Esha smiled and said, “I am sure you will be able to do it.”
When they got into the car, he looked at Esha with an enquiring smile on his face.
She frowned at him, wondering why he was looking at her like that.
“Why didn’t you say a yes to him when he asked you to come and work with him?” he asked.
Esha shrugged her shoulders and gave a smile, “I don’t think I needed to say yes and I’ve already said I am happy working with you.”
“Thank you,” he said with a big smile.
As they stepped out of the car at the client’s office they were supposed to meet, he turned to her and said, “I want you to give the presentation to the client.”
Esha stopped in her tracks and looked at him. “No, please...I can't,” she said.
Siddharth took a step towards her and asked, “Why can’t you?”
Esha bit her lower lip and mumbled, “I get scared in front of people. I once had to speak to a big group in college and I started stuttering and couldn’t get the words out. Everybody laughed at me.”
Siddharth walked right up to her and looked her straight in the eyes. “You can feel fearful when you are alone, but when you have someone with you to give you strength, you won’t feel scared anymore. I want you to overcome your fear. I will be sitting right there, in front of you. Just look into my eyes when you are afraid and everything will be alright. Trust me,” he said.
Esha looked at his assuring eyes and slowly nodded her head. “I hope I will do fine,” she prayed silently.
Once the formal greetings were over and they were settled in the client’s large office, she opened her file and stood up to begin her first presentation. She looked around the room and found everyone looking at her. A lump formed in her throat and she immediately looked at Siddharth who was sitting in front of her.
He gently blinked his eyes, sending her a silent message. “Everything is alright. You can do this.”
She smiled and gave the presentation without any stammering or loss of words. Even though it was not perfect, she felt good about it. His eyes had indeed given her the strength to overcome her fears.
Afterwards, she said to Siddharth, “Thank you so much. I’ve never felt so happy. When I was in school, I was always good at giving speeches, but somehow talking in front of people scared me later, and when I was in college, I could never overcome that fear.”
Siddharth smiled and said, “The fear of being the best at presenting probably made you shy and awkward, nothing more. The sooner you build up your confidence, the less chance these fears will bother you. Don’t let fear weaken you.”
Esha took his words to her heart and thought about what he had said. Maybe it was true. If she would have strongly faced her uncle’s behaviour, then her mother wouldn’t have accused her of not being a good girl. Yes, she thought, ‘I shouldn’t let fear get the better of me.’
Siddharth had indeed said the right thing and looking at him during the presentation had helped her get past her fear. She’d never imagined that her boss would be the person who would help her face some of her difficulties in life.
***
Soon Esha began accompanying Siddharth everywhere, to all meetings, and often to his house as well. His parents would often ask her about how the business was progressing and they would ask her to take care of Siddharth.
One day, there was a celebration at his house and he had invited Esha to attend. Esha was sceptical about going, but being her boss, he was expecting her to be there.
When she reached his house, she was welcomed by Siddharth and he introduced her to all the other family members. A while later, Siddharth excused himself saying, he had something to see to and asked her to make herself comfortable.
She had been sitting in one of the formal rooms and was just deciding to leave, when a waiter came to her and said, “Ma’am...Sir is asking you come to his room.”
Esha followed him and he took her to a room and told her to go on in. “Ma’am, Sir is waiting inside.”
She opened the door and went inside expecting to see Siddharth. Instead of Siddharth, she saw that the only person in the room was the man who she had met at the expo, Aditya.
“Hi, Esha,” he said. “How are you?”
Esha felt her stomach turnover. He looked different. He had a leering smile on his face as he walked towards her. “I thought you might like to join me here,” he said to her as he stopped right in front of her.
Esha did not smile back, instead took a big step backwards.
He moved forward and placed his hand on her back and closed in on her.
“Hey, why are you so nervous?” he said.
Esha pulled away from him and raised her hand and slapped him hard across his face. He grabbed her and held her tight in his arms.
She was pushing and shoving against him and trying to escape when Siddharth came in.
Seeing Siddharth, Aditya immediately released her. “She called me here and has been all over me,” he said anxiously.
Siddharth moved towards Esha and looked at her for a second and then stepped closer to Aditya. Aditya showed him his left cheek. “See, the bitch slapped me too,” he said nervously.
Siddharth growled and roughly pushed his friend towards the door. “She is not a bitch, but she did the right thing. Get out of here before I beat you up.”
Esha felt so relieved at the trust Siddharth had in her. He was asking her if she was ok when his mother entered the room. “Are you ok, Esha?” she asked. “We didn’t know he was such a monster. Come here Esha.”
His mother gave her a big warm hug. Esha then said she would like to go home. Siddharth’s mother asked him to take Esha home, safely.
Dropping her close to her house, he said, “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
Esha didn’t respond but looked at him shyly. “I didn’t know you could hit anyone,” he said proudly. “I think Mumbai has made you a stronger person and I am happy that you stood up for yourself.”
