A Twisted Love Story - Episode 3

The clock showed 9.45 am and Bhaskar was already on his desk. He started his computer, checked his mails, replied to a few, marked others for later reply and locked his computer. By that time, everyone arrived in the office and Bhaskar was amazed at their punctuality. "I am lucky, these guys are on time" he said to himself.

"Good Morning Sir", everyone greeted him and he coolly replied to all of them.

"Please be seated in the conference room, I will join you in 5 mins"

Bhasker started preparing certain documents on his desktop which he wanted to present in the training session today. He entered the conference room and settled down in front of the main computer, remote logging in to his desktop and starting the projector simultaneously for the entire team to view the content.

The training session was quite exhaustive, with Bhasker being considerate about giving breaks at regular intervals to refresh the minds of the new candidates for them to absorb all the content effectively. At the end of the day, he greeted all of them with a smile and sat down for a few minutes as he was also exhausted. It can sometimes take a toll on you to conduct and entire day's training session and still be fresh.

"Thank you for the training Sir!", Meena said in an extra sweet tone.

"You are welcome", Bhasker was surprised as well as a bit startled. What on earth happened to her so suddenly. In fact Bhasker was happy that she kept her dirty mouth shut during the entire training session, but in the end, those 6 words irritated him a lot. He sensed that this girl is definitely up to something, and wants to use her so call girly power to bend things, and Bhasker was such a guy who wouldn't allow anything close to what Meena was planning to do.

This went on for a few days. Throughout the session Meena was quiet and at the end, the same dose of compliments were showered, sometimes more, sometimes even more but never ever less than the previous dose. This prompted Bhasker to rethink about Meena.

Has she suddenly changed or is this the original Meena and what he had seen earlier was just a one of case of a person behaving differently according to the situation? He was totally confused. And he said, "I'd rather not think about this and concentrate on my work, as that is more important for my career"

But day by day, Bhasker saw improvement in Meena's behaviour. She became more polite and was now actually concentrating on what Bhasker taught in the conference room during the training sessions.

The Day arrived. Heavy rains lashed Mumbai that night, to such an extent that the roads were clogged with too much traffic, potholes everywhere and waterlogging became the rule of the night. And the same night was a sales refresher meeting where the new joiners had to understand the sales process within the company, put their questions across and become ready to go live in a few days. Meetings are always meant to be strechable and the same was with this case. At 10 pm, people breathed a sigh of relief as the VP concluded the boring presentation, and of course at this hour, even if someone had a question, no one would dare to ask!

Everyone hurried to go home but were stuck at the gate. No Auto Rickshaws or Taxis, No buses as well! The VP took at least 8 new joiners with him in his Brand new SUV, left were Meena and Tushar. Tushar said he is waiting for another friend in another dept. and he would go with him on his bike.

"Are you crazy? You will get all wet. Come with me, I will drop you"

"No, Its ok Sir, I will Manage"

"Sure?"

"Yes Sir, don't worry"

"Great! Ah.... Meena, can I drop you somewhere?", Bhasker asked wondering how come he said this and that too to Meena.

"Sir, I stay in Kondivita, It would be good if you can drop me"

"Come, sure I can drop you"

Meena sat on the front seat, next to the driver's seat. She was a little bit wet, but didn't mind as she knew she would reach home sooner than expected. Bhasker was a favorite among the ladies and Meena was aware of his charming abilities. But today, in the car, he was silent. Switching on the FM and listening to some old songs was what he preferred rather than talking to Meena. Meena was disappointed, but somehow gathered courage to speak up to him.

"So, Sir are you married?"

"What?. No No, I am single. There still time. Marriage can wait, and I want to have fun before I can commit to someone"

"Fun! Ah.. I got it Sir!"

"No, Not that kind of fun, just enjoying life and all, that's it"

"Sir, that is also enjoyment na!", Meena chuckled with a devilish smile on her face

Bhasker couldn't believe his ears and his brain. He was conversing about having fun, implied meaning having fun with women, with a girl whom he still doesn't like. This was not something new for him as people close to him know that he is a cassanova and he has had high profile girl friends in the past. But with Meena, he was in no mood to talk, yet he had to answer as he didn't want to cross the boundaries of professionalism.

"There, we have reached your home. Good Night Meena, See you tomorrow in office"

Bhasker face was straight, pointing towards the steering wheel and was waiting for Meena to get down. After about 5 seconds, Meena leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheeks. "Thank you sir, you are so sweet. I wouldn't have reached home had it not been you"

"F**k, what just happened?" Bhasker said to himself in his mind. He waited for Meena to close the door, didn't even look at her and straight away drove off and stopped a few meters ahead, away from her view. "WTF, WTF. how did this happen, and why didn't I react. Shit man. Shit"

"Cool down, Cool down. you haven't committed a murder, a girl just kissed new and its not the first time", Bhasker reassured himself and closed his eyes for 5 mins. He regained his mental composure and off he drove to his house for a Good night's sleep. But that kiss didn't make him sleep that night and the fatigue was visible on his face next day.

