LOCKDOWN – Part 2, Yoga learning

Narrated till now…

Pramod spends the first few days of the lock down eating, drinking, and relaxing. Susan, his wife tells him to start some workout to be healthy and fit.  He gets a lead about online yoga from his beautiful friend Ipsita Chakraborthy and he joins the course.

Narration continues...

“All of you close your eyes and with a gentle smile on the faces, relax,” the guru said and there was silence for a couple of minutes. He continued “Slowly open your eyes”. Pramod smiled and looked at the laptop screen. The first day of the online yoga classes got over and the participants were waiting for the guru to say few closing words.

“Yoga is not just about exercises or keeping fit. It is about creating a healthy body, a positive mind, and a spiritual soul. We shall keep doing the sun salutations and few asanas to keep our body fit, practice pranayama, and other breathing techniques to have a positive mind and do meditation to have a spiritual soul. It is about spirituality that sans religion” he said.

Pramod smiled and thought “Yoga gurus in India are very good speakers and influencers. They know the pulse of the people well.”

He glanced at the screen and spotted Ipsita in it. He was happy to locate her. The guru started interacting with the participants. He asked Ipsita “Who is your friend who has joined the classes today?”

Ipsita replied, “It is Pramod.”

The guru continued “You mean the uncle with a big tummy wearing black tracks?”

Pramod was taken aback. He did not expect this kind of attack. His face turned pale. Ipsita noticed it and she said, “Pramod wants to keep himself fit and am sure he will be a different looking person after few weeks, Guruji”.

“Your Guru is very strange. He insulted me today” Pramod told Ipsita. They were talking over the phone. It was evening and Pramod was standing in the balcony with a cup of coffee in hand.

“You got him wrong Pramod. He is a very nice person and sincere in his attempts to make us fit. He told me that he liked your smile and will make you shed few kilos in few weeks.” she replied. Pramod laughed and said “I know that he did it deliberately. I shall give my best and try to utilize this opportunity.”

One week passed and it became a daily routine for Pramod. Earlier he used to get up by 8 AM and since the yoga classes started he got up early by 5 AM and attended the classes religiously.

It was Sunday and the yoga trainer was showing new asanas to the online students. She was very flexible and could do very easily. Suddenly the guru started speaking. He said “why is Vidya not to be seen? Why has she switched off the video?” Immediately Vidya came on the screen and said “I was not able to do so many sets of Surya Namaskaras and so I switched off the video and sat down.” The guru looked serious and told her “Whether you do the Surya namaskaras or not we need to see you and then only we would be able to understand your endurance levels and suggest corrections accordingly. This course is for you and we are only enabling you to be fitter and for that, you need to follow the rules.”

He continued “Do you know which student I like the most in this group? Pramod the smiling Buddha. He is elder to most of the participants in this group and of course not able to do the asanas well compared to many. I have been observing him and he is very prompt in updating the diet details online every day and gives his best in the class. The icing on the cake is his wonderful smile.” Pramod was surprised by the words of the Guru and blushed as many young girls clapped.

“You still find the Guru strange?” Ipsita asked Pramod. They were talking to one another over the phone in the evening. “I find him stranger now. I did not expect him to like me so much. I was always thinking that he had no good opinion about me. It is encouraging.”

Many more days passed and in between regular yoga classes they had a body detoxing session which helped in weight loss.

It was the last day of the three weeks yoga course and they completed the routine exercises, pranayama, and meditation. Every participant was sitting in sukhasana with a pleasant smile over the face. The Guru started “Since all of you are attending from your own houses, I request you to call one family member to join the interaction. Pramod got up and went to the bedroom and told Susan to join the interaction.

“Namaskarams to all the participants and their lovely family members. I see a lot of smiling and glowing faces on the screen today. The training has ended but the journey has begun. You people will have to take this forward and make more and more people join the fitness campaign. I thank the family members for allowing the participants to attend regularly without a break.” He continued for about 15 minutes and spoke about the importance of being fit and maintaining a healthy diet. He surprised many when he said “Now I would like to inform you about the best performer. He did neither lose many kilos of weight nor did he perfect the yoga postures. He deserves a special mention for his commitment, punctuality, and of course for his smiling face. The best performer is Pramod.”

