“When love happens, it will not ask your permission and besides, love isn’t a bad thing. It’s wonderful if you fall for someone who respects and cares for you,” said Lucky. She stood up and taking the cup from Esha’s hand said, “You know what I think? We shouldn’t sit around here feeling despondent about everything. It’s Friday night. Why don’t we go out? Let’s go to a movie.”
Esha was feeling quite depressed and didn’t know how to say she wasn’t feeling up to going out. She didn’t want to waste any money either by going to a movie. “I don’t think I can ….” she started to say looking quite miserable.
“Don’t worry about anything,” Lucky interrupted her. “The movie tickets are on me. My treat! Come on. Let’s get ready to go.”
Various people she knew, her schoolmates and her mother had always instructed her to stay away from Lucky, saying she wasn’t a good girl and that she was always hanging around with boys and coming home late. Her mother had also made several other bad remarks about her. But all Esha could think about at that moment was that this ‘bad girl’ was helping her more than anyone else had ever done before. She had always been there for her in every way during her stressful time in Mumbai. It seemed that people were quick to judge someone, without knowing about the real person inside. And this had been done to Lucky. She might have appeared as ‘a bad girl’ to the outside world, but she had a heart of gold.
“Well, aren’t you going to get ready?” asked Lucky impatiently interrupting Esha’s thoughts. “We need to get going if we want to get there on time.”
Esha quickly got up and went to get ready. She knew that going to watch a movie was a good idea to take her mind off her dilemma about accepting the job offer at the garment company.
While sitting in the rickshaw on the way to the movie, Esha gently took Lucky’s hands in hers. Lucky looked at her curiously. Esha looked into her eyes and with a warm smile said, “Thank you for being such a good friend to me.”
Two friends, who had been brought up with an entirely different attitude towards life had bonded together in an unfamiliar environment.
They were just about to join the queue to buy the tickets to the Hindi movie, Tamasha, when someone called Esha’s name from behind.
Esha turned around and saw someone waving his hands at her from behind a crowd of people. She tried to make out who had called her name. She looked harder at the tall figure and fear began to creep into her stomach. The crowd was so dense that she couldn’t be sure who was waving at her. Her heart started racing. The crowd was thinning out. “Oh no!” she cried to herself. “It can’t be him.”
Walking towards her, she could see Siddharth smiling at her. Her stomach turned over, but she couldn’t look away from him. “Has he found out that I am going to work for one of his rivals?” she wondered anxiously.
She gave him a half smile, not knowing why he had even called out to her. “In any case,” she chided herself, ‘why should I be worried, I never did anything wrong.’ As he came closer to her and Lucky, he gave them a big smile. “Hi Esha,” he said, and turning to Lucky extending his hand. “Hi, I’m Siddharth,” he said.
When Lucky introduced herself to him, he laughed, and said, “Lucky! Such a positive name. You girls are here for the movie? Can I get the tickets for you?”
“No, thanks. That’s not necessary,” replied Esha. Lucky gave him a big smile and said, “Sure. It will be fun.”
He returned Lucky’s smile and went off to buy the tickets.
Esha raised her brows at Lucky questioningly. “What’s wrong with that?” Lucky asked.
Esha felt so angry and embarrassed, she couldn’t get any words out. Lucky leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, “He’s really hot!”
Esha ignored her, and kept her thoughts to herself. What would she talk to him about? And how should she react?
Things had ended on a very bad note between them and that couldn’t be changed by acting as though nothing had happened. She still felt quite shaken up whenever she thought about the incident and now he had shown up again in her life.
When Siddharth came back with their tickets, they made their way into the movie theatre. Esha sat down next to Lucky and Siddharth sat next to Lucky. Esha gave a sigh of relief and sat back to concentrate on the movie. But this became difficult after a while as Lucky and Siddharth kept on talking quietly together.
The movie ended before Esha could even work out what the movie was about. She had been so distracted by both of them whispering together.
As they departed the movie theatre, Esha could see that Lucky and Siddharth had become very friendly. They said their goodbyes and as they turned to find a rickshaw to go home, Lucky said, “He’s such a nice fellow.”
Esha shrugged her shoulders, “How can you say he’s a nice fellow? He accused me of betraying his trust! Did you forget that?”
Lucky put her arm around Esha, and said, “But he is sorry about that. Can’t you see he’s trying to make up for his mistake?”
Esha remained quiet and didn’t reply. She was still not ready to let go of his harsh words.
***
Bumping into Siddharth at the movie theatre brought some changes to Esha’s day-to-day life. But these seemed to be more with Lucky and Siddharth and less with him and Esha. Siddharth would drop by their place and they would go to the movies or out to eat at restaurants and sometimes to a party. At first, Esha used to protest, but Lucky wouldn’t listen to her arguments and would say to her stubbornly, “You know, if you don’t go, I won’t go either.”
