Written in the Stars

by Divya Anand

  Sometimes, I wondered whether he got entertained by raising my hopes and then dashing them all in one breath.

  ‘Ash already said he was on board as long as you approved it,’ I said, attempting to defuse this new roadblock.

  ‘Come on, Sitara,’ he said with that infuriating half-smirk that always made my hackles rise. ‘You’ve worked at Glam for long enough to know that Ash will still want to go over the final presentation before you start executing. Speaking of which, the execution details aren’t completely there yet.’

  I wondered where this was leading. I thought the execution section was great. I had spent time with various people on the team to ensure he wouldn’t be able to pick any flaws. My confusion must have shown because he began to explain.

  ‘Most of what you have is great. However, this is a project that will require strong marketing support. What you have right now isn’t enough. We need a much stronger plan before we pitch this to Ash,’ he said and walked to the door. He beckoned one of his team members over. I held my breath, hoping it was Upasana.

  I wasn’t so lucky.

  In walked Dhruv, looking mighty pleased with himself. As soon as he realized I was in the room, his eyes widened. We had been avoiding each other since our ‘friendly drink’ two days ago. I didn’t trust his motives after he’d tried to get me to tell him about my project, and I especially didn’t want to be near him after our awkward hand holding.

  ‘Dhruv, I need a detailed marketing plan for Sitara’s proposal. You should work with her,’ Abhimanyu said.

  I opened my mouth to protest. I did not want to work with Dhruv. For one, he would have way too many details of my project. For another, it would be awkward. As I was debating how I could steer Abhimanyu away from this train of thought, Dhruv replied.

  ‘Abhimanyu, I’m occupied with my new campaign. I don’t have the bandwidth to take on another large project.’

  I was grateful, but also surprised. Given the way he had probed me about my project, I assumed he would jump at the chance to get as much insider information as he could.Maybe he also didn’t want to talk about the other night.

  ‘Let’s discuss your bandwidth in our weekly meeting. I’m sure we can deprioritize a few things to give you time,’ Abhimanyu said. His voice held a warning note, designed to quell any questions. I knew how hard it was to get Abhimanyu to change his mind when he was in this zone. After all, I had been on the receiving end of it all this while.

  ‘This is a great proposal and it would benefit from a solid marketing plan. You should ensure it’s set up for success,’ he continued.

  ‘Sure, Abhimanyu,’ Dhruv said.

  He smiled to diffuse the tension. I opened my mouth again, to see if I could change Abhimanyu’s mind, but Dhruv had already left. I wondered what was going on with Dhruv.

  Was he mad at Abhimanyu for forcing him to work on my project? Or was he mad at me?

  ‘Oh my God! We’re going to see a blue moon tonight,’ Kavya teased as I entered Last Call with Upasana and Shirin in tow.

  ‘Very funny,’ I said.

  I sat down beside Kavya. I almost wished I hadn’t come. I really wanted to tell Kavya about the world’s worst awkward Uber ride, but it would have to wait. Upasana had sat uncomfortably in the middle as I had attempted to draw Shirin into a conversation. Shirin steadfastly ignored me. Even Upasana’s attempts to break the ice didn’t work. I hoped the trivia session would force Shirin to talk to me.

  ‘One of us should go up to the bar to get the beer. They seem really busy,’ Kavya said, gesturing to the bar area. It was packed, with people trying to push their way to the front. Every server in the room looked harried. I volunteered to get the drinks, so I’d get a few minutes away from Shirin’s icy stares.

  I walked to the bar, surreptitiously tugging at my black and white polka-dotted dress to make sure it hadn’t bunched up awkwardly while I was sitting. I got to the bar and noticed Abhimanyu standing there, trying to create a semblance of a line, while others swarmed around him.

  ‘Hi,’ I said.

  ‘Hi,’ he smiled. I thanked my lucky stars that the lights in the bar were dim so he couldn’t see that his smile had made me blush. The man had a killer smile. Even in a dim bar like this, it lit up the space he was in.

  ‘Ready for tonight?’ he asked.

  ‘I think so,’ I replied. ‘What about you?’

  He shrugged. ‘We’re as ready as we always are. Zaina has a bad cold so she decided to stay home. And of course, the others are running late as usual.’

  My heart sank a little when he mentioned Zaina. The way she stared daggers at me, I wondered if they were seeing each other. But if they were, why was he here?