Pramod could not believe his eyes. He could see Ipsita smiling and looked satisfied at the result. Susan kept her palm on his arm and patted. Suddenly his eyes became moist and he realized that satisfaction comes when hard work and sincere efforts are appreciated and recognized. He smiled back and felt that the lock down did not go waste.  

LOCK DOWN – PART 1, HOME SWEAT HOME

“We need not worry so much. It is  active in China and European countries as the weather there is  cold. Here the weather is hot and summer is at the doorstep. The heat and humidity will kill the virus” Rohit told Pramod over phone. They were having a socially distanced beer party sitting in their respective homes. They were talking to one another over the Whats App video call. Pramod laughed and said “Stop giving me this knowledge. No one is sure about the behavior of the virus in  hot climate and we do not have any concrete proof about the effect of weather. It is too early to say anything about the virus and how it will behave in our country but one thing is for sure that if we continue eating and drinking like this we are going to add weight .”

“With the unshaven beards we look like rejected heroes of a romantic movie” Rohit replied and both of them laughed aloud.

“Pramod please finish washing the utensils,” Susan reminded from her room. She was working in an IT company and was busy during day time with video conferences and work from home. Pramod was heading the sales division of a construction machinery manufacturing company. He was not having much work during the lock down as his work involved meeting the clients regularly.

Pramod walked into the kitchen and started washing the utensils. His cell phone started ringing. He washed his hands and answered the call. It was from his elder sister Anasuya Joshi.

“Tell me Anu,” he said and continued “How are you and how is the situation in Hubli?”

“I am fine Pramod. We are not going out of the house and so I know as much as you know about Hubli. How is Susan?” Anasuya added.

“She is fine. Right now she is busy in the bedroom attending a Video conference. Most of the day she is busy with work.”

“I spoke to her a couple of days ago ” Anasuya continued “You are lucky to have her as your wife. She not only takes care of her job but also does the majority of the work at home even during Lock down”

“I clean the utensils” Pramod was quick to react.

“I know that you do it only once in a day. She does it the other time in the evening. Cooking is done by her. She hails from a very rich family but is humble and shoulders the responsibility of your family very well.” Anasuya reminded him. 

It was about 7 PM. Susan was busy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. Bharathi their daughter was watching a movie on the television. Pramod walked to the kitchen and said “Did you hear the news, Susan? The positive cases in the country have crossed the 1000 mark and the spread is happening faster. Europe and the US are badly affected by the Pandemic”.

Susan looked back at him and said “I have told you many times not to keep watching the news channels for such a long time. They keep showing the numbers and negative news and you get affected by this.”

“I have a solution to come out of this and be happy and cheerful,” he said.

“What is it?” she questioned.

“I shall take few pegs of scotch. Please give me salted groundnuts mixed with onion and tomato pieces.”

“Yesterday you had beer and today you are talking of drinking scotch. Please start doing some workouts. You are putting on weight. You need to do some exercise.” She said.

He pleaded and got her nod for few pegs of scotch for the night after assuring her that he would start workouts soon.

The next day he was sitting in the balcony having coffee. He gazed at the empty road. Bangalore was never so silent and he could barely see any movement on the road.

He looked at his mobile and was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Ipsita.

Ipsita Chakraborty was his friend and was very beautiful and a fitness freak. She had sent him her photo doing yoga and has shared a link about online yoga classes she was attending.”

Pramod was thrilled and called her. They spoke for a long time and in the end Pramod was convinced to join the online yoga classes.

“You will have to get up at 5 AM  every day. The classes start at 6 AM daily” she said.

“I will of course do it. You have motivated me and I shall join the classes without fail” he replied. 

He felt that the conversation was the best thing to happen to him during the lock down.

He paid the fees online and was waiting eagerly for the classes to start.

To be continued...

NEVER BEFORE EVER AFTER

                                            

“Look at who is washing his hands” said Pramod hilariously gesturing towards his friend Sujan Chandy. Pramod Kulkarni and his wife Susan D’Souza had come to Sujan’s house after three months. They had ventured out as the Lock down rules were eased out in Bangalore. 

Sujan looked back at Pramod smiling and added, “I wash with soap and water for a minimum of twenty seconds.” Wiping his hands with a cotton napkin he continued, “I am washing my hands every day more than what I used to wash in one week.”  He turned his hands and showing the top of the hands said, “The skin has become dry due to excessive washing and has turned red due to irritation!” 

