Chapter 3

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Oh No!

"No! No!" I mentally yell. In a slightly calmer voice, I say, "Nivedita, I already have too much to do," I look at her with pleading eyes.

"I have to work on the advertising campaign for DeWorld," the new 5-star hotel of the company, "plus I have to start on the logistics of the company's relaunch as well, and....you know I already have a lot of work," I throw my hands up in a helpless gesture. Training the new guy is going to take a lot of my time, which I cannot afford to lose.

"Perhaps you could ask Rohit, Junaid, Kavita or someone else from the department to train him," I beg.

"Tarana!" Nivedita looks at me sternly, her voice warning me not to argue, "I have already decided that it would be best if you show him the ropes."

She turns to Jeet, "Tarana Dheer is our PR Executive. She assists me in looking after the public relations and advertising campaigns of the firm.  It's been just six months since she joined us but has picked up the job very quickly," she smiles for his benefit, but her eyes are shooting daggers at me. I know better than to say anything at this point, so I keep my mouth shut.

"Well, OK then its settled. Jeet, you need to be in office at nine o'clock sharp tomorrow morning to start with your training. Tarana will explain the rest of the office policies, procedures and details of our department tomorrow. Good luck!"

With a nod of her head, Nivedita dismisses us and turns to her computer. Jeet and I troop out of her office, with him looking triumphant like a cat who snagged a whole jar of cream and me looking dejected, like a cat whose jar of cream was taken away.

"Well then, is there anything for me to do now?" Jeet sounds so eager to begin.

"I could start from today if you like."

Well, hell no! He'll just have to wait.

"No, since it has been decided you start tomorrow, you can take the day off and relax."

He gives that half smile again as if he knows something I don't. Wierdo!!

'Yeah! but kinda cute wierdo, no?' inner voice rings in my head. 'No! and shut up!'

"Anyway, you'll be begging for days off once you begin."

"I don't think that would happen," Jeet states, giving that secret half smile again.

"Well, OK. I have a lot of work to do and I need to clear my schedule so I can free up some of my time to start training you." I nod to the exit, hoping he will get the hint and leave. But it doesn't work. He is still standing there and looking around our department, mentally assessing something, probably his work environment.

I take the opportunity to look at Jeet again. There's a niggling feeling that something is not right about him. If not for his nerdy sort of look and poor sense of dressing, he might be quite good looking. Like he's purposely trying to dress down.

'Strange!' I think to myself, 'normally people want to project themselves better than they actually are. I wonder why he dresses this way?'

I brush the thought aside, while my mind races with the million things I have to do.

Our company is planning to re-brand its image with focus on technology and development.

DeGlobal Corporation business consists of Retail – they have a chain of supermarkets, high end fashion stores and electronics stores all around the world, Real Estate – owning large office and residential complexes in India and US, Hospitality - 5 and 7-star hotels in various locations around the world and they are now venturing into Telecommunications having recently tied up with a leading European firm to provide internet and mobile services. It is among the 100 top companies in the world and the Chairman, Mr. Dev Grewal is always included in the list of influential people in the world.

"Well then, I will take your leave Ms. Tarana," Jeet starts to move towards the door. "Yes, I will see you tomorrow Mr. Jeet..... Sorry I didn't get your last name?"

"Just call me Jeet," he looks down, averting looking at me.

"OK Jeet, I will introduce you to the rest of our team members tomorrow and explain more about the work of this department."

"That will be great! See you tomorrow then," Jeet waves and leaves the department. Just as I am about to turn to my desk, I see Jeet turning right going toward the IT department, instead of turning left towards the lifts lobby.

I start to call out to him that he's taken the wrong turn, but Purvi, one of our graphic designers, stops me.

"Let it be! It's a huge office and one tends to get lost in here all the time. The IT guys will show him the exit."

That was true. Our office was huge, with each floor of the building housing 5 to 6 departments and each department having a minimum of twenty employees each. It was a maze.