  ‘Shouldn’t you be with Zaina if she’s unwell?’ I asked, shamelessly fishing for gossip.

  He peered at me with an odd look on his face. ‘Why would I? We’ve known each other since we were in school, but I don’t think that warrants 24/7 assistance while she’s unwell. Besides, her husband would find it odd,’ he laughed.

  ‘Oh,’ I racked my brains for a sensible response. ‘Cool.’

  The minute I said this, I felt like my brain had thrown up its hands in despair and its own stupidity. It now crawled away into a corner to sulk. I’m no longer a part of this if your runaway mouth won’t cooperate, I could hear it say.

  I ordered our standard pitcher of wheat beer.

  Abhimanyu feigned shock, ‘Aren’t you guys waiting for trivia to start before you start loading up on the alcohol? You’ll need to stay sober to win,’ he teased.

  I made a face. ‘Yeah, yeah, keep mocking me because you’ve beaten us a few times. Tonight’s our turn,’ I said, with more bravado than I felt.

  ‘I hear that until I arrived, you had a good track record of beating our team, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if that happened,’ he said.

  He paused for a beat before adding, ‘Except if you decide to needle George, that is.’

  I blushed. I hoped everyone had forgotten about the brawl, but it was going to haunt me for a few more weeks. Until someone else picked a fight with George anyway.

  ‘You were right, by the way,’ he said. ‘George should’ve given you the point.’

  I looked up, my eyes widening. He’d actually checked the answer and was admitting I was right? Before I could say anything, the bartender plonked our pitcher on to the bar.

  ‘Enjoy your beer,’ Abhimanyu said, flashing that killer smile yet again. ‘I’m getting herbal tea so our team can focus on beating the pants off your team.’

  ‘Really?’ I got very flustered. Shit, were they beating us because they weren’t drinking, while we were getting sloshed? I wondered if I could give away the beer and get my team a pot of herbal tea instead.

  He laughed out loud seeing the confusion on my face.

  I blushed beet red. After all that time spent at the Circle of Success workshops, I should’ve known not to take everything he said so seriously.

  ‘I’m also getting a pitcher. Of the Amber Ale,’ he said. ‘And peanut masala.’

  ‘I love peanut masala!’

  ‘I know, you took some home in your hair last time,’ he grinned. I covered my face with my hands. It was time to head back to our table. I picked up my pitcher and turned to go.

  ‘All the best,’ I said.

  ‘I look forward to beating you,’ he replied.

  Before I could frame a comeback, George’s voice filled the room. ‘Good evening, quizzers! Looks like all our teams are on time today.’ He threw a pointed look at The Sherlock Homies as my team hooted and they looked embarrassed.

  I hurried to our table. Tonight, George had decided to go back to the old format because many teams had shown up. I began handing pencils around. Shirin made a big show of pulling out a pencil from her own bag and pretending like she couldn’t see the one I was holding out. Kavya and Krish raised their eyebrows, but Upasana shook her head, indicating there was no point trying to talk about this.

 
‘I’m also hoping that today’s trivia is less, erm, entertaining than the last time when we had Whiskeypedia here,’ George added, looking directly at me. This time, The Sherlock Homies hooted.

  ‘That guy has a smile to die for,’ said Krish, breaking into my thoughts.

  ‘Yeah, Oscar definitely wasn’t the right nickname for him,’ Kavya said.

  So I wasn’t the only one admiring Abhimanyu’s smile. I could feel my cheeks getting hot so I started to look down at my pencil, willing George to begin.

  ‘First question of the evening: Connect: Malinga Bandara, Jeetan Patel and Shane Bond,’ he boomed. My heart sank as I peered at the projector and realized this was a question on international cricket.

  Great. We were going to lose yet again. To my surprise, Krish snatched the answer sheet and began writing out, ‘The only Super Subs who won Man of the Match awards.’ It actually read like a legit answer, so I looked at him in surprise.

  ‘I used to have a crush on Shane Bond,’ he grinned.

  ‘Finally! I thought your obsession with cricketers will never be useful,’ Shirin quipped. I laughed along with everyone else and tried to catch her eye, but she continued to freeze me out. I sighed. It was going to be a long night. I only hoped it would end better than it began.

  The first question turned out to be a harbinger of good luck for us. We were unstoppable that day. The evening ended with us beating Sherlock Homies. I updated my mental tally of our scores to thirty-one–twenty-seven. If this streak continued, we could get ahead of them soon!