The friends sat on the chairs in the front room. Sujan observed, “Pramod you can take off the mask. You are now inside the house and you both have cleaned your hands with sanitizer.” 

Pramod replied, “Now you guys understand the importance of self-hygiene? During college days many of you were making fun of my clean habits.” 

Susan commented, “Come on, Pramod! You were obsessed about cleanliness during college days while the rest of us were casual about it. In fact many of my hostel mates used to make fun of it saying that my boyfriend would end up getting a job in the sanitation department.” 

Mini Mathew, Sujan’s wife added, “Whatever might have happened a couple of decades ago is not much relevant now. Pramod’s self-hygiene habits are very important in today’s context and will remain relevant for many more years to come.” She got up and said, “Let me go to the kitchen and prepare coffee for you guys.” 

“Coffee reminds me of the frequent tea we used to have during our engineering study days. We never used to bother about hygiene and quality! What was important for us was having it together. Remember those Sunday mornings when we used to sit on the compound wall of the hostel and drink tea supplied by the vendor on the other side of the road?” Sujan reminisced. “Yes I remember” Pramod added, “ It was the only item I used to have outside without bothering much as it was always served hot.” 

Mini walked into the living room with a tray in her hand and placed it on the table. She added, “I used to have tea quite often during my graduation days in Mangalore. I was like Sujan and didn’t bother much about the way the tea or any dish was prepared. I always felt that street food should be enjoyed for the taste.” 

Everyone reached out for their cup and started sipping the coffee. Susan commented, “Strange, isn’t it Sujan? Times have changed so much. I remember having seen you guys sitting on the hostel compound wall close to one another. Until recently we used to sit close to one another during our frequent home parties.  Now involuntarily we are sitting far from each other maintaining social distance. This Virus has played with our lives and has conditioned it rather too quickly.”  

"Yeah" Pramod continued, "This thing is here to stay. We have had enough of home stay and now need to move ahead with our lives. Livelihood is equally important. This lock down has given us ample time to learn, tune ourselves, and adjust to the new world order. There will be less or no eating outside in restaurants and no frequent travel to other places. Holidaying and overseas visits are ruled out for now. The air around us is fresh and our lives have undergone detoxing. We have reset many things and are now appreciating the rituals and traditions of food and living habits followed by our elders. It is still a very long battle to be won and it will be on a day to day basis as we maintain personal hygiene, social distance, and good health."

 

“Well said” Sujan added and continued, “This is the new world order and we have to adjust and move ahead accordingly. It is like Never before & ever after.”

MICRO CHEATING-PART 2

Narrated till now..

Pramod meets his engineering college junior Vidya during his visit to Hyderabad. Meeting her after almost two decades was sought after one and he keeps his wife Susan informed about it.On his return to Bangalore he is surprised to get a good night message from Vidya in Whats app. He replies but does not get response from her.

Narration continues...

“You are looking dull since the time you returned from Hyderabad” Susan said coming out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee. It was Sunday evening and Pramod was sitting on the chair in the balcony of his bedroom.

“Nothing like that” he replied and continued “Am perfectly alright”.

Something was bothering him. He was unable to figure out if he had crossed the line in his reply to Vidya’s text message.

The next day morning he got ready and went to office. Couple of days passed and he was checking his mobile every now and then. He did not get any reply from Vidya. On Wednesday morning he was pleasantly surprised to see a good morning message from her. He was overwhelmed with joy and replied immediately.

“Where were you for the past few days?” he texted.

“I had been to Delhi and was very busy with the officials of Railway ministry. I was not checking messages on Whats App” she texted back.

He felt relieved and kept the phone in his pocket and continued his work in the office.

During lunch hours he checked his phone for messages. His face brightened as there was a message from Vidya. She had sent a relationship quote. Pramod gathered some courage and sent a relationship quote to her. She liked it immediately. The exchange of messages and quotes went on for many weeks and soon it became a ritual for them. Everyday exchanging good morning messages, jokes, videos and quotes became regular.

The following weekend Pramod was speaking to his close friend Sujan Chandy over phone. After speaking for about 15 minutes he kept the phone on the TV and went to the wash room.  He forgot to lock the screen of the phone. Mohit called on his phone.  Susan took the call and informed Mohit that Pramod was in the wash and shall call him back in an hour’s time. Out of curiosity Susan checked his Whats App messages. She was surprised to see many messages from Vidya. She started reading them. She was shocked to observe that the two of them were exchanging messages on a daily basis and she was not aware of the same. Pramod opened the door of the washroom. Susan kept his phone on the TV and walked away.