At times, Siddharth would try to talk with Esha in a friendly manner, but these conversations were very one-sided. She was unable to let go of his accusations and he didn’t bring up the matter. She presumed he thought she was being deliberately unfriendly. She never shared the news that she had got a job of a sales executive in a garment business. She tried to ignore the topic of her job as much as possible.
A couple of weeks later, Esha was at work preparing a presentation for a client about the company, giving details of their market share and how many new clients they had acquired that year.
Esha and her colleagues were waiting in the conference room when the manager walked in and said, “We are just waiting for the owner of Yashodha Garments to arrive before we begin.”
Esha felt her hands being to shake. She wondered if the manager had actually said the name of the client was Yashodha garments. Had she heard him correctly? Now she realized she should have told him that she was working with this company. Thinking about what the consequences could be, she bit down hard on her bottom lip. ‘Oh no, he will assume I really am a cheat!’ she thought anxiously.
When he arrived, he looked great in a formal shirt and black pants. Watching him from the corner of her eye, she thought he looked very charming and professional. She prayed the manager would ask her to do something so she could escape the conference room. But he didn’t. Siddharth had moved into the room and stood right opposite her.
When the manager introduced him to everyone, Siddharth casually greeted everyone and then turned to her and asked, “Hi Esha! How are you?”
The manager immediately looked at them and asked, “Do you know her?”
Esha felt a shiver run down her spine and her heart began to beat rapidly. She looked down at the floor so she wouldn’t see what was coming next.
“Yes,” said Siddharth, “she worked for me for a short while. She was very good at her job, I must say. She had to leave unfortunately. I am glad she found work here - the leading agency in garments,” he said smiling.
She stared at him opened-mouthed and sat down quickly as she felt everyone was staring in her direction. The manager looked at her and said, “Good. Then, before we start, Esha could you bring a glass of water for Siddharth.”
Esha felt uncomfortable about being asked to bring water as if she was an office assistant, but she followed her manager’s orders and brought a glass of water from a nearby kitchen. When she returned,
everyone looked angry and upset, except Siddharth. He appeared as calm and composed as she had seen him when leaving the room. Esha couldn’t make out what had gone wrong in her absence.
When she sat down in her chair, her manager shifted a bit in his chair and clasping his hands said, “Ok. Now, Mr. Siddharth, can we discuss the service charges? Esha is back with us.”
She felt the tension in the room. ‘What was going on? Had Siddharth said they must wait until she got back? And why was her manager looking at her so angrily?’ she thought.
The manager’s words seemed rather sarcastic. Esha felt her face becoming red. “Sure we can,” said Siddharth evenly.
Her manager asked Esha to show the slides and she began the presentation and pointing out all the detail in each graph. She could see Siddharth smiling through her presentation and nodding in acceptance, the way he had done when she had given her first presentation when she worked in his office. And, at times, when her eyes caught the attention of her manager, she still found him looking annoyed and he averted his eyes from her and as if wondering when the presentation would finish.
An hour later, when the meeting was over, Siddharth left and waved goodbye to Esha as he walked out of the conference door. Her manager stormed off to his office.
As she sat down at her desk and tried to figure out what could possibly have gone wrong when she went to fetch the glass of water. She was looking through her emails when she was called to her manager’s office.
What followed was a request for her immediate resignation. Her manager said there was no way she could continue to work for their company when she was so friendly with her ex-boss who was from a rival company. She tried to explain that she was very good at her job, and had always been totally honest with him, but he paid no heed to her words and asked her to submit her resignation right away.
Chapter 5
It was a week since she had left her job and Esha spent every day looking for jobs in the newspaper and on the job listing websites. She was feeling very unhappy about losing her job.
Early Saturday evening, Lucky’s phone rang. She answered and Esha heard her say, “Hi, Siddharth.”
Esha got up and walked out of the room. She didn’t want to hear them talking. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but losing her job just because she knew him, made her feel angry with him too.
Lucky came looking for her and asked, “Do you want to come with us for a movie?”
Esha looked at her and shook her head. “I don’t want to go anywhere with him,” she said crossly.
Lucky tried to persuade her, but she didn’t want to hear any of her reasons for going with them to the movies. Finally, Lucky went out without her.
She looked through the window and watched as Lucky went out the front door and crossed the road to where Siddharth waited in his car. Going with them was the last thing on her mind. There was something about Siddharth that kept her on edge. She never knew what to expect from him. Just when she had believed he was a good guy, he had showed her an angry, unforgiving side of himself. And the night they had bumped into him at the movies, he had only been respectful and friendly towards her. He was always saying things, which really touched her heart. She was confused with what he really was.
She couldn’t figure out whether he was good or bad. How can you decide if a guy is good or bad? There were several norms that defined a girl as good or bad, but there weren’t many for guys. Why was that? She knew that how people behaved in certain situations often showed their good or bad characteristics. She hadn’t forgotten his accusations, yet he had spoken very highly about her in front of everyone at the presentation.
