“To set the record straight, the concept is Sanjana’s. I’m just executing it.”
As stunned eyes turned to her, Sanjana felt colour invade her cheeks and her ears go hot. “Actually…I had…”
But she was interrupted by Ash who gave her a mischievous wink. “Modesty is so over-rated.”
“Well done, Sanjana,” Sir beamed at her. But Sunrita’s face remained grim as the others added their congratulations.
She was glad when Sir asked Ash to continue with the presentation. She wanted to see what Ash had come up with. And her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she saw the character sketches that he had done of the protagonist who he had been nicknamed Lara. Done in the anime style, the girl had very distinctive features. Her long plaited braid, and something about the set of her eyes, reminded her of herself.
She gave him a long hard look before turning her attention back to the presentation.
Ash finished his spiel to applause from the team. He raised his hand for a high-five from her and she couldn’t help but feel a crush of pride at her contribution. Ash listed the next steps for the development process before they wrapped up.
After the team had dispersed, Ash leaned back in his chair. “You were very quiet.”
Shooting him a look she said, “Fishing for compliments?”
He raised an imperious eyebrow. “You always answer a question with a question?”
She pushed back her chair. “I have a ton of stuff to finish. I’ll start working on some of the things you listed.”
“Lara is your creation. Don’t treat her with such disdain.”
“I really don’t get why you are giving me all the credit…you are the one who suggested Lara Croft.”
“So when are we going on a treasure hunt?”
“What?” Her bemused look made him flash his lopsided grin.
“I need to see how you guys work. Once I know that I’ll be better able to design the different levels of the game.”
“Why, you don’t trust your imagination?”
“Imagination has to be based on something. Like my inspiration for Lara.”
Her eyes flew to his face. The glint was back in his as he asked, “So, my lovely Lara, when do we go treasure hunting?”
Yet another rookie-swimmer-gasping-for-air moment. But thankfully, she managed to get her breathing under control and said, “I’m sure Sunrita will be able to show you around. I have a lot of stuff to finish.”
He clicked his tongue and said, “Hey, I thought your objection was to a date. This is totally professional. Unless...”
He paused for effect, unwrapping his long frame from the seat that looked too small for him.
“Unless, what?” she prompted.
“Unless you are worried about upsetting Lover Boy.”
“His name is Chetan and no, he is not....has nothing to do with anything.”
He drummed his fingers impatiently on the table and she knew she had been bested. But he didn’t need to know that and she would make sure that he knew she was doing it under duress.
Releasing her breath in a long sigh she said, “I’ll coordinate with the people at the sites and get back to you.”
“Works for me.”
“But let me warn you…these might be at short notice and…”
“Yes, I get it. I’ll be ready to go whenever you give the command.”
Giving her a smart salute, he breezed out of the conference room. “See you later….Lara.”
The wicked gleam in his eyes was messing up her insides.
“My name is Sanjana and I don’t like to be called anything else.”
She brushed past him, trying not to lose the last remnants of her rapidly evaporating cool.
Chapter Six
Sanjana had no time to dwell on the infuriating Ash and the emotions he evoked. Sunrita summoned her and handed her a bunch of files. Sunrita’s peremptory command was far from reassuring. “Make sure you know every little detail. Mrs Wadia may be 78 years old but she is sharp as a whip and can play merry hell if you’re not fully prepared with answers to her questions.”
The challenge in Sunrita’s eyes forced her to keep her lips zipped. She dared not utter a single word that might show her uncertainty. She knew her supervisor was only too eager to tell Sir that she did not have the ‘right attitude’ when it came to handling deadlines. She nodded and turned away when Sunrita’s next words stopped her in her tracks.
“Was the Lara Croft idea really yours?”
That was one loaded question.
She cleared her throat and asked, “Why do you doubt it?”
Sunrita’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Just wondering if it’s really your idea or Ash is giving you the credit for his.”
“And why would he do that?”
“Oh, you know, how guys are. When they have the hots for someone…they are extra generous.”
Bestowing a fake smile at Sunrita she said, “Your sense of humour is great. I think the only “hot” I need to worry about is Mrs Wadia’s temper.”
She grabbed the files from the table and rushed out of the room before Sunrita could say another word.
Brilliant, simply brilliant! This was all she needed to make her life even more complicated than it already was. For one, Ash did not have the ‘hots’ for her, as Sunrita had so indelicately put it. She would have loved to point out that she’d caught him practically making out with a woman in the corridor of their building. Now, that was hot enough to start a fire! Not that she cared…but if she were to tell this to Sunrita, she’d only end up getting deeper into the mess. God forbid, the entire office was probably already speculating about Ash and her. And it was all that idiot Ash’s fault. Why oh why did he have to make Lara look like her? She could really give Ash a massive thwack on his head for doing this to her.
“Tch, tch…someone is having a bad day.” A head peeked out from the next cubicle.
“Rishabh, unless you have something useful to contribute about the Jeroobai Wadia project, you had better shut up.”
