Dr Mystique Short Stories

Is Lal Bahadur Shastri fine?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 01:34:00 +0000

It was Sunday, the 10th of January 2016. That afternoon, I was supposed to be hanging out with five of my friends at Wonderla, an amusement park near Delhi, but a completely unexpected thing happened. An 80-year-old man spoiled the fun—or should I say he bought the fun from the six frustrated-with-life software engineers? We had purchased tickets for Wonderla online and had packed our bags to leave in the morning. But as we were about to hop on to our SUV, my old neighbour Mr Menon — who was considered grumpy and good for nothing — offered us Rs. 100,000 to do an errand for him. He asked us in his weak faltering voice, "Are you free today?" We were not. We were on our way to the amusement park to satiate our urge to relax. After all, we all were software engineers. Four among us had to work on that weekend a day before and had got a compensatory Monday off. Using the Monday to rest, we planned the Sunday amusement park trip. There was no way we were going to spoil this opportunity. Everybody is taught to respect their elders from the childhood. So it would be too rude to disregard the old man without asking, although not conscientiously. Kids in the building hated the man for his constantly nagging nature. However, we respected this man as we knew he was a great scientist in his heydays. But the question was - what help does this old man seek from us? As he lived alone, he had no one else to count on. Furthermore, he seemed very serious. Puzzled at his question, I said in a hesitant tone, "Yes, uncle. What is the matter?" "I need you to drive 30 kilometres outside of Delhi, pick up a young man from this location, and bring him here." Saying this, the old man gave us a black-and-white photograph of a 25-year-old man and some coordinates written on a paper. "His name is Laxman." With all the rips and creases around the edges, it seemed that the photo was taken some donkey's years ago. Curiously, my friend Vicky inquired, "Wouldn’t he be older now?" The old man answered, "This is not an old picture. It is just an Instagram pic of him on Traditional Day. I only have this." "Traditional Day? His moustache seems very natural," my friend Prabhu probed. Menon Uncle chose to ignore the question. "You have to convince him to come with you, but don't tell him that I have asked for him. More importantly, he should not know you have his picture. He should feel you are just helping him out." Money may be a great motivator, though the offered sum was not significant for six of us. It was up to us whether to take up the task or not. This task made us curious, and we had nothing to lose here. We were a gang of techies hungry for fun and adventure. I expected that the girls may not be willing to give up the pleasure trip and will require convincing, but it was the other way round. "But what about Wonderla?" Vicky, who was the driver of the car in the group, demanded with a frown. "It's not the place, it's the people we have fun with," Prabhu claimed. "And it’s too crowded on Sundays," I made a 'the grapes are sour' kind of statement to criticize the park. The vote count was five to one. Only Vicky was the one against the adventure. In the car, we all discussed who the guy in the picture could be. "Maybe it’s his grandson?" Prabhu proposed. "But the old man is not married!" my wife Trisha stated. "Maybe the old man is gay, so he did not marry, and now he is buying poor villagers to fulfil his desires. The man in the picture is one such unfortunate man," Vicky's wife Kritika offered with amusement. Vicky gave her a grim stare. Kritika defended herself playfully, "Baby, I was joking. I know he must be more than a hundred years old." Vicky was not amused. He was still angry at being voted out. "Who takes a hard copy of an Instagram picture? Something is fishy. The old man is lying. We better be careful," Prabhu's wife Sujata exclaimed. "Google Maps suggests we have reached. The location is not on the road. I think we should park the car here and search on foot. It's just 50 meters inside," I informed everyone. We parked just 100 metres off the Meerut highway near a crowded village market and began the search. As soon as we got down, we realised that it was too cold outside. So only Vicky, Prabhu and I got off the car and Trisha, Sujata and Kritika waited in the car. Our location was behind the shops in the fields but there was no way to get to the other side without jumping the fence. In the crowd, we saw a very old-fashioned man wandering around like a lost soul, stunned. Everyone stood laughing at him, but we immediately recognized that he was the man in the photo. "Is he still in his clothes for Traditional Day?" Prabhu told sarcastically and suspiciously. "Is he not feeling cold?" Vicky exclaimed. "Let's get him in the car and talk there," I spoke shivering and holding myself tight. Vicky and Prabhu went ahead to talk to him and I followed them. "Hi," Vicky greeted the man. He looked at us with surprise, then asked in English, "Are you Indian?" "Yes," Vicky replied. "Is this Tashkent?" he asked. "Is this what? Sorry, you seem to be lost. Do you want to come to our car? We can help you. My name is Vicky," Vicky answered. "My