"You are not well Sir?"

He stared at Meena for 5 mins and Meena equally stared at him, also asking the same question thrice. "Ah..no no I am fine, Just lack of sleep".

"Oh, My kiss didn't make you sleep sir"

Bhasker looked around and heaved a sigh of relief. No one else was present in the conference room. He warned Meena, "Don't you ever dare do that again. What the hell was that kiss for yesterday? and if you tell anyone over here, I will recommend your name to the HR and have you fired from this organization"

Meena was shocked and as is with Women, she started crying the next instant.

"Unbelievable man!", An angry but silent Bhasker uttered.

"Ok! Sorry, now don't cry and please go and wash your face. we are about to begin the training session shortly." Bhasker didn't knew how to handle the situation but he kept his calm and concentrated on his work. The end of the day was nearing and he desperately wanted to talk to Meena. He called Meena and told her I will drop you again today. She initially was adamant to go with him considering what happened in the morning, but when Bhasker said he wants to talk, she agreed.

Bhasker parked his car a few meters before her apartment. "See, I am sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you or hurt you, but I was shocked yesterday and didn't know how to react. Plus I haven't slept properly as well. Hope you understand."

"Its ok Sir, I understand." Her hand on Bhasker's hand. Bhasker tried to pull his hand away but Meena stopped him. "What's wrong sir? I know I am not that smart like you, but I was the hottest girl in my college. Don't you like me? I know you don't like my nature but then I am good looking too, at least you can be happy that a good looking girl likes you and wants to be with you"

"Excuse me, I don't deny that you are good looking but please, I don't want to talk further about this. Leave my hand and please go now, I am getting late, My family is waiting"

Bhasker turned his face away from her. And Meena got an opportunity to plant another kiss on Bhasker's cheeks. "What the...."

"Bye Sir, Muaaaahhhh"

The flying kiss was what made Bhasker smile a bit. She is one crazy female, is what Bhasker thought. And the smile remained on him till then time he reached home, prompting his Mom to ask, "Have you made Katrina Kaif your girlfriend?" He smiled again.

To himself he said, "No mom this time a simpleton, worthy of bringing her home to you"

A Twisted Love Story - Episode 2

The results were ready. Bhaskar's dedication to his work was so pronounced that he didn't even break for lunch. And by the time he decided he wanted to go for lunch, it was time for the kids to return.

"I don't know how much will I score", mumbled Rushali as one by one all the new joiners entered the conference room. Anticipation was the norm of the day for them as they sat anxiously waiting for Bhaskar to announce the results.

"So Guys! All ready for the results. What do you think you must have scored?" Asked Bhaskar wittily as he knew most of them had fared real bad and not many had even crossed the 50% mark.

"So, to start with the good news. And that is that only 3 out of 15 people have cleared the passing level of the test and you guys qualify to go for second round of training. Rest others, you will have to give a re-test in 2 days"

Except the 3 faces, gloom had engulfed all the others. "Oh no!" "Shit, this is bad" "What the hell" were some of the exclamations that were audible in the room.

"Silence please", Bhaskar said in an authoritative tone. "Please distribute the papers", he said to Meena, who, to Bhaskar's chagrin, was sitting in the front row, on the first chair. Bhaskar was not liking her presence there, but he couldn't help it as she was a part of this new workforce.

"And you Meena! You have just scored 15 marks. What's wrong? Is it something that you didn't understand or is it that my teaching method is not good?". Bhaskar was annoyed because in his career as an additional trainer for the new sales group that was at its nascent stage, this was the lowest score he has ever encountered while training.

"Sir, I understood everything but I couldn't prepare", said Meena in a meek voice.

"That's not an excuse, today is Monday. You had 2 days of the weekend and I presume sufficient time as well to at least go through the notes"

"Ya Sir, but..?"

"No excuses Meena, this is not done at all. And all these results have already been sent to Mehta Sir. Now those who have not cleared would have to anwer him why?"

"Sir, I will score good in re-test", chuckled Meena.

"Let's see"

And with this the session for the day was over as Bhaskar had ordered everyone to be on their desks and prepare for the re-test. For the 3 who had cleared their test, he would hold a round of viva's to test additional knowledge.

With this Bhaskar was on his spree of managing client demos, project milestones and requirements and other essential stuff that made up his daily grind.

He sent a broadcast on the Chat Messenger intimating everyone to leave office on time and report to office tomorrow by 10 am sharp.

A Twisted Love Story - Episode 1

His name is Bhaskar. A bright, young engineering graduate working with a MultiNational Corporation as a Consultant. Over 6 feet tall, with a slight darker complexion and curly hair, his looks were classified by most of his female colleagues as being in the range of somewhat good looking to very handsome. As if Bhaskar was bothered about it!