“Tea please” Susan said and handed over the cup of tea to Pramod. He was sitting in the balcony of the bedroom.

She sat on the chair next to him with her cup of tea and asked “Pramod you know Rohit has sent me text message in Whats App”.

“You mean Rohit staying in B block 403 apartment?” he asked.

“Yes” she continued “Every time I change the DP of Whats App he comments immediately. He keeps mentioning I am beautiful, my dress is good. Today he wrote that I am hot”

Pramod became very angry and got up from his chair and said “I shall go right now to his house and blast that fellow. How can he comment like that on someone else’s wife?”

Susan asked him to sit back and with a smile on her face said “So rules are different for the world and for self”.

Pramod looked up at her and replied in a confused way “I did not understand you”.

“All men are the same. You became angry because Rohit texted your wife praising her beauty. You keep sending messages to married woman day in and day out and it is OK”

It was like a huge boulder falling right on his head. Pramod sat back on his chair. He started sweating and he could feel his heart beating very fast.

There was silence for about 5 minutes. Susan got up and went into the kitchen. Pramod was dumbstruck. He knew that the game was over as Susan had read the messages exchanged between him and Vidya.

Susan returned to the balcony after 10 minutes. She continued “How many months old is this Whats App affair?”

“It is not an affair. We are just friends, good friends and that’s all”

“I have read the emotional relationship quotes exchanged”

“Believe me Susie there is nothing like what you are thinking. I have not met her after the Hyderabad visit about 6 months ago. How can you be so mean and doubt us? There is nothing physical or emotional between us and how can you call this an affair?”

Susan smiled in a sarcastic way and said “Pramod do not teach me about this. This is not our engineering time. Now we have Whats App and many other social media platforms. Cheating has taken a new turn and now it is Micro Cheating. You need not meet the person to indulge in it. Emotional texting is enough. This is the age of direct phone to phone messaging with end to end encryption.

You don’t need to be physically involved with third person to cheat your spouse. This kind of messaging is enough”.

Pramod had no answer to this. He gathered courage and said “I have not committed any crime or cheated you. I was happy about the response I was getting from Vidya and believe me we never crossed any line.”

“I know that. Am happy that it is Vidya on the other side and she has a very balanced and matured head over her shoulder.”

Again there was silence for 5 minutes. Pramod continued “I realize how bad you are feeling. I should not have done it. I shall inform Vidya accordingly”.

For the next three days he did not send any text messages to Vidya. She kept sending good morning messages but he did not reply. On the fourth day he called her and frankly told what all happened. Vidya was very forthcoming and expressed her uneasiness about their whats app messaging. After a long discussion they decided to be in touch as good friends and keep wishing each other on festivals, birthdays and anniversaries. Pramod informed Susan about the same and it appeared like a story with a good ending.

Weeks passed and Pramod felt much better as he was not waiting for any text message or was eager to send one. It was Friday evening and he got a message on his Whats app. His face brightened up. It was from Ipsita Chakraborty. She had texted him informing that she would be back in Bangalore the next day after few weeks of holidays in Agartala.

Men will be men, will seldom change.

MICRO CHEATING , PART - 1

“It is a wonderful office” Pramod said.

He was speaking to his wife Susan on his cell phone.

Pramod Kulkarni had gone to Hyderabad on a business trip for a day and after completing his official work in the first half, went to office of Vidya Joshi (his junior during engineering study days). He got the contact details of Vidya during his engineering reunion and had spoken to her and fixed a meeting with her. It was almost two decades since he had seen or heard about her. He was very eager to meet her as she was his first crush during engineering. He had in fact proposed to her and she had rejected saying that she was in the college to study and not waste time in unwanted things like falling in love. Subsequently he fell in love with his batch mate from Computer Science stream, Susan D’Souza. They got married after facing lot of resistance as both were from different religions.  

“Did you meet her?” Susan said and continued “How does she look now? Beautiful like before?”

Pramod said “I haven’t met her yet and am waiting in the reception.”