name is Laxman," he replied showing us his ID card. "It’s okay," Vicky said. Laxman followed us to the car. "There's our car," I told him pointing towards the car. He looked at the car with a shocked expression. He might not have seen a modern car in his village. "Soviet is so advanced," he mumbled. "Soviet? Did I hear correctly? Does he mean Russia? Why does he think that? Had the old man lied to him too? Should I tell him or silently do the task given to us?" I wondered. Laxman was very alert all the time. His one hand was always inside his grey bush coat, ready to draw out the pistol if required. Yes, I presumed he obviously had a pistol underneath. But we did not know why? "Are we safe with him? He agreed to come with us very easily," I suspected. Laxman was sceptical too. He seated behind the driver deliberately. I guessed he intended to jump off the car if he senses any threat. He was more circumspect than we were. He saw the three girls in the back seat and asked "Are they with us?" and I just shook my head. He saw the girls’ clothes and was flabbergasted. Once we were all inside the car, Laxman asked, "Is Shastri Ji fine and where is my father?" "Who is Shastri Ji?" Prabhu questioned back. "Lal Bahadur Shastri? He was the prime minister of India," I interrupted mentioning the only Shastri I know. "Was? Damn! I came to Tashkent to save him," Laxman started feeling guilty as if a catastrophe had happened. "But according to the intelligence, the plan of the assassination was supposed to be today night or tomorrow morning. Are you lying to distract me from saving him?" His hand went inside his coat threatening us with the pistol. "This is not Tashkent. This is New Delhi. Lal Bahadur Shastri died before you and I were even born," Prabhu responded defensively. He looked confused as if Prabhu made no sense. I Googled the information on my phone and interrupted. "To be specific, he died on the 11th of January, 1966 in Tashkent. Tashkent was previously in the USSR but is now in Uzbekistan." I paused, surprised. "The 11th of January. Tomorrow, the day will be exactly 50 years ago." "What do you mean 50 years ago? Is it not 1966?" "It's 2016," I replied. "How is this possible? The scientist should have teleported me to Tashkent to save Shastri. Instead, he sent me 50 years ahead. How is this possible?" "You mean teleport places and travel time? Is he playing a prank on us?" I looked at Trisha with a giggle. Laxman stared at me angrily. I realised I was the only one who was amused. "You serious? Someone made a time machine and you time travelled. I don't believe you," I questioned. "Which scientist?" Prabhu asked in astonishment. Now we six were confused. "Vignesh Rameshwaram." I Googled the name and informed everyone. "He is also dead. Born in 1921 and died in 2013." "Teleportation or time travelling is not possible," Prabhu doubted. "Can you prove to me that this is not Tashkent and that it is 2016?" "First of all, can you see any white people here? Everyone knows Russians are tall and white. So will be Uzbekistanis," I asked him for establishing our point. "Yes, even I pondered how can the Soviet people look like us, they should be as fair as British," he agreed. I continued showing him Prabhu's phone and opening Maps. "Second, do you know what this device is? This is a phone. Check this Map. This blue dot denotes where we are, and this is Delhi. We are heading towards Delhi. And see here is your Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Soviet is divided into ten-twenty countries." Showing him the Map, I guess we assured him that he was not in Tashkent. He took the phone, looked at it for a few seconds, and then started talking to it. "Oh. Call 012—" "What are you doing?" Prabhu jumped in. "I am calling the lab." "How did this man know that mobile phones understand voice commands?" I thought. "A number like that cannot exist. And, how do you know how to use voice commands if you’re from the past?" Prabhu asked. He barely glanced toward Prabhu asserting that it was apparent that after 50 years if some human can make a wireless phone, why can't they remove keys and dialers? For us, it was difficult to digest that reality of time travel or even teleportation. But, we had living proof in front of us. We, also, realised that the man was not an ordinary one. He was a genius. He was sort of an agent who was to be sent to an assassination scene to stop it using teleportation and that too of a prime minister. That's why he easily figured out that he time travelled or guessed the mobile phone functions. "Or I was correct. Menon Uncle is probably playing a prank. He lives alone and has a pretty dull life. He might need some entertainment," I preferred to believe. As he was struggling with the phone, I decided to help. "You can dial the number with the touchpad, but you can also use voice commands. Listen to this. Ok, Google. Call Trisha Mittal." After a second or two, my wife's phone began to ring. "See?" Up to this point, the girls had been silent at the back seat because Prabhu and I were doing all the talking, and they preferred listening. But my wife couldn't resist any longer. As curious as us, she intervened and directly came to the point and asked what even we were trying to know all this while. "So, Vignesh Rameshwaram made