finance Manager in Goa.
Two years back, when Rohit had come to Goa to interview for the post, he had met Poonam. She was the interview co-ordinator at KPPL, Goa who had arranged his interview with the CFO. Poonam belonged to Goa and had been working with KPPL as an HR Executive since quite some time. For Rohit, it was love at first sight. He had developed a minor crush on her, the very first time he saw her.
He befriended her during the joining formalities and they exchanged numbers before he left for Vadodara to move to Goa permanently. Eventually, when Rohit joined the office, his minor crush turned into a major one.
As Rohit moved to Goa, Poonam helped him settle down. They found a home for him on rent and he bought a bike for commuting. Meanwhile, their friendship blossomed and soon they were a pair. Within a month of his joining, Poonam and Rohit were deeply in love.
Poonam used to travel in a staff bus from her home in Goa to KPPL. Rohit preferred his bike over the staff bus, as the KPPL unit was around fifteen kilometres from his flat in Goa. Within few days of his joining, Rohit offered to pick up Poonam on his way to the office and drop her back in the evening. After pretending to be reluctant for a while, Poonam happily accepted the offer.
Often, they would go for coffee or dinner after office. In no time, everyone in the office knew about their relationship – Poonam, the simple charismatic girl and Rohit, the enigmatic, good looking charmer.
Rohit always knew he shared good chemistry with Poonam and it was natural they both got together so soon. Both had been single until they had met each other. It seemed as if Rohit had been destined to move to Goa from Vadodara to be with Poonam.
Months passed and their relationship deepened with time, and within six months, they were inseparable.
Life was moving smoothly for both of them, until the entry of Kashmira Behl – the young, beautiful and glamorous daughter of KPPL’s owner, Mr. Jay Kishan Behl. Kashmira had recently finished her education in UK and returned to India to help her father take KPPL to newer heights.
Kashmira was really close to her father. He considered her to be the reason for his good fortune. Twenty five years back, Mr. Jay Kishan had been struggling to set up a single successful pharmaceutical unit. However, with her birth, he gained immense success in his ventures and his business grew rapidly. Kashmira was an angel for him.
Having returned from UK with a degree in business management, Kashmira had big plans for the company. As part of the expansion process, she decided to visit all the units of KPPL across India to oversee the set up and functioning of each unit of the company. She planned to start the process by visiting the unit in Vadodara, Gujarat first. She chose a team of four people to accompany her to Vadodara for the next few months. Rohit and Poonam were a part of that team.
In order to ensure the efficient working of the unit at Vadodara, Kashmira decided to interview every employee regarding their concerns, company functioning and job satisfaction at KPPL, Vadodara. Rohit, being the forthright person he was, bit more than he could chew. He brought out several issues with respect to the company’s functioning including better compliance with environment protection laws, worker safety issues, proper treatment of sludge generated by the production of trial drugs and extra compensation for employees involved in the risky process of formulation and development of drugs.
Some of the concerns raised by him were outside his area of operation in the company. However, thanks to his acumen and keen interest in the well-being of the company, he had thoroughly researched many of the processes of the company and had come across loopholes that were being ignored by everyone. He openly told Kashmira about the continuous violation of environmental laws at the Vadodara unit. Most of these had been overlooked by Mr. Jay Kishan as well.
Everyone knew that the senior management would not appreciate his courage. Rohit knew he could be fired anytime for his honesty. However, to his utmost delight, Kashmira was quite impressed by his acumen, honesty and concern for the company and its employees.
Based on his input, she decided to extend her stay in Vadodara by two months in order to bring the functioning of the unit up to mark. The VIP room of the KPPL guest house was booked for Kashmira, and the other rooms in the guest house were booked for the remaining members of the team that accompanied her. Rohit decided to stay at home with his parents in Vadodara.
Kashmira requested Rohit to take her around Vadodara city as it was his hometown. Even though he was a mere employee, Kashmira’s attraction towards him was growing. She insisted that he spent most of the office hours with her. After office, she would ask him to accompany her for a cup of coffee or a meal. She insisted that Rohit travel with her in her car and dropped him home after dinner on most days.
Her liking for Rohit was growing day by day. She got goose bumps every time she thought of him. Kashmira was in love. Inwardly, she wished to marry Rohit if everything fell in place.
On the other hand, Rohit’s and Poonam’s relationship was suffering. While Poonam travelled by the staff bus, Rohit was comfortable in Kashmira’s car and company. He had no time to take Poonam’s calls but was always free to have meals with Kashmira. Poonam missed Rohit’s company – the movies, the dinners, the bike rides. She knew Kashmira was the thorn in their relationship. She missed her days in Goa with Rohit. Poonam wasn’t getting any attention from Rohit. Her smiles and joy were setting down.