The receptionist walked up to him and said “Please come with me sir. Vidya Naidu madam is free now and will meet you”. While walking Pramod asked the lady “She is Vidya Joshi right?”

The lady looked at him and said “No sir she is Vidya Naidu madam”.

They entered a huge room. Pramod was awestruck with the size and grandeur of the room.

“Hi” the lady sitting on the chair said and walked towards him. She shook his hand and smiled. “You have put on lot of weight Pramod “she said.

“Yes I have but you look the same beautiful Vidya.” He replied.

The receptionist went bank and pramod sat on the sofa. Vidya looked very pretty draped in a white cotton saree.

Sitting on the sofa across the glass coffee table she said “How are you? How is Susan? You stay in Bangalore right?”

He replied “Am fine. My tummy is sign of my prosperity. Susan is doing fine and we have one daughter Bharathi. She is in 7^th standard” Saying so he opened the photo gallery of the mobile and showed the photos of Susan and Bharathi.

“Lovely lady and a cute girl” Vidya said.

“Are you in a senior position in this company? Why are they calling you Vidya Naidu?” he asked.

She smiled and said “I have a small position in this company. I am just the Managing Director”. Pramod could not believe it. His image of Vidya was that of a lower middle class girl from Hubli who had to take an educational loan to pursue her engineering as her father could not afford it.

She looked at him and continued “I know you would be surprised. Few months after completion of engineering course my father passed away. I wanted to relocate to Bangalore to join some good IT company. I had to stay back in Hubli as a support to my mother and two younger sisters. I joined an Andhra contractor Mr. Srinivas Naidu who was executing railway civil contracts around Hubli. Though he was a civil engineer he had less technical knowledge but had lot of money and knew the trade very well. I gradually learnt the nuances of civil designing and became a good support to him. He was a widower and had one young son. Couple of years of working together brought us closer and we eventually married each other”

Pramod intervened “Did you not face resistance from your house?”

She continued “Yes of course my mother was not happy. Inter caste marriages were not in vogue at that time. You know how difficult it was. My mother had no other option. She accepted our marriage.”

Pramod got up from his seat, shook her hand and said “Congratulations my lady, you married a man from other caste and I married a lady from other religion. Is he much older to you? “

“The age gap is about 10 years. Srinivas is very fit person. He has lost hair on his scalp but he is very regular to Gym and keeps a fit body unlike you. You have grown a big tummy” she laughed and continued “Am joking Pramod. You look handsome despite the tummy”

 “This does not look like office of a railway contractor. You people have grown big” he said.

“We later started concrete sleeper factory for Railways and over the period we have built three factories manufacturing concrete sleepers. We have about 2000 employees on the roll” she said.

Pramod commented “I salute you Vidya. You have been a winner all the way and your husband is a superstar”. She nodded and they spoke for about an hour and Pramod said “It’s time for my flight back home. It was nice meeting you. Keep in touch”.

She nodded and accompanied him to the portico of the building. He started walking down the steps and she walked with him. Suddenly she tripped and was about to fall down. Pramod held her and she fell into his arms. The touch was like a jolt for him. He looked into her eyes. She was also looking into his eyes. He said “It is nice to know that you remember me”.

She got up from his arms and walked up to the car. Pramod sat in the car and Vidya said “I should remember you only if I forget you. You were always in my mind during the past many years”.

Pramod took the flight and reached his home in Bangalore and could not sleep that night. He got up from his bed and walked to the front hall and switched on the light and the TV. He took his cell phone and checked Whats App messages. He was in for a pleasant surprise. Vidya had sent him a text message. She had texted “Good night and sweet dreams”.

Pramod could not believe it. She was always a very reserved woman and had never entertained extra talk with him during engineering days.

He looked at the watch. It was 11.45 in the night.

He texted back “Thank you and sweet dreams to you too. BTW you looked very beautiful today and I have seen our selfie more than 50 times till now.”

She was online. He could see that in a matter of few seconds she had seen his message as the notification became light blue in color. He waited in expectation for her reply. One hour passed and there was no response. He could see her online in Whats App but could not get her response. He started thinking if he had crossed the line by texting about the selfie. After all Vidya was a very strict lady and she would not have liked it. He cursed himself for crossing the line.

To be continued..