a time machine?" my wife asked with amazement. "Yes, and it seems like he did. He tricked me into becoming his lab rat. I couldn't even save Shastri Ji. He sent my father on the same mission in a similar-looking machine, but I don't know what time he sent my father. I couldn't find my dad when I landed, and there were no signs of another machine being destroyed at the place." "Destroyed? Why? I want to see it," Trisha demanded. "Vignesh commanded my father and me to do that. He specifically told it should not fall in someone else's hands. So I destroyed it. Not sure about my father." "How did the machine look like?" Sujata jumped in. "It was a small three feet wide six feet tall half papaya-shaped capsule with a red glass cover and had few buttons and levers inside. It could accommodate only one person at a time." "Can you tell us more what you felt while time travelling?" Kritika continued. "I felt nothing while travelling. When I pressed the button in the capsule, the countdown started. I could see Vignesh and his assistant outside. When the counter reached zero, suddenly the scientists and the lab disappeared. I was in an open field. Around 50 meters away, I saw a road and many shops along it. I thought this is how Tashkent looks like. I remembered what Vignesh had told us. So I pressed another button and the machine self-destroyed itself." "Was there a blast?" Kritika interrupted. "No, there wasn't. It gradually and noiselessly burned itself down. I stood there watching over it to ensure that no one noticed the burning machine. When I came on the road, whoever I saw, everyone looked Indian. I thought maybe there are Indian settlements in Tashkent. Vignesh told us that Mr Kaul, Indian ambassador in Moscow, will send two Indian soldiers, who will escort me to the villa that was provided to Shastri Ji by the hosts. I took these three boys for the soldiers." "If what you are saying is true, our adventure trip is successful. We witnessed a time travel. Laxman, you should be happy and proud too. You travelled time. You may not have averted the political assassination, but you have played a vital role in this grand scientific invention. Dude, you have time travelled, and I am so happy I witnessed it," Sujata got excited and even shook Laxman by his shoulders. "Technically we did not witness the time travel, but we met a time traveller. Even that is huge," Kritika corrected. "Thank you. I felt disappointed and cheated earlier for not being able to save Shastri Ji, but now I am feeling overwhelmed. I travelled time, which everyone thought in my time is impossible," Laxman relaxed. "Even now in our time, it is considered to be impossible," I added. "Wow. Giving Wonderla a miss was worth it. We got to know about such an incredible invention - the time machine," Vicky spoke after a long time. "What's that?" Laxman asked. I still thought something is unclear and inquisitively asked, ignoring his question and everyone's excitement. "Laxman, it seems absolutely strange that the scientist Vignesh Rameshwaram sent his invention further in time than his death. Why won't he want to see its success and why will he want it to be destroyed?" "Now that you have mentioned it, even I want to know the same. But how? Vignesh is dead. I am also thinking how will I go back when I have destroyed the machine. If I am stuck in this time what will I do?" Laxman responded, confused. "You said your father had one more time machine. In total, how many time machines did he make?" Trisha questioned. "As far as I know, two," he answered. As we reached the city, I noticed him watching the towers and flyovers with a childlike wonder. He was seeing other vehicles and the people on the roads in astonishment. Even our bantering did not break his silence. He continued to soak in the beauty of new modern India. I wanted to ask him how he knew Menon Uncle, but as we were not supposed to reveal Menon Uncle's name. Still, I decided to make him uncomfortable. "Now, what will you do? Where should we drop you?" He casually said, "Anywhere." "Is he not worried?" I wondered. We took him to our building, and he subconsciously kept following us to our apartment. We dumped our bags on the floor carelessly and retired on the sofas around. Laxman silently kept looking at us for some directions. "Are you not wondering why we picked you up from the village?" I asked. "Yes, I am trying to figure that out as well. And I know you will tell me yourselves in some time. Even if you are very kind and helpful people, believing in an extraordinary stranger like me, who claims to be a time traveller and has a gun too, is impossible. Moreover, even though if you are six people, feeling safe with me can't be wise and practical that you allowed me in your home." The man was smart. "Let's go," I said after receiving confirmation from Menon Uncle. We took him to the old man's home and stayed there hoping for some drama to unfold. We all were curious to know more about this mystery man. My friends and I were standing at a distance from Menon Uncle and Laxman, allowing them the space for that impending grave conversation. The excitement to know more about the time traveller was also high amongst us, and thus, we stayed there. He looked at the old man, he studied his face for a few seconds and said, "I