Part 62

She tried Calling Arnav to tell him that Papaji has forgiven her, but he did not pick up. She tried several times and he rejected her calls. Then messaged her that he was very busy. She kept thinking about the incidents. She winced at the thought of being caught. But the memories of being with her Laad Governer brought smile.  She blushed when Arnav pulled her and kissed her in her thoughts. She signed sulkily and went to bed.

Arnav was engrossed in his newly cropped up problem. Never in his life his consignment had been rejected. He had to take some drastic decisions. He was expecting around 30% profit margin in this project but now the project itself was in jeopardy. First time he felt frustrated with his business. He thought about his role model papaji.

"How does he manage with so many problems of so many companies!" he wondered. His group was thrice the size of Arnav's group and still he managed to keep the problems at bay.

"This is because of empowerment, my son!" Papaji had said once to him.

"Empowerment plays wonders. It shows you the true characteristic of a person. My plus point in this is I get into the true personalities of a people around me and then put them in power." Papaji had said.

Arnav could see the contrast in the two businesses. He believed in doing the things himself in his autocratic way. His philosophy was to delegate only those things, which could be ordered, making all the decisions himself. He was a control freak! He was more of autocratic type unlike Papaji's participative style. He thought of consulting papaji in this crisis but later on thought otherwise. He would handle it himself. He had to zero down on the root cause of this rejection, as this would affect the company malevolently.

*** *** **
Khushi woke up early in the morning. There was no message or missed call from Arnav. She had a plan. She sent a mail to Lavanya. "If she is in US, then it must be evening or night for her!" She thought. She started her routine. When she reached office she was surprised to see Lavanya's reply. She was very happy that Khushi contacted her.

"Chamakili! What a surprise! You wrote! That too in good English! I am pleasantly surprised!
Chamakili, I miss you. You brought our memories back. Thank you chamakili! And Keep in touch!
"Chamakili.. ASR had called me a couple of times, but he did not talk about you. Did you meet him?"
It was really nice to touch base again!!!" She had written.

Khushi smiled happily. She decided to write to her in the evening. "Arnavji called her? Are they in touch with each other? Why did he not talk to me about her?" She wondered, her smile fading away.

Shondeep had some work and he called Khushi. They were discussing some information on the spinning mill and papaji barged in. Shondeep was surprised at his worried looks. He got up from seat and shook hand with his boss.

"Shondeep, we need to talk and khushi, leave us alone for some time" ordered papaji. Khushi went out wondering.

Shondeep, I received the letter for reconsideration of the acquisition. The secretary, "Cotton Corporation of India" had called me up last night and today I received the letter. Another company is now in arena competing with us. We have to redefine our stance on this project. So be ready for the technical talk and I am entrusting the entire negotiations to new CEO Mr. Sham Zaa." Shondeep looked at his boss in surprise.

"Why does he trust this Sham? When I had expressed my skepticism on this person!" he wondered but all the same agreed to his boss.

*** *** ***
Khushi came home in the evening. After dinner, she decided to write to Lavanya and invite her for the wedding. She did not know whether Arnav would talk to her today! She did not try to call him. She opened her laptop to write to Layanya but somehow lost interest and went to bed.

Khushi was running from pole to post trying to say something to people only to find out that sham had already reached there before her and Anjali was always there with Sham to defend him. People blamed Khushi for ruining Anjali's life. Khushi had a bad dream and woke up with a jerk.

"We must somehow separate That person from Anjaliji. We must do something... " She started pacing thinking hard and the solution flashed...

She hurriedly dialed Arnav's number. It was almost 1.30 in the night. Arnav woke up startled. He picked up the phone.. "Arnavji, I have a plan to separate Anjaliji from that man... " She started off excitedly.

"Khushi..! do you know what is the time now? Can you not wait till morning?" He was annoyed.

"No! I cannot wait... listen... here is the plan!" She went ahead without bothering about his reaction. After she had finished, she took a deep breath and smile appeared on his face.