Resolutions- To honor or to break

“Quitting smoking is very easy. Mark Twain once mentioned that he did quit smoking a thousand times” Sujan said and started laughing. Sujan Chandy’s wife Mini Mathew frowned at him and added “I tell you friends that I could change many things about this man including his dressing sense and social etiquette but could not stop him from smoking”.

Sujan got up from his chair, walked towards Mini, placed his arms around her and said “Do not worry dear. I shall give it up”.

Many friends had assembled at the house of the Chandys to celebrate New Year eve with fun and frolic.

Pramod Kulkarni added “Talking of new year resolutions I should say that no one takes resolutions as seriously as Susie” referring to his wife Susan D’Souza. He continued “Imagine the stress both of us underwent as it was an inter religion marriage about two decades ago. Without any one asking for it she gave up eating non vegetarian food for my sake. Till date she has not touched it again”.

Everyone clapped and Mini said “Susan is of different DNA altogether. She has enormous amount of patience and adjusts to situations well”.

“Where is Rohit? Did you not invite him?” Subha asked Mini.

Sujan replied “We did invite him. We sent the invite to everyone in the Whats-app group a couple of times. You know Mini well. She sent messages to everyone and followed it up with a phone invite”.

Pramod took out his phone and dialed Rohit’s number.

“Strange” he commented keeping his phone down “His number is switched off”.

“Let me try Suruchi’s number” saying so Susan dialed her number. To her surprise it was switched off.

“This is very strange. These two guys are very active on social media and are the most accessible couple of our group and right now we are not able to contact them” she added.

Suddenly the mood in the gathering became glum and the group looked concerned about Rohit and Suruchi.

“Rohit’s 'last seen' in Whats-app is four days ago. Imagine a guy who is always connected, keeps checking at least once in 5 minutes and suddenly stops doing so. No updates on Facebook either” Balan said.

Everyone became busy with their smart phones looking for updates from Rohit on various social media platforms.

“This is worrisome now. I haven’t seen a single day wherein he has not updated in social media and now it's been 5 days since he has not said anything there” Balan continued “ Hope everything is OK with him. Neither he nor Suruchi are accessible now as their phones are switched off”.

The glum mood continued and the friends who had gathered to enjoy the New Year eve were silently having their drinks and occasionally looking at one another.

It was about 11 PM and the silence was broken as the calling bell of the house rang. Mini got up and opened the door and to her surprise found Rohit and Suruchi standing outside.

She shouted looking back “Guys cheer up! Rohit and Suruchi are here”.

Suddenly the group erupted in joy and all of them ran to the door. Sujan rushed to Rohit and giving a gentle blow on his stomach said “Where were you guys? No news and no updates on social media. We were very concerned”.

Fifteen minutes later the friends were sitting on the respective chairs and were in a very relaxed mood. Rohit started “I'm very sorry to note that you guys had to go through this because of me. In fact I was not happy about my over indulgence in social media and told Suruchi that I wanted to completely cut off my social media activity. I took a resolution to stop all my updates and since 5 days have not opened Whats-app, Facebook or other apps.

Yesterday morning we got a call that Suruchi’s mother was not keeping well. We took the next flight and reached Indore. Today her condition has improved and so we decided not to skip this get-together and started back.”

Balan was immediate to question “Then why were your phones switched off?”

Suruchi replied “I think you tried our numbers while we were in flight. We landed and came straight from the airport. Look I have the luggage with me and have kept it in the corner there”.

There was silence in the hall for a few minutes.

Pramod broke it and said “Rohit we do understand your concern about your over indulgence in social media. Totally cutting off is not an answer for that. Your resolution should be to reduce your time spent for it. Detachment from social media is not about completely coming out of it. It is more to ensure that your life is not dictated by it.”

Rohit nodded in approval.

As midnight started inching closer each one started telling their New Year's resolutions and hoped that they would honor the same the coming year.

Mini said “Everyone has told about their new year's resolution except Susan. What about your resolution Susie?”

Susan smiled and said “I do not make resolutions every year. A couple of them I have made and have been honoring them year after year. So my resolution on every new year's eve will be to stick to the resolutions already made.”

 

Beyond forty – part II , Reality bites.

Narrated till now …

Pramod gets the contact details of Vandana Joshi (his first crush) during college reunion. He is saddened to know the hardships she had to face in the earlier part of her life after engineering.

Narration continues….