One entire floor of the building was dedicated to the cafeteria, which catered to the nearly three thousand employees working in this Head Office alone.

The penultimate 2 floors were reserved for the top management and their staff, while the twentieth floor, the top most floor of the building was occupied by the Chairman Mr. Dev Grewal.

"By the way Humpty Dumpty, heard you had a great a great fall this morning," Purvi chuckles at her own joke. I respond by scowling at her.

"Sorry that was so corny, but are you OK? Hope you didn't hurt yourself," Purvi asks concernedly.

I shake my head, "More my pride than anything else," I reply, my face flushing with embarrassment again, thinking about the incident.

"By the way did you hear the latest news?" Purvi rapidly flaps her hand in excitement.

Three years older to me at 27 years, Purvi has been in the Company for over 4 years now. 

A complete contrast to me, she is vivacious, talkative and an extrovert. With her effervescent nature, she can make friends very easily, a trait I am secretly envious of, but also glad at the same time as she is one of the few friends I have made in this city.

Since she knows a lot of people within the Company, Purvi is also our informer of the latest gossip & happenings in the office.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Well, news is there are renovation works happening on the topmost floor." That's not important news, I think, but I humor her anyway.

"The Chairman must want to update the old decor," I offer. Purvi shakes her head vehemently "No, no. The buzz is that Mr. Grewal is preparing an office for his son Vicky, who is moving here," Purvi's eyes grow wide with excitement.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask raising an eyebrow, "I have heard Vicky is not interested in staying in India, he likes handling the business from his New York office."

Purvi nods, "You know Roshni.. our GM's secretary," she clarifies when I give her a confused look, "She said, the GM & Vice Presidents were called for a special meeting with the Chairman last week to discuss Vicky's joining here as CEO."

Purvi whispers conspiratorially. "No one is supposed to know apparently, it's all top secret."

"Well, I hope he joins soon. I have heard so much about him, but I have never seen him. We can finally see what Mr. Vicky Grewal looks like," Purvi goes on excitedly. "He is very elusive you know."

"Yeah! He even rejected a face to face interview with Nivedita," I add, "he gave an interview over the telephone for the annual special issue, crushing her dreams of travelling to the States.

I remember that incident, it was maybe less than a month since I joined the firm. Nivedita was very excited that she finally got Mr. Vicky Grewal to agree for an interview. She was making plans to travel to USA. She was eagerly browsing websites of places to visit, shop and eat in New York, all at the Company's expense of course, with Vicky's interview as an excuse.

However, she got an email a few days later saying that Vicky would give her an interview on the phone for thirty minutes only and anything else should be communicated through email.

She took it very hard, venting her anger and frustration on us. She gave me the hardest time, since I was a novice there. I almost quit my job then but having no other option in hand, I decided to stick it out.

I am heading back to my seat, when I hear Nivedita call out to me. I enter her cabin after a cursory knock, and she indicates to me to take a seat.

"Now Tarana, to get to the point, this new guy Jeet, who will be joining from tomorrow. He has come on a personal recommendation from the General Manager. He will be with us for maybe for a few days just to get acquainted with our department, then will probably move to another department. The GM wants me to show him around him, like I have nothing better to do," she adds sarcastically.

"Explain to him the systems and procedures of our department, what we do and show him some of our reports, publications and PR material that we have done. Perhaps he could also help you with the logistics of the launch," Nivedita orders.

I groan internally, I really do not want to be burdened with someone for the next few days or weeks, especially on something critical as the launch. I heard that the relaunch was Mr. Vicky Grewal's idea and he was personally looking into it.

I could not afford to botch it. I pointed out the same to Nivedita, who just shrugged her shoulders, "well it's better that you have someone to share the work. You know it is very important to the Company and not even a minor detail can be missed."

I head back to my desk, wondering if Jeet would be of help or an inconvenience.

I automatically reach for my phone, to check my messages.

Oh No!!

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