He wished her a good night and got back into his car. She remained standing outside the house and watched him as he drove away. ‘He is the reason I feel so much stronger,’ she thought. When she had faced a similar situation, her mom hadn’t trusted her. Yet Siddharth, who wasn’t even a relative had stood up for her and had thrown Aditya out of his house for disrespecting her. She felt happy that Siddharth believed in her goodness.
***
Later that night when Lucky got home, she told her what had happened.
Lucky put her arm around her and said, “You did a good thing. I am happy that your boss stood by you because sometimes even your own loved one’s don’t stand behind you.”.
Esha looked at her confused and wondered if she was talking about her mother. But then Lucky surprised her by saying, “You remember Aakash? We broke up for just the same reason. His best friend had been trying to hit on me from a long time. I complained to Aakash but he never took it seriously and then one day he blamed me. He said that it was my fault because of the way I dress and that his friend was not to be blamed. I couldn’t stand to hear him say that it was my fault, so I left him. When I look back now, I feel happy about leaving him rather than getting stuck with a person with that kind of a mentality. These kinds of men think that if a girl wears shorts, she can be tagged as easy by them but it isn’t like that. We have to take a stand and show them that they are wrong to think this way.”
When she went to bed a bit later, she was lying in her bed thinking about her mom, her uncle, Aditya and Aakash, when her phone rang. It was Siddharth.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m ok, just about to go to sleep.”
“That’s good. I just wanted to make sure. Take care. Good night,” he said and disconnected the call.
The incident had disturbed her but the call from Siddharth and his trust in her made her feel good so she slept well.
***
A few days later, a small sofa and so
me office furniture arrived. Things were getting better. Siddharth was busy everyday sketching designs, while Esha kept busy expanding the client list.
They had won a contract with a client who wanted designer garments and the deal was worth 10 Lakhs. Esha and Siddharth worked long hours every day to fulfil the terms of the contract. Some evenings, Siddharth would still remain in the office and continue working when Esha left for the day.
One day as Esha was getting ready to leave the office, she said to him, “I think you need to get some rest. Since last week you’ve been staying late every night in the office. You should go home early today. Your parents are becoming very worried about you.”
Siddharth nodded his head. “I will, but…” he said and she could see that he was thinking about something else.
“Esha, how well do you know the fashion trends? Can you take a look at these designs that I am doing and tell me if you think anything needs to be changed?” he said and he handed her a book of his designs. She went through each one of them. The colours, the patterns and tiny details that were illustrated in the drawings made her want to wear all of them.
“They are all good, but I am not sure how they will actually look on people.”
“Would you try them on for me when they are ready?” he asked.
“Who...me?” she exclaimed. “No ways. You need to have a professional model to do that.”
“Ah, come on. You are just like a model. If you spent a little more time on yourself, you would look stunning in anything,” he said to her kindly.
She wondered what he meant. Did he think she was good looking, but she didn’t take care of herself? And who was he to judge her like that? She put the file down on the table and looked at him. “No, thanks...ask someone else,” she said and then packed up her things and left the office.
On the way home, she started thinking about what he had said about her. She felt a bit embarrassed by his remark. Then she began to think about how they could show off the designs so that they weren’t just drawings. Hiring a model and making her wear all of them would be costly.
The next day, while she was sitting at her desk tapping her fingers on the keyboard, she was still thinking about what to do. She began browsing the Internet and found a website, which provided photoshop services at very low prices. She smiled as an idea started to develop in her mind. She started scanning the designs and uploaded them on to their website. Once all the designs were uploaded, she was given a price for photo editing all of them. She then sent them an email with her contact details and gave them very clear instructions on how she wanted them to photoshop the designs and when she wanted the job done.
That night, when she had finished dinner and was resting on her bed, she received a call from Siddharth.
As soon as she picked it up, he said, “Esha, can you come and meet me at the office right away? It’s urgent.”
Before Esha could ask why, he disconnected the call. She thought it was kind of strange for him to call her at that hour. She wondered why he couldn’t wait to talk to her the next day when she came into the office. Maybe he had something urgent that needed to be done.
She decided to message him. “Is it very urgent?” she asked. Within a minute, he messaged back. “Yes, it is. Come to the office immediately.”
It took her almost an hour to reach the office, taking a rickshaw. She was scared of going to the office so late on her own, so she asked Lucky to accompany her.
When they got there, Lucky said she would wait outside and urged Esha to hurry inside.
She started to feel nervous and could feel her hands shaking. She approached the office slowly and went inside. Siddharth was inside. He was sitting very erect in his chair and was stabbing away on his computer keyboard. She sensed that he was in a very bad mood.
“Hi,” she said nervously. “What’s the matter?”
At first, he stared at her without saying a word. She clenched her hands into fists not knowing what was coming. She asked again in a trembling voice, “What’s wrong?”
He let out a heavy sigh and turned his computer screen towards her direction, and said, “This!”
Esha looked at the screen and froze when she saw what it was. The photoshop website which Esha had sent the designs to had posted all the designs all over the Internet with their name on all the designs.