know you. You are Sujeet Menon, Vignesh Rameshwaram's assistant, but you are 50 years older now." "Did he not recognize a person, fifty years older than he previously saw, so easily and quickly? Maybe his memory is fresh, so he can easily recollect each of them. He might have prepared himself to see older and wrinkly versions of anyone from his time," I admired him for that. Menon Uncle was so glad to see Laxman fit and alive that his face lit up. "Yes, I am Menon." "Do you know where my father is?" I expected some heated argument, but Laxman was not as angry as I anticipated he would be. I think the pride of having time travelled might have suppressed the anger. Plus, there was no reason to bombard his anger on an old man who was only an assistant to the chief scientist. Menon Uncle saw the concern and answered. "Your father was teleported to Tashkent as planned, but he couldn't save Shastri Ji. No one heard from him since. We don't have any clue whether he returned to India or stayed back in Soviet, investigating the assassination. Whatever happened to him then, by now, he might be naturally dead." Menon Uncle continued. "He expressly instructed us not to send you to Tashkent. He assumed that you would be a liability in Tashkent. After your father left, Vignesh thought to test the time machine. So he used you." Menon Uncle was surprised to notice that Laxman was not offended by the remark. Laxman already figured that out while discussing with us. Seeing no hostility, the old man continued. "First, he experimented with the machine by setting the dial as five minutes. You disappeared for five minutes. Before you came back, we planned to send you ahead by five years without your knowledge. Vignesh told me to act as if nothing had happened and reset the time. When you came back, you did not even differentiate. Pretending to be checking the machine, I adjusted the time. You assumed the machine did not function. But unwittingly, I set the dial to 50 years instead of 5 years in a hurry, and you pushed the button immediately. By the time I realised my blunder, you had disappeared. Vignesh did not notice my error. Afraid of getting reprimanded by him, I did not report this to him. After five years in 1971, he and I waited for your return. He thought something had gone wrong. He felt so guilty for endangering your life that he never built a time machine again. I could never gather enough courage to tell him the truth." "He is such a moron," I thought. "Do you mean to say that the time machine in which I travelled in was the only one and I destroyed it?" Laxman asked. "Yes." "That means I am the only one in the world who has time travelled," said Laxman with intense pride. "Yes." "Then why did you ask me to destroy it?" "We did not specifically ask you to destroy the machine. You just overheard our conversation with your father and assumed accordingly. His mission required stealth. If someone had come to know about the teleporter, they would have found out where it came from; and the mission would be compromised." "Damn! I should not have destroyed it." "I knew what went wrong and also the time and place when you would come. Vignesh shut the lab down. I bought the land from the Government and maintained it clear. So that when you reach you don't encounter a wall or a tree passing through your body. I take all the blame for bringing you 50 years into the future, and I will help you settle into this time now. I am sincerely sorry for the trouble that my blunder has created." Menon Uncle looked truly apologetic. "It's okay. You don't need to be extremely sorry. You were doing your duty. My father and Vignesh were doing theirs." Laxman consoled him. "I thought you would be mad at me? But since the time you have come, you are unusually calm." "Conversing with your grandchildren on the way here, I got answers to most of the questions. We together figured out that I time travelled 50 years in the future. I understood that Vignesh had lied. I came to know about Shastri Ji too. I knew these young ones are not helping me out of humanity. I guessed some person related to Vignesh or my father, who knew that I had time travelled, has sent them. I knew everyone, with who I am familiar with, will be 50 years older than earlier. The only question that was unanswered was about my father. I am witnessing that the world has progressed a lot. It will be an adventure for me to embrace this new world, but I am looking forward to it." "I am impressed. And they are not my grandchildren. They brought you to me for money." "No, we did not. We did it for adventure," I thought. I could see in Laxman's eyes that the regards he had for us, was gone. "Uncle, I think it's time for us to take a leave. Thanks for giving us the opportunity of this adventure. We all had fun." With these amateurish "nice" words, we left. I saw Laxman many times in the society premises for months. He always wore modern clothes and had a mobile phone in his hand. Trisha and I always wanted to invite him to our place for drinks, but he never stopped to talk. I always wondered where does this man, who has come from the past, keep himself so busy. When my friends came home, they always asked about him. It has been almost a year since I have seen Laxman or Menon Uncle. I hope they both are well.

