chapter 2

Chapter 2Heads rollShe hung around uncertainly, unable to focus on work, when she was jolted out of her reverie as she heard Arya say loudly, in the conference room, “The company is in shambles.” He probably intended even those outside to hear him, raising his voice uncharacteristically. He succeeded in his mission, if that was his intention. “I gave it to you on a platter! Look what you have done to it!” Anu inferred that this was said to Ganesh.The pin drop silence that followed was resounding. Those who were near the door scurried away. The board members inside stared at him in shock. One of the senior board members intervened mildly, but Arya was intractable. “No Mr. Verma, I will not listen to reason. I am an unreasonable man! And I demand results.”When the meeting broke finally half an hour later, a truce had been brokered. And the head to roll would be that of Ganesh’s. When he stepped out, he tried to look as if the world still belonged to him, but his eyes betrayed him. Much to Anu’s chagrin, he had resigned without a fight! How could he let Mr. Arya bully him!She rushed to his room, hoping to make him change his mind. He raised his hand and silenced her. Calling all his senior managers, he informed them, “You will be working with Mr. Arya from now on. Some of you know him from before. It will be an experience of a lifetime to learn from him. I wish you all the best.”“What about you?” Anu demanded.He shrugged, “I have some offers in hand. I will give them a shot.”Someone whispered, “What do you think is going to happen now?”Ganesh straightened and said with an effort, “There will be tightening and all inefficiencies will be removed…that’s his goal. Please see that you are not viewed as one.” He smiled, “As I was.”“Oh!” came the gasp from the five senior people in the room.He laughed, finally finding humour in the situation. “Oh well, que sera sera…”He picked up his bag and paused, suddenly murmuring,  “I wondered why Chintan was here…”Anu, who was the closest, did not hear clearly. “What!”But Ganesh was impatient to be off, and left with a bye. ‘Industry Matters’ could interest her no more. Anu felt bereft. Ganesh had been her friend, mentor and guide. As she moved around like a zombie, she realised half her interest in continuing here for so long had been because of Ganesh! It didn’t help that Arya returned like a conquering warrior, brazenly overruling others, bent on destroying all that Ganesh had built. The senior managers were reduced to a pulp by his barbed words and cold stare. They were experts in their own fields, but he chose to treat them like dirt by exposing their weaknesses, many a times irrelevant to their role. He sent them off one by one. When he called Anu to his room one evening, she swayed between hope and fear that this would be her last day here. She would love to be off, but she did not have another job yet.“You are the only one with good English skills, can you imagine? Out of five managers in an English magazine, only one can write well!”“Sir that’s because I am the editor,” she ventured boldly, as was her wont. “As marketing and finance heads…”“What?” he asked, his shrewd eyes challenging her. She shook her head timidly, feeling the force of his personality. “So I am going to chuck them all out. I have found gems in those teams that I will nurture. And soon, Chintan will join me, and then you will see how a company should be run.”Anu frowned, wondering who this wonder man Chintan was. Already she could imagine a replica of Arya ruling over them all, and felt the beginning of a hate.“You will see,” he promised her for good measure. She much rather wouldn’t, she thought as she walked back to her seat, ignoring the questioning eyes of her colleagues that followed her.As her senior colleagues quit, she realised she could continue here no longer. She started scouting for new jobs. It wasn’t easy, for the man demanded her presence ever so often, making her his unofficial personal secretary, dictating letters for customers, to her. She cursed her good English skills, for that is what had recommended her to him, she realised.When she went home in the evenings, it didn’t help that she had to inhale the perpetual smell of antibiotics that hung around the house. Her mother was a hypochondriac with real and imagined maladies. Ever since Anu’s father died of cancer almost ten years back, she found it difficult to take the hard-line with her mother, who would simply burst into tears, moaning her fate that she had been left alone with her insensitive daughter.One evening, not up to facing her mother, she quietly went to her own room, closing the door gently behind her. She called Ganesh on impulse.“Hi,” he said, surprised to hear her.  After exchanging greetings, she told him softly about the recent developments at work and how her own fate hung in balance. “One wrong ‘in’ or ‘an’ and I will be out by the ear.” It felt nice to hear him laugh. “Ganesh,” she said hesitantly, “frankly, I would like to quit now.”“Yes, that would be best. But you know that the market is quite bad right now, right?”“Yes…but to be his secretary!”“Hmmm…that is a problem. Why don’t you ask Chintan what to do?”“Who is this Chintan! I keep hearing his name all the time! Arya thinks he is the answer to all of ‘Industry Matters’ non-existent problems!”Ganesh laughed. “Trust Arya to do it… He is quite a guy… You must meet him.”“Not interested!” she exclaimed. “I would rather be out by then… Will there be something for me in the company you are joining, Ganesh?” she asked wistfully.“It is in Bangalore. You cannot move, can you?”She sighed. “No.”“I will keep my ears open,” he assured her before ending the call.Disappointed, Anu evaluated her career options, which seemed bleak.‘Anuradha Thakur, what are you going to do?’ she asked herself. Not working was a non-option.She leaned back and closed her eyes, massaging her head to relieve it of tension. She heard her mother moving about. She sighed and got up. She would be found out soon and would have to answer a number of questions – all on medical issues. She might as well have become a doctor as her father had desired. Maybe she would have escaped Mr. Arya then! She idly wondered who this Chintan was. Would he have a silver bullet that could solve her personal problems too?Â