“I am now in Hyderabad. First half I have some meetings and will go to Vandana’s office in the second half. I have spoken to her” Pramod told me. “All the best bro and have a good time with her” I replied.

It was around 4 PM, the taxi driver stopped the car and said “This is the office you are looking for”. Pramod got out of the taxi and told the driver to wait for him  and walked into the office.

 The thoughts that she had to go through a bad patch in her life and had to marry a person much elder to her made him feel sad. Sporting a pale face he walked to the reception. The office was a very good one with centralized air conditioning and well made interiors. He stopped at the table of the receptionist and waited as she was attending a call. He saw the name of the company “Naidu Rail Sleepers Pvt Ltd” written on the wall behind her.

She finished her call, smiled at him and asked politely “How can I help you sir?”

Pramod smiled back and said “I have come here to meet Mrs. Joshi.”

She gave a strange look and replied “There is no Mrs.Joshi working here.”

“Vandana Joshi”

“Oh you mean Vandana madam. Her name is Vandana Naidu. Please take your seat.”

She went inside the office and came back in few minutes and asked “Mr. Pramod?”

“Yes”

“Please come with me “she said.

He walked with her and found that it was a big office with more than 100 employees working.

The lady stopped in front of a cabin, opened the door and gestured Pramod to enter. He walked into the cabin. The lady sitting inside got up and with a huge smile on her face said “Pramod how are you?”

 “Vandana it is my pleasure to meet you after so many years” he said.

" Do you recollect our days during engineering?” Pramod asked.

“I have to recollect only if I forget. I have not forgotten you” Vandana replied.

She looked very beautiful and was almost of Zero size. She was draped in a sober colored cotton saree duly starched, with minimum make up on the face, well set long hair and looked very attractive.

They sat  on the chairs ,the office boy came in and offered water and hot coffee.

“Looks like you are in a senior position in this company” Pramod said.

Vandana smiled and replied “It is indeed a very responsible position. I am the Managing Director.”

There was a look of disbelief on his face. Few minutes earlier he had a perception about her as a struggling woman fighting to make both ends meet. Now he was sitting in front of MD of a big company.

He got back to his senses and asked “What do you manufacture? How could you get till here?”

She replied “Let me tell you the full story. The few years after engineering was a big struggle as dad passed away and I had to support the family. I joined Mr. Ramesh Naidu as a design assistant in Hubli. He was a railway contractor from Hyderabad and had started manufacturing of Railway sleepers (concrete blocks that are placed between the rails). After one year of association the chemistry between us became favorable. I was 22 years old and he was 34 years old. He had lost his wife and was having a 5 year old son. We decided to get married. Some resistance came from my family side as we are orthodox Kannada Brahmins and Ramesh is a Telugu Naidu and a non vegetarian but things fell in place with due course of time.

We built the company from scratch and today we employ more than 1000 employees and have three factories spread over 3 states.”

Pramod was listening to her with a blank face with his mouth wide open. It was like a story from a novel to him. He looked at her and said “You have grown really big in your life. Hope you do not have any problems now.”

Vandana looked at him and said “you thought that I would cry and you would lend you shoulder?”

Pramod smiled and said “You have not changed in this aspect. You are the same harsh Vandana, the girl who rejected my love proposal during engineering days.”

“It is not like that” Vandana continued “I was never harsh . I have huge respect for you and Susan. I always speak straight without adding any drama and that’s why am able to manage this big work force of 1000 people.”

Pramod clapped in appreciation and continued “How does your husband look?”

She took one framed photo in her hand and showing it to Pramod said “He is Mr. Ramesh Naidu, my husband and Chairman of our group.”

Vandana looked at Pramod and said “He is about 10 years elder to you and is a fitness maniac. He keeps himself very fit.”

They spoke for about an hour laughing heartily in-between.

Pramod got up from his chair and said “It is 6 PM now. I have return flight to Bangalore at 10 pm. I have to rush to the airport.”

Vandana walked up to him and stood closer to him and looking over his shoulder said “One selfie please.”

He smiled and she took few selfies.

 She escorted him to reception and as he was getting down the steps at the entrance he stumbled. Vandana held him tight and pulled him back. A jolt sort of feeling was sensed by both of them. She left his hand and stepped back. Pramod smiled at her and went towards the taxi. Vandana stood at the entrance of the office, watched him get into the taxi, waved at him and looked very satisfied having met him.