Sexual Harassment

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 19:02:00 +0000

He cornered me in the elevator and kept his hands on the elevator walls on either side of my head. He was yelling at me. His eyes, as black as the devil's, were piercing into me. His red face blazing at a finger distance to mine.
"Answer me. I have been asking you since so many days and you don't answer."
The elevator was still crossing the 13th floor and I had to get out at 17th. I was counting the floor numbers but time seemed to have slowed down. Every floor seemed like an hour. I was scared and he was getting louder and louder.
I tried to move my eyes away from his face to not show that I was getting weak. The only thing in my mind was “How do I get out of the elevator?” I tried to avoid bursting into tears. All I could do was call for help.
"Help, help, somebody please help”, but he continued yelling.

At the 17th floor, when the elevator stopped, he got conscious and moved away. I tried to calm myself down, but couldn't hide my discomposure. When the door opened, there were three office ladies standing outside. We came out.
"Thank God, I am not alone outside the elevator", I thought.
Suddenly an unexpected chaos started.
"You were troubling the girl in the elevator."
"We will report to HR about you."
"How inhuman of you to harass a girl."
I realized that Aditya was in trouble. Good. He deserved it. I silently went inside the bay area.

I went directly to the ladies washroom, a place where Aditya couldn’t follow me. I needed few minutes to contain myself. There was no one in the washroom. I went inside a loo, put the lid and sat on it. Tears came out one by one. Not caring about the toilet etiquettes, I sprayed the hand shower on my face and wiped it with the toilet papers. I came to my cubicle and laid my head down on the desk.

"Maanvi, your bag. You left it in the washroom."
"Oh". Who was she? I did not even see.

I couldn't focus on my work. A few hours later, I went to the cafeteria for lunch with my teammates. My team consoled me and assured me that Aditya won't bug me again.

When we came back from lunch, I saw that Aditya was in a meeting room with HR manager Lakshmi, his manager Vinay, and my manager Namrata. I got relaxed that everything will be fine. After an hour, Aditya came out of the room, went straight to his cubicle, packed his bags and left for home.

By the end of the day, Lakshmi called for a meeting with all the employees on the floor. She announced that Aditya was fired according to the HR policy made a few days earlier against Sexual Harassment. The company was setting an example out of him. Most of the employees didn't care much about the meeting because everything was very obvious.

"Fired". This was the only word that was running in my mind.

I was the center of attention. Everyone in the company was showing sympathy towards me: boys, girls, my team, his team, HRs, married, unmarried, everyone.

Sameer came to pick me up on his bike. I was scared to go on a bike because I feared Aditya might follow me, but I didn't want to tell Sameer about what happened in the office.

I sat on the bike. I kept feeling that someone was following us. At every traffic signal, I was checking faces within every helmet to check for Aditya or his friends. I constantly asked Sameer to speed up. Sameer guessed something is not right.
"I said nothing's wrong. Can't you understand the first time? Just want to rest." I shouted at Sameer when he asked for the third time.
"I understand."
What did he understand? I guess he thought I am on my monthly period cycle, but I did not clarify.

I went home and closed all the doors and windows. I felt that someone was peeking through the glass window. But there was no one. I closed all the curtains as well. Suddenly my mobile rang. I thought it was Aditya. I checked the mobile. It was my mom. I switched the mobile off and switched off the lights as well. Why was I so scared of Aditya? Everyone had assured me that he won't bug me anymore. I needed to get him out of my head. I don't know when I slept.

The next day, I thought to take a day off, but I did not. I went to the office. I reported a few bugs to the dev team and asked them to resolve them. The only answer I got from them was that they were not in a mood to work at that time. I continued following up with them on the bug but I kept getting the same answer. I communicated this to Namrata. She went to ask the devs herself but she also got the same answer. She escalated the issue to Vinay.

Vinay called his team for a meeting. Coincidently the whole Dev team consisted of only boys. From outside, it seemed that very heated discussions were going on inside the meeting room. After around 15 minutes, Lakshmi was called inside. The meeting of the team, Vinay and Lakshmi continued for another 20 minutes. Then the devs left the room and Namrata was called in. The meeting of the managers looked like a state of complete confusion leading nowhere.

Here outside the meeting room in the bay area, everyone started chattering. People split into groups of four to eight in parts of the Bay Area, the cafeteria, and the balcony area. But none of the groups were a mixed group, it was either boys' group or girls' group. I joined one of the girls' group and found that all the boys, especially developers, in the company wanted Aditya to be back. I felt a numbness in my hands and legs. Was I wrong? No, I was not. Did I overreact? Probably. Is his punishment too big for what he did? Probably. Did he deserve it? Probably not. Somewhere from my heart, I knew that he did not deserve such a big punishment. I had worked with the guy for a year on projects. He was a decent lad. I was worried that my boyfriend Sameer might come to know what was going on in the company. The news can spread from one company to another through social media easily.

The door of the meeting room opened and the managers came out. Many employees tried to talk to the exhausted managers but they straight went to their cabins where they generally never sat. They did not come out from there the whole day.

The next day, a similar thing happened but this time on a greater scale. All the male employees on the floor refused to work from morning but this time managers did not do anything. They all demanded that they won't work unless Aditya is brought back. The other floor, at 16th, was aware of the incident but unaware of the strike and chaos.

At 3 PM, Lakshmi went to the office door, swiped her card and Aditya entered the floor. Aditya looked exhausted. He probably came to the 17th floor by stairs. Fuck 17th floor + 3 floors parking. He must be too ashamed to face anyone. He knew everyone was looking at him, every girl hated him and every boy pitied him. Without making any eye contact, he went directly into the meeting room with Lakshmi. Vinay and Namrata joined them.

