The Heart has its reasons

Hello friends

 I am back again on the blog spot. I have kept you waiting for a long time.  Many of you have been asking me on the phone as to why am I not publishing anything.  Well some events at the work place had kept me very busy and also out of tune to allow me to bring something new and fresh to you.  However, whatever may happen there should not be any laziness on my part.  I hope that new posts on this blog will be now a regular feature.  What I am bringing to you is a story which will be covered in more than one part. It is  from our everyday lives. Hope you enjoy the story. Please leave your comments to which I look forward to most eagerly.

 

THE HEART HAS ITS REASONS

  Nisha hurried through the breakfast

gulping down big chunks of chapattis paying little attention to her mother’s instructions to eat carefully. After finishing her milk, she rushed out of her apartment with a bag, hanging on one shoulder. She put on her stylish brown sunglasses that surely added more gravity to her powerful and attractive personality. This is how her mornings have been for the past eight months.

She walked down the lane towards the bus stop, nearly seven hundred meters from her house tip-toeing on her stilettos.  She was hoping to catch the 8:30 bus that would reach her to the office by 9:05 hrs. Lo and behold, as she neared the bus stop, she saw the bus moving away and by the time she reached the bus stop, it had already sped away. 

Trying to stop auto-rickshaws, one after the other, proved to be futile. All of them were already full. It was already quarter to nine, however, one auto slowed down near her but in the back seat there were two hefty looking guys sitting and one of them ogling at her mumbled, “chalegi kya?” Nisha retreated two steps but the auto became stationary. The guys inside starting staring at her and Nisha became very irritated and angry. Before she could retort a bike came to stop between the auto and her and the guy on the bike turned towards the auto and asked the twosome in the backseat whether he could accompany the guys in the auto.  The auto moved away quickly.  Nisha felt relieved but was surprised when a familiar voice urged her to hop on the bike behind him. As the face was half hidden under the helmet, she could not make out earlier that it was Suneel, a colleague in the office three years senior to her. She did not like him since the day she had joined office because it seemed to her that he was very arrogant. He used to walk in the office as if he owned it.  He would try to poke his nose in almost everyone’s affairs.  Sometimes he would pose as if he is the conscience of all his colleagues. She had always felt that he did not like her and at times would mock at her and would undermine the efforts she was making on the newly assigned project. And above all he seemed to be against Deven her favourite colleague at the office.

“Come on sit behind me quickly. What are you staring at? Those guys are already gone,” he urged her.

“I don’t want....” Nisha started but her soft voice was lost in the din of the horns that had started blaring behind the bike on the congested road.

Suneel looked at her in amazement and shouted over the blaring horns so that he could be heard, “are you mad? Do you suppose you are going to get any auto at this time? You do not want to reach in time?” “OK suit yourself,” he kicked the bike and started but then his gaze softened for a moment and he said,“It’s, Okay, move on behind me we will reach very quickly”. Gazing all around Nisha realized that people were looking at them with amusement. As if on impulse she quickly jumped on the seat behind him and as soon as she had settled Suneel sped off towards office. Within 10 minutes they were in the parking lot. Both got down, neither said anything even while entering the lift and Suneel made his way straight to his chambers as soon as he got out without hearing the thanks that she mumbled.

Nisha felt that the starting of that day was not so good and her mood was not up to the mark, although she had reached office ten minutes earlier than her usual time.  She started with the chores pending on her desk and the mail in her inbox.

While sipping coffee with Neerja her friend during coffee break who had joined the company one year earlier than she did she shared her morning experience.  

Neerja exclaimed “You did the right thing. Suneel is a very nice guy.” 

 

Nisha retorted,“Nice guy! My foot! I don’t give a damn to how he is. To me he appears to be very arrogant and irritating. He ignored even my thanks.   He is very rude at times! He thinks he is a genius and all others are fools. He thinks he is the only one who is running this company.” 

“Cool down, cool down baby” said Neerja, “I think he is a nice guy and a very competent officer, the management take his advice on a number of important matters. He appears to be arrogant but it is just..., that he is very confident,” she expressed her views. 

Nisha started to protest but suddenly there was a call on her intercom for discussion with her Team Head on new schemes, the company was planning to launch.

Nisha had been given a task to prepare an implementation plan for the trainings of personnel, who will be handling various projects for the company.  Her Team Head had fixed a meeting with Project Heads at four in the afternoon, so she remained very busy the whole day and had to hurry through her work. She thought it better to skip lunch and finish her work, and be ready by three thirty so that there was enough time to discuss the plan with the Team Head before the meeting and carry out any last minute changes.

The meeting began and Nisha found it very boring, wishing it to end by 5:30 pm, so that she could catch the quarter to six bus and reach home in time.  Soon her team’s plan came up for discussion, everything went well, but an objection was raised that the implementation was not practical.  Who else would say so, Nisha was half expecting it and it was Suneel indeed. This would mean that she would have to work out all the details again.  This thought agitated her and she felt that the objection was on frivolous accounts.  She looked up at her Team Head for support but she was already noting down the changes.  Nisha felt left out of the discussion and lost track of what was happening. After the meeting was over she quickly left office almost running towards the bus stop.  Again she had missed the bus and it would mean waiting another half an hour. 

Soon a silver coloured Honda city stopped by her side and she was flattered to find Deven peeping at her and offering her a lift.  Deven was the manager under whom Nisha’s team worked.  Nisha quickly hopped in beside him.  Most of the girls at the office seemed to like Deven.  His way of talking could flatter anyone and he had a charming smile.  He was always dressed stylishly and Nisha was going well along with him.  A number of times she had shared a cup of tea with him in the office and she had observed that he was liberal in complementing her on the good work that she performed.

“Shall we have some coffee before I drop you?” Deven offered.

Sensing her reluctance he quickly added, “It will not take more than 15 minutes; anyhow you will still be reaching home earlier than you usually do.”

Nisha was puzzled but she nodded, realizing that she would like to spend some time with Deven. She had earlier had a few happy moments with him in office and had a number of times seen admiration for her in his eyes.  Besides she liked him. He was so immaculately dressed and his mannerism was so pleasing.

Soon Deven pulled in the car in the parking lot of a small restaurant. From the look of the exteriors Nisha could guess that it would be expensive. The waiters and other service providers greeted Deven heartily and from the attention that they received Nisha conjectured that he must be visiting the place frequently. Deven talked about the movies he had seen and learnt about what interested Nisha the most.  Even before Nisha realised, it was time to go, quickly they left the restaurant and Deven dropped her just near her house and made a detour to reach the road he needed to catch.

        The events of the evening raised her spirits and she could not stop thinking about the last comment made by Deven before she came out of the car.  In her mind she could hear Deven say that he found her different from the rest of the world and that he liked her very much.  She realised that for the last few months she had been seeing Deven more and more during office hours and the first meeting alone this evening had brought them closer.  Humming a soft tune of her favourite Bollywood song she entered her house.