  ‘Good game, guys,’ said Abhimanyu, walking up to our table.

  ‘That answer on Chandler’s dad was brilliant,’ he said to Kavya.

  She grinned. She was immensely proud of being exceptional with Friends trivia. In fact, she spent a lot of time playing Friends Trivia on the Quiz Up app, ‘to keep myself sharp’. The two of them began chatting. I tuned out as I tried to catch Shirin’s eye. She was steadfastly staring at her phone, seeming absorbed with finding an Uber. She stood up abruptly and went outside without looking at any of us. I wanted to call Shirin, but Kavya tapped me on my shoulder.

  ‘We live down the road, in Paradise Apartments,’ she was saying to Abhimanyu.

  Down the road from where, I wondered. I had missed quite a bit of this conversation so I wasn’t sure why Kavya was telling Abhimanyu where we lived.

  ‘Oh really? How are you getting home?’ Abhimanyu asked.

  ‘Uber,’ said Kavya. ‘Have you tried parking at this place? It’s insane!’

  ‘Actually, I have,’ he smiled. ‘They have a valet. Would you guys like a ride? You’re on my way,’ he said.

  I did not want to go on a car ride with Abhimanyu. I wanted to sit in an Uber and tell Kavya all about what was going on with Shirin. Just as I was about to jump into the conversation and refuse, I heard a crack of thunder. My heart sank. I knew that Kavya would accept the ride, and there was no way I could refuse. If there was even the mildest inkling of rain, every cab driver in Bangalore went into hiding. This would actually be our easiest way to get home.

  ‘Oh, that would be great. Thank you,’ Kavya said.

  We walked out of the pub and waited by the valet station. A big, fat raindrop fell on my nose, assuring me that accepting the ride was the best decision.

  ‘Wait, is this your car?’ I said incredulously as Abhimanyu stepped out in front of the car the valet had brought out front.

  ‘What’s wrong with it?’ Abhimanyu asked, eyeing his functional sedan. I had always assumed he would be the kind of person who drove a flashy car.

  ‘Nothing,’ I replied. ‘I just assumed you’d have a fancier car.’

  ‘Oh you mean something more suited to leadership,’ he drawled in the perfect imitation of Ash, as he made air quotes for the word ‘leadership’. Kavya giggled, while I struggled to keep a straight face.

  ‘Ah, so Ms Kandasamy is well aware of the goings-on at Glam,’ he said, continuing his Ash impression. Kavya quickly let herself into the back seat, ensuring I was forced to sit in the front with Abhimanyu. I sat down, and placed my bag in front of my feet.

  When we agreed to ride with Abhimanyu, I was convinced this ride would rival the one with Shirin and Upasana in awkwardness. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. Abhimanyu didn’t try to force conversation for the sake of it and instead focused on playing music. It was helpful that his taste in music seemed to mimic ours. My only complaint was that he was playing the Hindi version of A.R. Rahman’s hits, which in my world was tantamount to blasphemy. I spotted Kavya cracking up through the rear-view mirror when the first song, ‘Dil hai chhota sa’, began. But then, she began singing along and I joined her. I leaned back into the seat and closed my eyes, feeling like Kavya and I were at home by ourselves.

  ‘Time for some music trivia,’ Abhimanyu said. ‘Roobaroo’ from Rang de Basanti was playing.

  ‘What?’ I asked. I couldn’t recall anything specific about this song, and I was a true-blue Rahman fan. There was no way he knew some trivia about the Mozart of Madras that I didn’t know.

  ‘When Rahman first saw the lyrics of this song, he couldn’t come up with a good hook. At the time, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra cleared his throat. That’s how the ‘unh unh u’ tune came about,’ he replied.

  Kavya and I burst out laughing.

  ‘You made that up! I’m not falling for your jokes twice in the same evening,’ I insisted.

  ‘Of course not,’ he said in a mock-injured tone. ‘Go on, Google it if you don’t believe me.’

  ‘Just because the Internet says so, doesn’t mean it’s true,’ I said. ‘What if someone just made it up and put it on Wikipedia?’

  ‘So if you don’t believe an actual fact, the defence is to blame the Internet?’ he said. ‘But if you disagree with George, then the Internet is your best friend?’