Aditya looked the same as he did a year ago when we started working together. Unshaven face, curly hair, blue denim, and striped t-shirt. I remember how anti-social he was when we had met for the first time. He frequently offended the QA Team as he believed that they are dumb. He was so technical that he talked in programming languages. I came to him for a small requirement. He talked about Java, Hive, Pig, Shit or what not but I did not get a thing. It took him an hour to just make me understand that the requirement is not feasible or will take months to achieve. After 3 months of working together, Aditya opened up a bit. We went to the cafeteria for a coffee. It was probably the first time, he got this close to any girl. While talking, I did feel that he is getting wrong vibes from me. Next day, he asked me out for dinner. I refused because I knew where it was heading.

The atmosphere of the bay area became a bit chaotic and loud with groups chatting like the previous day. Boys were on strike that they won't work unless Aditya is brought back. But this time girls were on strike too that they won't work if Aditya is brought back. Fuck, this is a deadlock. The only way out of this is Aditya and I both leave the company. I was waiting for the managers to call me because it was obvious. Due to it, even my head started aching and I sat on a chair. Finally, after a long wait, the meeting room door opened and Lakshmi called my name.

When I entered inside Lakshmi pointed me to sit down. The room was dead silent. Everyone outside had all eyes inside the room as if trying to lip read me.

"Maanvi, we would like to hear your side of the story", Namrata broke the silence.
"Ma'am, Aditya and I have worked on 3 projects in a one-year time span. We worked and coordinated together very well. In fact, he himself recommended me to work with him on the third project. I don't know when he started liking me. He used to Whatsapp me after office hours, in the beginning, related to work, but later on for no reasons. He asked me out a few times. After refusing many times, I agreed to dinner once, for not being too rude to him. Then in the previous month, this happened 2-3 times more."
"6 times", Aditya interrupted. He was counting them after all, day by day, month by month.
"I did not keep count of it. I did not know what was he thinking. I openly mentioned about my boyfriend to him several times and he thought it was a lie. He kept flirting with me and calling me day and night. Slowly he started talking about sex as well. Three weeks ago, finally I decided it's going too far and I need to stop this. I will be in trouble if my boyfriend finds out about it. So I decided to stop talking to him. I stopped picking his calls and replying to his messages. But he kept messaging me and calling me. Then that day in the elevator when everyone got out, he cornered me and started yelling at me. All I could do was shout for help. Rest you know."
"Did he beat you or touch you in the elevator?", Lakshmi asked.
"No, he never touched me at all." Saying this I realized he really was a gentleman all the time.
"Did you ever ask him to stop talking to you?"
"Yes, a few times but our conversation always continued even after that. So I decided not to ask him and directly stop talking to him."
"Aditya also told us more or less same thing but from his point of view. He said he liked you and after a few dates, he decided to take things a level ahead. When you stopped talking to him, he could not understand why you were doing it. He wanted to ask you the same and got the opportunity to talk to you in the elevator. But when you did not answer, he got angry and yelled. Boys think that Aditya did not do anything wrong."
"Ma'am, do you think the same?" Though, I myself internally started believing he didn't.
"No, I don't think so. But if girls think they are right and boys think they are right, what can we do? It's just not about man's world or woman's world or anything. We have to keep both the groups happy and I can't think of anything right now."
"Ma'am, I can't work with her around me after everything", Aditya spoke softly.
"Me too. Even I don't want to see him around me."
My response was mechanical. Unsure, whether it was out of ego or I really did not want him around.
Lakshmi looked towards Vinay and Namrata for any solutions. But they had not said a word since I walked in.
"Can you...", Lakshmi wanted some solutions from Vinay and Namrata. But they had not said a word since I walked in.
"I don't want my boyfriend and my family to find out about this", I interrupted.
"Even we would prefer this issue doesn't go outside the office. Should we talk to Saxena Sir about this?", Lakshmi said.
"Is that really necessary?", Vinay asked. He looked too scared.
"But any major action we take will come to his notice. It's better if it comes with his permission."
"What are you thinking?", Vinay asked.
"To shift Aditya to the 16th floor. Like a win-win."
“Lakshmi, is it a game for you that you win if you get an optimal solution?”, I thought.
"What about the people on that floor?", Namrata asked.
"That's the only problem I can think of, that the girls there will not be welcoming. Let me have a word with the Saxena Sir."
"You don't need to talk to the CEO Ajay Saxena just for shifting Aditya to the other floor. Is there anything else in your mind?", Vinay asked.
"Yes, will tell you later."