“Phew! Thank heavens Sunrita didn’t target me for that one. Mrs. Wadia is one feisty old so-and-so. Good luck.”
Sanjana got down to prepare for her meeting trying desperately to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.
Soon enough, she was so engrossed in reading the background notes she barely noticed that the office had almost emptied out. It was only when her phone buzzed did she look up from the files. It was a number she didn’t recognise and almost let it go answered but decided not to take a chance. It could be the client.
“Hello?”
“So now you don’t recognize my voice?”
It was Chetan.
“Hi Chetan!” She barely managed to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Just trying to finish some urgent work.”
“No problem, I will pick you up after work and we can go for dinner. Like old times.”
She exhaled, trying to keep it together. “Chetan, please don’t do this.”
“At least let me say sorry to you properly,” he whined.
“Apology accepted. Now I have to go.”
She disconnected the phone and stared at it, dreading the thought that he would call again. She switched it off and put it in the drawer. Getting her concentration back was much more difficult but she was damned if she would let Chetan get her all worked up.
By the time she finished preparing her notes, it was dark and everyone had left for home.
She looked for her phone to check the time and realized it was still switched off. As soon as it came on, it rang.
“What the hell, Sanjana! Why was your phone switched off all day?” An annoyed Meghna was at the other end of the line.
“I was finishing up some important work and I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“Oh, so, now we have started disturbing you?”
“Meghna, why did Gauri give my number to Chetan?”
“What’s the problem?”
Sanjana sighed and
rolled her eyes.
“Have you guys had a fight or something? Come on, Sanju, he’s so concerned about you. He said he has been busy with his new job and then he couldn’t contact you as he lost his phone.”
“You didn’t think of checking with me?”
“Oh!”
For once, Meghna was stumped.
“Look, I don’t want to meet Chetan during Diwali and have this grand get together that you have planned.”
“Are you breaking up with Chetan?”
“What if I am?”
“But you have known him for almost four years now.”
“And does that mean he is my lord and master?”
“Sanjana, you really don’t sound like yourself. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine except that my sister thinks I’m still a kid who can’t be trusted to make the right decision when it comes to her own life.”
“Wow, you’re in quite a mood, aren’t you?”
“Okay, then. So, are we now agreed that we can have the Diwali celebrations without Chetan?”
“Ah, well. I need to talk to Gauri…and you know she kind of promised Chetan…”
“See, that’s what I mean.”
“Is there some other guy?”
This made her even more angry. “No, there isn’t! And what if there is some other guy? How does that fact even make a difference to the conversation we are having now.”
“Calm down, Sis. I really don’t know what’s going on with you.”
“I’m perfectly calm. I just want you to let Pappaji and Gauri know that Chetan is not welcome in our family celebrations. Can you do that for me, please?”
As she disconnected she felt as if her heart would break out of her chest and run away at 100 kilometres per hour. She put her head down on the desk trying to calm herself. She didn’t remember the last time she had openly confronted her sisters about anything. Even when she had broken up with Chetan, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them that. She had chosen to run away from Nagpur rather than tell them truth.
To be honest, she really did not want her family to fuss about her. She had escaped to Mumbai, to lick her wounds and find solace with new friends who knew nothing about Chetan and his duplicity. She had chosen to bury the remnants of her broken relationship and focus on her career. So, what was wrong with that? Why couldn’t her family just let her be? And why the heck did Chetan have to resurface in her life and tear it all apart just when she was managing to put it back together, piece by piece!
Pinky was right. She needed to do something about it. The least she could do was to come clean about Chetan to her family. No matter how much stress it caused her!
Ash had never been a morning person. A late riser who went to bed when the rest of the world was waking up had always been the norm for him. Being a self-styled freelancer it hadn’t really mattered when he worked. And in any case, he was always at his creative best in the dead of night. Until Dumbass had come along. The dratted dog needed to go for his walk at the crack of dawn. He didn’t seem to understand that 6 a.m. was bed time for his master! Master? Dumbass had made it loud and clear that he was the Boss!
Today, however, it wasn’t Dumbass who was howling his head off. Someone had decided to put his blasted finger on the doorbell and keep it there. Cursing the unwelcome visitor, he dragged himself out of bed and pulled the door open. The string of colourful epithets froze on his lips as soon as his eyes focused on Sanjana.
“Good morning,” Sanjana chirped. “I have a client meeting at 7.30 a.m. at Parsi Colony. The restoration work at her place would be something you would like to check out.”
“Meeting at the crack of dawn? Is your client insane?”
“Sunrita tells me early mornings are when she functions best. So, will you be coming or…?”
“Give me fifteen minutes to grab some coffee and take the dog out.”
The last two words were enough to set Dumbass dancing. And he shrugged, “Well, not exactly in that order if Dumbass has his way.”
Laughing at Dumbass’ antics, Sanjana said, “Okay. See you at 6.45 at the gate.”
“I’ll take my car.” Before she could protest, he added, “That way, we can start a bit later and I’ll drop you to your office after we finish.”
She gave him a thumbs up and disappeared into her flat.