  ‘There’s no way I wouldn’t know this about Rahman. I’m a Rahmaniac,’ I said.

  He threw his head back and burst into laughter. ‘A what?’

  ‘You haven’t even heard of the term Rahmaniac, and you call yourself a fan,’ I challenged.

  He kept laughing.

  ‘To be fair, it is an actual term for super fans of Rahman,’ Kavya jumped in from the backseat. ‘Maybe you should concede on this one.’ I was so wrapped up in our mini argument that I’d almost forgotten she was there. Now I turned around and reached out to give her a high five.

  ‘After my gentlemanly move of offering you a ride, I was hoping you would be on my side,’ Abhimanyu quipped, as he looked at Kavya in the rear-view mirror. She smiled widely, but refused to change sides.

  ‘Fine,’ he conceded. ‘You win.’

  I grinned and did a mock victory dance with my upper body, in sync to the tunes of Humma Humma.

  ‘This time,’ he added.

  Ah. So his habit of using pauses to deliver a strong rebuttal wasn’t just restricted to office debates.

  Kavya and Abhimanyu began sharing a new list of Rahman trivia facts. But I wasn’t listening any more. He was smiling that 1000-watt smile of his, the one that had everyone from the entire admin posse at work to Krish completely smitten by him. It was almost magnetic. Suddenly, I felt a little fizzy pop in the pit of my stomach. I was also starting to feel a tad light-headed. I wondered if I’d had too much to drink.

  As we approached our apartment, I mentally admitted that Kavya had been right earlier that evening.

  Abhimanyu was most definitely not an Oscar.

  Actually, he was more like . . . an Elmo. A sweet, lovable, doe-eyed muppet.

  Not that I would ever admit that to Kavya.

  13

  New Moons Open the Door to New Opportunities

  ‘A senior colleague will recognize the spark in an idea you’ve been mulling over. Strike now while the iron is hot,’ I read Abhimanyu’s horoscope out loud as I dunked the crisp dosa into the tomato chutney.

  It was one of those mornings when Kavya had decided to go all out with breakfast.
Normally, we just grabbed some fruit or made eggs. But once in a while, Kavya decided we needed nutrition and vowed to go on a health kick. This typically involved signing up for a new gym membership and cooking elaborate meals. It usually went on for a few weeks until something big came up at work, at which point she rejoined the rest of us mere mortals in the world of Swiggy-fuelled meals and procrastinating on our gym attendance. Today, we were having piping hot dosas, with drumstick sambhar, home-made gunpowder and tomato chutney. She’d also whipped up some vile-looking green smoothie that she insisted was ‘healthy’ but I refused to taste it.

  ‘Why are you still nosing around his horoscope,’ Kavya said. ‘He’s such a nice guy, and you’re obsessed with this random idea!’

  I took another bite of my dosa and stared at her. ‘What do you mean random? You know things finally started looking up only when I pitched to him based on the horoscope!’

  ‘That was a coincidence,’ she insisted. ‘You were so well prepared he would’ve changed his mind anyway.’

  She blew on her chai and took a sip.

  ‘No, I’m certain he was open to the idea only because his horoscope had already primed him,’ I insisted. ‘And that means that today is the day Ash needs to bring it up with Abhimanyu. So, I have to talk to Ash and plant the idea in his head. Thankfully, he was already sounding interested the other day . . . ’

  ‘Didn’t Abhimanyu get really upset with you the last time you dragged Ash into a conversation? Wouldn’t he be pissed off if you went behind his back?’

  ‘ . . . I know, I’ll catch Ash during his smoke break and casually talk about this,’ I said, not really listening to Kavya. She didn’t believe in any of this astrology stuff, but now that I had seen how well it worked as far as Abhimanyu was concerned, I definitely believed in it. And I was going to pursue this till I got promoted.

  What other option did I have?

  ‘Hello, Ms Srinivasan,’ Ash smiled as I scrambled into the lift.

  If only he knew how much trouble I had taken to engineer this seeming coincidence. I had been sitting on a bean bag by the side of his office all morning so I could see when he left for his mid-morning smoke break. Our bean bags were more for show than they were functional, and the semi-deflated bag had given me a terrible backache. I told myself it would all be worth it. I felt a pang of nostalgia for the days when Shirin’s vantage point near Ash’s office would’ve helped me track Ash sans breaking my back. But those days were long gone.