Lakshmi went out towards Ajay Saxena's cabin. Lakshmi was always an ass kisser of Ajay. People often rumored that Lakshmi was having an affair with Ajay. Maybe listening to a sexual harassment case got her excited and she wanted to quench her thirst. I don’t know in such a heated situation why my mind was wandering for such bitchy thoughts, though these thoughts relaxed me a little. My suspicious face was clearly visible, even to Lakshmi, so I decided to keep my head low.

I and Namrata came out of the room as well. Aditya and his former manager stayed in the room. The environment of the office was very scary. All the girls were on the same page that they didn't want to see Aditya's face. I knew Aditya was not a bad person but I didn't say anything and let the chaos continue. All the boys had no problem with me but they just wanted Aditya back. I wondered, was it just a bro code or everyone really loved Aditya? His roommate might have told everyone his side of the story.

Aditya's pride seemed to have been compromised. He was a proud techie. After I refused him once for coffee, he did not ask me again for months. When his father expired, he did not talk to me or anyone for a month. I lent him a friendly hand myself and agreed for dinner when he asked. At dinner, it was evident that it was his first date. He did not know what to talk and what not, though he never learned it anyway. He told me that he is just not a techie as people know him. He is a photographer, image, and video editor too. He loves to write blogs and reviews about mobiles and cars. He did not realize that all the hobbies he mentioned were tech savvy. Everything he said bored the hell out of me and I just wanted the dinner to end. Still, I just stayed and kept listening out of courtesy. He mentioned that his father's dog Maggie was now his responsibility and that was the only mention of his father in any discussion we ever had. I did not even bring this up in the meeting.

After half an hour, Lakshmi came back directly to the meeting room. Is it just I or everyone can notice that she looks exhausted? What were Lakshmi and Ajay doing inside for half an hour? Such a slut. How did I forget I need to go inside the meeting room?

I and Namrata went inside the room. From the corner of my eye, I took a peek at Aditya. He looked so tensed. Did he grow two inches of beard in the meantime? Focus Maanvi. Focus on the matter.

"I have decided something. I hope it works for everyone because luckily the team Aditya is in, is all boys team. Maanvi, you and other QA girls, who are involved in the current project, can give a complete KT of the project to two QA boys. Those two QA boys and this Dev team will continue working on the project on the 16th floor. Everyone knows in the other floor that someone named Aditya has left but no one has seen him there. If a complete team is shifted then no one will not even notice there is a boy named Aditya in it too or he is the same one. A marketing team will come to the 17th floor in their place. I need to talk to the Marketing Manager on it but I will manage."
"I will move to the 16th floor as well with them", Vinay declared.
"It seems like a win-win. Let Aditya stay home for two working days and we will give KT to Nilesh and Kartik in the two days.", Namrata added.
"The third day Aditya comes directly to the 16th floor", Vinay continued.
"All happy? Maanvi?", Lakshmi asked me.
"Yes Ma'am"
"Maanvi, you can go to your cubicle and continue your work", Lakshmi asked me to leave.
Even after I left the room, the discussion continued among the managers. I could see the conversation from outside, but couldn't hear anything. Everyone came to me to ask what happened but I just said the HRs will announce in some time. Aditya did not say a word. After 15 minutes, Aditya got a rehiring letter. He took it and left the floor. The discussion among the now relieved managers continued.

Six months passed and I never saw Aditya. I don't even know whether he is still there. Though I do want to know but can't ask anyone. His Facebook profile still mentions our company's name. I am happy that I don't have to face him anymore. I feel guilt-free that he was not fired because he was not at all a bad person to be fired.

SPORTSMANSHIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 09:01:00 +0000

Coach Sam and Captain Sonia were discussing the team for national cricket championship. They were evaluating each player for an inter-club tournament. After deciding 4 main batsmen, a wicketkeeper and 3 main bowlers, they had to select 3 more players. Sam was taking player's name and Sonia was describing the role and past contribution of the player.

Nikita - She is an all-rounder and comes handy when pitch is good for spin - In

Ahana - She is an inconsistent bowler - Yes, in the last match she gave 35 runs in 2 overs; Out

Yasmeen - She is a decent medium pacer and an inconsistent batsman but a very good fielder - Yes; In

Chitra - She is an allrounder too like Nikita but her past performance is not as good - Out

Gayatri - She is not in form - Out

Ria - She is a good batsman; never attempts boundaries but is very fast in running between wickets; we had 3 50+ partnerships in last 10 matches - She drops too many catches, which had cost us 2 potential wins; Out

Mary - She is a decent batsman; 15-20 runs every match with 150+ strike rate - Unsure

Sam: We need one more. Either Chitra or Mary.

Sonia: Sir, Mary will be a good option.

Sam: For the 12th man, Chitra or Ria.

Sonia: Ria.