“Wow, that must be a record of sorts,” Ash muttered to Dumbass as he grabbed the leash. “For once she agreed without argument!”
The drive to Parsi Colony had been pleasant enough and they had arrived right on time at Jeroobai Wadia’s rambling old house. Sunrita had warned her not to be late by even a second or the “old crone” would give her hell.
Through the iron bars at the gates they could see the construction material lying around but no sign of any human being. She banged the old knocker as hard as she could and waited.
“Are you sure she said 7.30 a.m.?” Ashwin was peering through the gates.
He looked like he could have done with some more sleep and had been quiet through the drive which worked fine for Sanjana.
“Absolutely,” she said and rattled the gates.
“I think, there’s a doorbell hidden here somewhere.” He cleared away some overgrown creepers and right enough there was a switch dangling to the stone wall by a frayed wire.
She looked at it and hid her smile. “The treasure hunt has begun.”
“I’ll pass….getting an electric shock is not my idea of finding a treasure.”
Sanjana spotted some activity in one of the first storey windows. Ash leaned against the car and smoked. He asked her a bit about the work they were doing at this place and she gave him the information that she had read up on.
The house was originally built in 1902 by Jeeroobai Wadia’s grandfather. After the old man passed away in the 1970s, the mansion had fallen into disuse as none of his descendants were interested in living in it. It had fallen into disrepair until Jeerobai had decided to restore it. She had hired Sir for the project and wanted it restored exactly in the style and manner that it had been built.
A few more minutes passed before a bent old man who looked like he was at least a hundred years old emerged from the house. Making it to the gate he snapped at them, “What do you want?”
Sanjana introduced herself . He muttered something under his breath and threw the bolt open.
She looked at him with uncertainty and then at Ash who simply cocked an eyebrow at her and continued to smoke.
The old man was ambling back to the house and waving at them to follow him.
They walked down the unevenly paved driveway towards the front of the bungalow which was still intact. The renovation work for now seemed to be happening on the rear portion of the house.
The facade of the house was dominated by a series of small balconies at short intervals topped by ornately carved chhajas. The Indo-European architecture style dated back to the 1900s and Sanjana could see why this was a prestige project for their firm.
Pushing open a massive teak door, they entered a huge lobby-like area. A spiral staircase with cast-iron railings dominated the space which had ornately carved wooden closets from floor to ceiling. The lobby led into what looked like a drawing room on one side. It was stuffed with bric-a-brac. Nearly everything was draped with dusty white covers and had a musty smell of age and decay.
The walls were lined with portraits of starchy men with big mustaches and fancy head gears. The plaster work was peeling and the room had lost most of its glitter but curiously enough, it retained an old world dignity.
Ash was taking a peek under one of the covers and had discovered a large intricately carved teak chest. He called her to take a look at the engravings when they heard the sound of shuffling feet.
Dropping the cover Ash turned around. A small figure walked with brisk steps towards them and Sanjana’s jaw almost dropped open.
The lady’s mouth was covered with a white surgeon’s mask and on her head she wore a plast
ic shower cap. A little less than five feet tall, the woman wore a floral print dress that came up to her shin. Her feet were shod in red socks and rubber flip-flops.
“Who are you? Where’s the other girl?”
The woman’s voice was muffled and Sanjana could barely make out what she was saying.
“Hello Ma’am. I am Sanjana. I have been assigned this project. And this is…Ashwin.”
She sneaked a look at Ashwin who had a grin plastered on his face.
Seconds later, the smug grin disappeared as the woman took one look at him and growled, “Ouuuuttttofffffheeeerenooooow!”
Ashwin stared at the tiny old woman who was now flailing her hands, pointing at the door and yelling at him. In his agitation, he dropped the cigarette on the floor which led to another prolonged bout of screeching and arm waving.
Sanjana was the first to recover her cool. She picked up the offending cigarette and raced out of the door. “Come on Ash, don’t just stand there gawking.”
He followed her out, still unable to comprehend what was going on. Sanjana grabbed him by the arm.
As they stumbled out of the threshold, he looked at her and said, “What the hell just happened?”
She stubbed out the cigarette in a flower pot. “Figure it out for yourself, Genius.”
She stormed back into the room while he hung around trying to be as inconspicuous as he could—a difficult proposition given his six foot-plus frame but he would rather pretend to be a lamp post than face the old lady’s wrath!
He could barely hear Sanjana but the old lady’s response rang out loud and clear. She had taken off her mask as she stormed about in her rage. “Look at these tiles. These are more than a hundred years old. As conservation architects you should know better than smoking inside a heritage home and causing damage.”
Sanjana used her best calming tone. “Am really sorry about that. I agree he shouldn’t be smoking inside. Actually, he is here only to observe…”
“Observe?” Jeroobai’s eyes grew wider and her shaggy eyebrows scrunched up menacingly. “If he is not part of your team, what is he doing inside my house?”
Ashwin had enough of being talked about in third person. It was time he intervened and set things right.
Bombay Heights- Sleepless in the City of Dreams Page 5