She tossed all these thoughts around in her head, trying to find a clue as to whether he was a good person or a bad person. But she thought, ‘why did it matter if he was good or bad, he was not related to her.’ The whole thing was weird. Even though she had not gone out with him and Lucky, she had spent almost the entire evening thinking about him and how they had met, how he spoke to her, and how he often made funny faces.
Her thoughts came to a sudden halt when her eyes fell on the idols in the temple. She looked at them and then went right up close to them.
Looking at the idols, she spoke to them, “I don’t know how to pray. I have seen people spending hours praying together. Lucky only does it for a minute or two and says she is done. I don’t know how to do it, but today, I wanted to ask you to show me the correct path. Show me what’s right and wrong. My mind seems distracted and I cannot figure out if Siddharth is good or bad. I don’t know why it matters, but my heart wants to find out. God, please help me.”
She hadn’t thought about what to say, but the words just came out. She stepped back from the idols and felt calm and content. She settled herself on the couch and closed her eyes and thanked God for her happy heart.
Just then the doorbell rang. Thinking that Lucky had returned home early, she hurriedly opened the door and said, “Hi… you’re home so early.”
Her words faded to almost a whisper when she saw Siddharth standing in front of her. He looked at her with such a serious face. “Hi,” he said quietly. Esha was so surprised she didn’t know what to say. What was he doing here?
She suddenly realized she was wearing her pyjamas shorts with a sleeveless top. She immediately closed the door on him and said, “I will be back in a minute.” She dashed to her room and pulled on some clothes.
Two minutes later, she opened the door. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you,” he said.
Esha asked, “Do you need something? And where’s Lucky?”
He smiled and said, “She is waiting in the car. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us to the movie.”
Esha gave him a half smile and gave an excuse. “Sorry, but I have a lot of work tomorrow, so I won’t be able to come.”
He looked at her, straight into her eyes. “You haven’t forgotten about what happened between us at the office, have you? I know I was wrong, but can’t you just forget it and forgive me so we can at least be friends,” he said. His dark eyes looked at her pleadingly.
“Do you think it was such a small thing that I can just forget about it. You accused me of being a thief, of being disloyal and betraying you. Do you have any idea of how that made me feel? And you are asking me to forget about it! Because of you, I lost my job. Do you even realize how difficult it is for someone to survive without a salary in this city?” she said to him, her voice getting louder and louder.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m here to work and don’t want any distractions like you in my life,” she said, biting down on her lip when she realized how harsh those words sounded. Quickly, trying to patch things up, she said in a quiet, serious voice, “I really need to focus on getting a job soon.”
He was looking at her so intensely she thought he could see into her heart and soul. “So, is it too much to ask if you could put the whole incident behind you and forgive me?” he asked with such sadness in his eyes. “We could be good friends. And your position is still open in my company if you want to come back, or else I can give you references of another company.”
Esha could feel her heart beating rapidly. Her heart was saying forget about the past and be friends with him. He won’t harm you.
However, she pushed those feelings aside and said, “I will look for a job on my own but thanks anyway.”
“But come with Lucky and me to the movie tonight. You don’t have to stay here on your own. I won’t talk about anything that will upset you. But let’s just try and be friends, please,” he pleaded.
He smiled, showing his teeth and she noticed a small dimple forming on his cheek that just melted her heart. She looked at him for a moment. He seemed so sincere and like he genuinely wanted to be friends.
“Ok,” she said. “But this is the last time I’m trusting you. Just give me a minute to get ready.”
Walking out to the car, he turned to her and said, “Thank you for coming. I won’t disappoint y
ou.”
She smiled, knowing he meant it.
***
The next day while going for an interview, she had a smile on her face thinking about the previous night. She thought about what he had said. Did he actually say he was sorry? Did she matter to him? Spending time with Lucky and Siddharth the rest of the previous night had been wonderful.
Her smile faded when she saw Aakash, Lucky’s ex-boyfriend getting inside the lift with a girl who was glued to his side. She recognised the girl as they stood in the lift. She remembered that her name was Ramya. They were whispering to each other and the girl started giggling and looking at her. They were obviously talking about her and what she was wearing from the way they were both looking her up and down.
She ignored them and went straight to the lobby of the company where she had come for an interview. But they followed her into the offices and she saw that they worked there. This upset her and she knew it would be tough to work with Aakash around knowing he had broken Lucky’s heart. But she was determined to get a job, even with this unpleasant distraction.
Her happiness knew no bounds when she was offered the job immediately after the interview. She was happy with the working hours and the salary. The company was very modern and progressive. They were involved in many environmental protection programs and were proactive with projects, which benefitted the society. They were delighted to hear that she was a blood donor and said she would be allowed extra time off if she needed to donate blood at the hospital. They would be adding her name to the list of other employees in the company who were also blood donors.
As soon as she had the letter of appointment in her hand, she rushed home to call her mom.
No sooner had she walked in the door when the phone rang. It was Siddharth. “Thank you for coming out with us yesterday,” he said.
Rhythm Of Love Page 6