He had completed his graduation long back and after an unsuccessful stint at starting his own business, he finally got this job and was determined to perform his level best. And why wouldn't he? Gifted with a sharp intellect, along with an exceptional ability to comprehend multiple concepts, he delivered his services with devotional attitude and a customer centric approach. He was the best employee his boss could get for this role. And occasionally, he used this ability to train newly recruited employees, fresh out of the college. His ability to make these new comers understand the toughest of the concepts of IT software services made him an immediate hot favorite, with his demand growing every time when there was a batch of fresh recruits coming into the company. Somehow he managed his job and the additional responsibility of training the new joiners.

In the batch of fresh recruits was Meena, a 21 year old, "just out of the college" engineering graduate from Solapur. As has been the trend, people who come to Mumbai from sleeper towns have a different glow on their faces, as if they have achieved something great in life by coming to this bustling metropolis, and Meena was one of them. Her face glowed like a hot furnace and her eyes shone like gold. At 5 and a quarter feet, she was the shortest among the entire batch, and of course very much shorter than her trainer, Bhaskar.

Bhaskar was a straight forward person and that meant he had more enemies than friends in this organization. But on the contrary, he was more popular among the female populace because of the natural charm he oozed out of his dynamic personality. And why would that charm fail to work on Meena?

From Day one, Meena's affinity to Bhaskar increased to a point where Bhaskar asked her to behave properly, as the trainer-trainee relationship was strictly professional. In the choicest of words that he dished out against Meena, he said "I am here to favor only the one who works hard and not the one who works other way round". And Meena, with a certified IQ level of just 59, was one of the dumbest of the lot and was doing exactly what Bhaskar hated the most, "Buttering"!

These words echoed in the ears of Meena as a warning bell that such tricks won't work on her trainer and hard work would be the only imperative for her,. Repeated attempts by Meena to win Bhaskar's confidence failed miserably, and after a saturation point, Bhaskar started ignoring her. The inevitable day arrived when the training schedule was complete and it was time for Bhaskar to test their skills. It was exam time for the new batch who would have thought that exams happen only in schools and colleges. Meena was equally scared as she knew in her heart that she hasn't understood a single word taught by Bhaskar.

The Day and Time were set and everyone had to report precisely 15 minutes before the test. Invariably, everyone were on time and Bhaskar was more than happy. He called everyone to the "Asia" conference room on the first floor. It was the biggest among the conference rooms on the floor and Bhaskar had put a reminder 3 days in advance to book this conference room for 3 hours for the test. 14 new joiners gathered in the room, with nervousness on their faces clearly visible. Bhaskar entered the conference room with a bunch of papers and everyone greeted him "Good Morning". Bhaskar greeted them back and said, "So guys! it's time for the D-Day. I hope you all have prepared properly from the notes that you must have taken during the training sessions. I hope you must have also read the printed material that I had provided. Anyways, we will start with the test. 100 marks with 60 as passing marks."

"Sir!", exclaimed everyone. "Sir 60 is too much, please be reasonable", said Meena. Annoyed with her comment, Bhasker said jokingly, "For you Meena, the passing is 90!" Laughter erupted in the room and Meena felt embarrassed. In a way, that's what Bhaskar wanted. A way in which he could make her mouth shut. "Sir, what if we fail?", asked Anita. To which Bhaskar replied, "You will be given another chance, meaning there would be a re-test. And if you fail in the re-test as well, then you are out of this company!"

"Sir!", everyone exclaimed again. "Are you serious Sir?", asked Bhargav. "Yes I am!", Bhaskar chuckled. The nervousness on their faces increased exponentially. Bhaskar sensed trouble and said, "I am kidding guys, Chill! this is no school or college that would throw you out on failure in an examination. This is just to test your knowledge and skills. You wouldn't be thrown out but you are expected to achieve a good score and understand the concepts and products of the company thoroughly so as to sell them effectively in the market"

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief and the decrease in nervousness was again exponential. Bhaskar distributed the papers exactly at 10 AM and said, "3 hours for the test. All the best!".

"Thank you Sir", the room echoed.

"No Copying. I am sitting right here with you guys to monitor", and Bhaskar brought his laptop, grabbed an empty chair and started working while monitoring the kids. With a little bit of mumbling here and there, the entire 3 hours went peaceful with paper submissions by some of them as early as 11.30 AM. Meena submitted her paper by 11.00 AM. "I wonder what would she score?", Bhaskar said to himself.

Bhaskar didn't had to wait to say "Time up" as all submissions arrived much before the deadline.

"You all can go for lunch. I want all of you to be back into the room by 2.00 PM", Bhaskar said with authority. Contd......Episode 2

Mandatory Disclaimer

Well this is the first thing that needs to be there on such a blog. Let me out rightly clarify that this blog is meant for the purpose of entertainment through short stories written by me. The names of person, places objects or any other living or non-living thing are fictitious and does not relate to any living or non-living entity in anyway.

Thank you.