Every time Poonam called him, Rohit was busy with Kashmira’s work. Little by little, he was moving away from her. Rohit called her as and when he found time, but there were no positive vibes in their talks. Their conversations never lasted more than five minutes. Poonam wanted to go back to Goa as soon as possible. The stay in Vadodara was slowly poisoning their relationship. She knew Rohit would leave her. She was nothing as compared to the beautiful and powerful Kashmira who demanded every minute of Rohit’s time.
However, Rohit had no plans of leaving Poonam. For him, money and power held no meaning in front of his love for Poonam. He was biding time in Vadodara. He knew he would fix everything once they were back in Goa, their relationship would be normal. He didn’t know Poonam was taking everything seriously. Poonam had slipped into depression due to the pain of separation from Rohit.
While he waited for the two months to be over, little did he realise that Poonam had made up her mind; she was too heartbroken to continue the relationship.
Finally, the two months in Vadodara came to an end. The team was scheduled to return to Goa one day prior to Kashmira’s 26th birthday. Mr. Jay Kishan had organised a huge celebration for Kashmira’s birthday and all the members of the Vadodara team were invited.
The team boarded the flight back to Goa amidst lots of excitement. Rohit had booked their seats in advance and according to his plan, he shared a seat with both Kashmira and Poonam. As Poonam sat next to the window, Kashmira decided to take up the middle seat, leaving the aisle seat for Rohit. She happily sat between the two of them, peacefully sleeping on Rohit’s shoulder. Poonam was tired but sleep eluded her, her eyes only had tears.
In the middle of the journey, Kashmira woke up to go the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way to the middle seat. And with Rohit readily offering to shift seats, the seating arrangement changed and Rohit moving to the middle. With twenty minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep starved Kashmira took another power nap, this time holding Rohit’s right hand firmly. Rohit’s other hand nervously moved to touch Poonam’s hand. Poonam pulled her hand away as her heart skipped a beat. But a defiant Rohit held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing dynamics between the three were perhaps a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.
As the flight landed at the Dabolim Airport at 10:00 pm, Rohit felt uncanny... his excitement was replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher. Poonam had sent him a message he couldn’t understand. She had decided to end their relationship. She informed him that Mr. Jay Kishan was going to announce his engagement with Kashmira at the birthday bash.
Kashmira’s birthday bash was going to start at 12:00 am at The Leela Hotel, Goa. Rohit had no clue that Kashmira had spoken to her millionaire father about him. He didn’t know Kashmira wanted to marry him. He did not know what to do.
Rohit understood that Poonam had left all hopes of being with him. She did not trust him anymore. According to her, he was going to make it big. How could he leave the chairman’s daughter for a simple girl like Poonam?
But Rohit’s heart was set on Poonam. He knew he wouldn’t leave her for anything. Money had never been a priority for him but he had failed to convince Poonam about that fact. He tried telling her many times that he was only doing his job and had no interest in Kashmira or her money. But seeing Kashmira’s closeness to Rohit, Poonam had stopped trusting him.
At 12:00 am, Rohit entered the lavish venue with Kashmira. He wanted to tell her everything but the happiness on her face stopped him. The room was beautifully decorated with a 25 kg cake waiting to be cut by the birthday girl. Kashmira was like a little girl in her dream world. Mr. Jay Kishan was content to see his daughter happy after years. When Kashmira was twelve years old, her mother had passed away. She missed her a lot much and remained silent for many years. It was the first time since her mother’s demise that Kashmira looked so happy and excited. Rohit had brought back the spark in her life.
As Kashmira and Rohit walked into the room, many people stepped forward to wish Kashmira. Poonam stood in a corner with a bouquet in her hand and tears in her eyes. She had dark circles around her beautiful eyes that had once dreamt of a future with Rohit.
Rohit looked at Poonam and cursed himself for ruining their lives. He could have prevented the situation had he acted on time. He wanted to say something to Kashmira but words failed him. Suddenly, Kashmira started walking towards Poonam and stopped in front of her. Poonam felt uncomfortable. Kashmira held her hand and dragged her to where Rohit was standing. She took Rohit’s hand and placed it over Poonam’s hand. She hugged both of them and announced that her best friend in the company had found someone special.
She asked Rohit to go down on his knees and propose to Poonam. As usual, Rohit followed his boss’s order. Poonam stood rooted to the ground. Her eyes were filled with tears. Rohit was back in her life. Kashmira had left him for her.
Kashmira told them that love is about sacrifice. She informed them that lately she knew about their relationship. She had read the break up message in Rohit’s phone and this was all a part of her plan to bring them back together. She hugged them again and happily went across to cut the cake.
She put the first piece in Mr. Jay Kishan’s mouth and the second in Rohit’s. She disappeared after cutting the cake while everybody else including Rohit and Poonam enjoyed the royal party. Nobody had seen her tears on the cake, except Mr. Jay Kishan.
T H E E N D