Before she could explain herself, he yelled at her. “Why did you do this? Did you need money? I know your salary is low, but I didn’t expect this from you!”
She was taken aback by his angry tone and accusations. “Siddharth, I didn’t do this. I would never do such a thing to you,” she cried.
“Then what the hell is this?” he shouted at him angrily.
Her eyes filled with tears. She looked at him desperately. “I don’t know how this has happened. If you want I will give you my resignation right now, but I’m not a thief. You know I would never do anything like this.”
Siddharth snapped, “Oh, no I don’t. You think it’s easy for you to get away with this? Just hand in your resignation and then it’s done and you’re free?” He let out a breath and slouched on his chair. “I trusted you,” he said. “How did this happen? How could you not know anything about it?” He had such a distressed and pained look on his face, she couldn’t stand to see him like this.
“I really don’t know how this happened, Siddharth,” she said pleadingly. “I just sent these to that photoshop website so that we could get to see how the designs would look on real people. I didn’t know something like this would happen. I am not a cheat.” She couldn’t stop herself from crying. “I’m so sorry that this happened. Truly, I didn’t know they would do such a thing. I have always been honest with you, but if you think I have broken your trust, I shouldn’t continue working here anymore.”
She stood up and picked up her bag and started to move out. She felt something pull on her bag. She thought it might be Siddharth, but her bag had got caught on the leg of the chair.
She untangled it and was walking out of the door when he called out her name.
She turned towards him. “I have already messed up so much. I don’t think I can stay here another moment. I need to go. I’m not in any state at the moment to type out my resignation, but I will send it tomorrow,” she said and ran out into the street sobbing.
When she got close to the rickshaw, Lucky jumped out and took her into her arms and tried to comfort her. It took her a few minutes to calm down and to get any words out.
She told Lucky about the foolish mistake she had made and how Siddharth had yelled at her and accused her of cheating him. When she had finished telling Lucky the whole story, she asked the rickshaw driver to take them home. She turned to Lucky and said, “Nothing I say is going to make things right. I will be giving him my resignation tomorrow.”
The next day she sent him her letter of resignation. She was still feeling very upset about the whole incident. ‘Life is tough,’ she thought, but she was not ready to give up yet.
A day or two later, she remembered all the emails she had sent to their potential clients, but she pushed the thought aside thinking she had already sent her letter of resignation so it didn’t matter anymore. Nevertheless, she did feel sorry for him. She had wanted to help him, but instead had only created a lot of problems for him.
Chapter 4
It had been five months since she had arrived in Mumbai and she was still having difficulties finding the right kind of employment with a good salary. Mumbai had not been kind to her.
The pile of rejections from job applications was growing and she had very little money left. She was trying very hard to stay positive and not to let all her worries get her down. While pacing up and down her small bedroom, deep in thought, she slowly began to realize that all the difficulties she had experienced in Mumbai were in fact making her feel stronger and more determined.
She stopped walking, straightened her back, held her head up and looked at herself in the mirror on the wall. “I will m
ake my dreams come true. No amount of pain and stress can stop me from finding happiness and success,” she said in a firm voice to her reflection.
The next day she applied for a job with a greater confidence than she had felt before. Luck was in her favour and at the end of the interview, she was offered the job of a sales executive
When she got back home, Lucky was waiting for her. She handed Esha a mug of coffee and asked, “So, how was your day? Did you find a job?”
“I did, but I don’t know if I should take it or not?” replied Esha, taking a sip of her coffee.
“But why not?” Lucky asked, looking at her in surprise.
“It is also in the garment business,” said Esha. Lucky frowned at her. “So why is that a problem?” she asked.
Esha slouched back on the sofa “What if Sidd, I mean Siddharth feels that I have betrayed him?” she asked sadly.
Lucky smiled and gave a little laugh. Moving closer to her on the sofa, Lucky said, “Really, Esha, how can you even think that? You told him the truth. You made a mistake. That’s it. You are not a cheat. It won’t matter to him which job you take. He is gone from your life now. You have found work with another company. What does he have to do with you working for a company in the same line of business?” She paused and looked smilingly at Esha. “Unless or perhaps, you are in love with him and that’s what’s making you feel you are being disloyal.”
Esha picked up a small cushion and tossed it at Lucky. “Oh, shut up Lucky. I’m not in love with him and anyway, I can’t fall in love with anyone. You know my mother, she will tell me to come straight back home if she finds out I’m in love with someone,” she said tremulously as though she was in pain. Lucky saw how upset she was. “But your mother trusts you now,” Lucky said, trying to reassure Esha.
Esha took a sip before saying, “Yes, but I can still feel she tries to judge me with the good girl tag. Also, I think she feels that good girls shouldn’t fall in love until they are married. She’s always saying good girls don’t do this, or good girls don’t do that.”
“So because of the good girl tag, you won’t allow yourself to fall in love?” Lucky asked. Esha shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not only just the good girl tag. I can’t fall in love with just anyone. To be frank, at this point in my life, I don’t want to,” she said unhappily.
Rhythm Of Love Page 5