Sam: Done. Put it on the board.

Ria ran to the notice board expecting her getting promoted to one-down batsman but she found her in 12th man. She ran to Sonia and burst out angrily and even pushed her. Sonia was strong and tall. Ria was small and sleek. Had Ria been strong as well, she was so angry that she would have beaten the hell out of Sonia. Sonia kept saying "Coach Sir had decided not me", but Ria did not listen.

Ria left the locker room when someone called her out from behind. It was Anubhav, the famous sprinter of the club.

Anubhav: I have seen your matches. You are fast. Will you run for the club as a sprinter?

For next 2 months, Ria prepared for the state championship in running and Sonia prepared for the tournament. Ria used to run more than 200 rounds daily around the cricket stadium angrily. Her anger on Sonia motivated her to run more. Sonia used to watch Ria's angry run the whole time. Ria prepared very hard for the championship. The cricket tournament was a week after the championship.

Ria won the gold medal in the championship. She came back to the club the next day.

Sonia and opening batsman Megha was called to the Coach's office. She found out that a video is leaked where she and one opening batsman are taking drugs. Both of them have been suspended from the club and from playing cricket for next 2 years.

When they were leaving the club, Ria was entering in.

Sonia: Congrats Ria for the gold. Everything happens for good.

Ria: Yes, everything happens for good. You kicked me out of the cricket team. I kicked you of cricket. Best of luck for next 2 years.

Ria had secretly made the video and leaked it on youtube and informed the coach as well. Sonia was about to punch Ria but Megha stopped her. Ria showed her Medal to her to tease her.

Sonia: I will break your leg so that even you can't run for 2 years.

Sonia tried to pounce on Ria but Megha stopped her again. Ria went inside.

Megha was calm. She explained to Sonia.

Megha: If she made the video, doesn't mean we did not take drugs. We are punished for taking drugs, which we did, and not for video. If we murder someone and end up in jail doesn't mean we take revenge on the eyewitness.

Sonia: I will break her leg.

Megha: If she did anything wrong, God will break her leg. If you want to take revenge, run in the next championship and defeat her.

Sonia was suspended from cricket and the club. So she could not play cricket or even run from that club. But she can run from some other club if they agree. She joined the rival club nearby. She prepared 3 months very hard. She knew how hard Ria prepared earlier. Sonia did even harder. After 3 months, there was a 20km national marathon run and Ria was a favorite to win that. Ria had come to know by then that Sonia will be running too.

On the marathon day, all gathered near an hour early. Sonia and Ria came face to face. Sonia had got slimmer now.

Ria: Didi, I am really sorry for what I did. It was out of anger. Now I realize, I did wrong.

Sonia: Ria, hold your sorry for an hour. You will be even sorrier when I defeat you in your game. You will be sorry that you messed with the wrong girl.

Ria: You can't beat me in my game.

Sonia: Will see.

Sonia knew Ria is underestimating her. Whistle blew. All started running. Sonia went much ahead of Ria and others. Sonia and Ria were much faster than others. When Sonia hit 5km, Ria was 100m behind her and others were more than half a km behind Ria. Sonia couldn't she anyone behind her at all and thought she had underestimated herself and Ria had no idea how good she had become. When Sonia hit 10km, Ria was 100m still behind her. When Sonia hit 15km, Ria was still 100m behind her. When Sonia hit 19km, Ria was still 100m behind her. And that was when Ria got faster. Ria was saving energy for the end. Knowing Ria closing in very fast, Sonia tried to increase her speed but she couldn’t. She could barely maintain her speed. When Sonia was hitting the 19.5km mark, Ria overtook her very fast and got too ahead towards the finish line. When Sonia was 200m away, Ria was around 50m away.

When Ria was just 25m away, her ankle broke and she fell down. Sonia overtook Ria and then stopped.

Sonia's coach was shouting from the finish line but her legs froze there. Then she remembered what Megha said.

"If she did anything wrong, God will break her leg."

"If we murder someone and end up in jail doesn't mean we take revenge on the eyewitness."

She saw the audience. They were all silent. Their favorite is unconscious.

Even if Sonia wins it will be just a gift from Ria or consolation for what she did. It won't be what Sonia earned.

Then Sonia remembered Ria preparing very hard by running around the cricket stadium.

"It might be her last chance. She might not be able to run again."

Sonia saw behind. Other participants were approaching near. She ran back to Ria. She lifted Ria in her arms and began running towards the finish line.

3 participants came near when Sonia with Ria in her hand was 10m away. The 3 participants could have overtaken them but they did not. They slowed down in respect and kept running behind them clapping for the next 10m. All audience stood up in respect for Sonia and Ria. Sonia broke the ribbon with Ria's body.