"I still think this is not going to work..!" he said. "But let us give it a try, khushi!"

"Yes we should give it a try.." ... "And good night Arnavji!" She said hanging up.


Early morning Arnav woke up with a pain in his shoulder. Last night he had skipped his pain killer. He came down for breakfast after having coffee in his room. Anjali looked very worried.

She said, "Chote I heard about your problem. I don't know what has happened to this house. Everything seems to be going wrong. Your Jijaji talked about some problem in your new company as well. I had called up panditji. He had suggested Shanti Paath for this house. I plan to hold it tomorrow. Please find some time tomorrow...!"

Arnav said "Ok di. But today we need to have an emergency meeting and I want YOU to be present. I have intimated other board members also.." He looked at his jijaji for reaction.

"But Chote, I cannot come today. I need to prepare for the pooja. But don't worry! Your jijaji will come. He will be of more help to you." She said holding her husband's hand. Sham smirked. Arnav lost his last hope.

"Saale Saab, do you know, the acquisition will be delayed as there is order for reconsideration and re-tendering. I will have to hold the negotiations!" he said looking at his wife proudly.

"What? Why? I mean.. the order was already passed in our favor." Said Arnav looking surprised.

"Yes but another competitor has directly come from the ministry" He said.
"Oh! Ok. So you are going to handle this.." Arnav muttered.

*** *** **

Arnav was on his way to the office with Aakash. He had been to the doctor for his checkup. He called up Papaji.

"Good Morning, puttar!" Papaji greeted him pleasantly. He too was in transit for his morning meeting with Shondeep.

"I know, you must have heard from him by now. And Yes! There is going to be re-tendering. But don't you worry. I talked to Raj this morning and we are not changing our figures in the new tender. And HE is going to handle this negotiation. Of course Shondeep is always there for technical issues. I will have a meeting with him and get back to you." He said hurriedly.

"What? Why he? He will ruin everything!" Arnav was little upset.
 "No Puttar, I will explain it later. Now I need to talk to someone else! Have a good day puttar!" he said and hung up. Arnav stared at his dead mobile. Aakash too looked surprised at this decision.

"Aakash take me to the Baragat Wala Temple" Said Arnav.
"What? Bhai, since when you became .....?" Aakash was surprised.
"Oh! Shut up Aakash! It's Di's work. She is upto some pooja and has asked me to meet Panditji." Said Arnav, looking at his cell phone. He was craving to call Khushi. He knew she might be on her way to office.

He got down at the mandir and asked Aakash to wait and dialed Khushi's number as he entered the Mandir complex. He came back after fifteen minutes talking to his Di on phone. They headed towards office.

He had received a mail from Raj and Raj requested a video chat with him "officially" Without wasting time he called up Raj. They talked about the new problem for a long time and when the meeting was over, Arnav was still more confused on Papaji's decision about Sham. Even Raj was against it but Papaji had put his foot down on this issue.

*** *** ***
Papaji had a meeting with Shondeep and given him the clear instructions about his preparations about technical issues and cost cutting without eliminating a single worker.
"We have to win this project on our technical knowhow and productivity. Understand? So be prepared for a detailed presentation on these lines and I will take care of the rest with our new CEO Mr. Sham. He is a good negotiator, I know! Shondeep, if you trust me, leave it to me!" Said Mr. Balwindar Singh, Shondeep's Boss.

"Of course, Sir! I know you will do whatever is best!" he said honestly.

"Khushi, entered his cabin with the files. Her presence brought smile on Shondeep's face. Papaji, too looked relaxed. They had some light talks between the routine business.

"Sir, my mother has invited all of you for dinner at your convenient time." He said looking at Khushi.

"Yes, Why not Shondeep? I haven't met your parents for long. So may be tomorrow? Ask your mom. We will come!" Papaji accepted his invitation wholeheartedly. Shondeep looked very happy. He dialed his mother's number to tell her this good news! Papaji took phone from him and talked to his mother. He was smiling while giving the phone back.

"So, Shondeep, dinner tomorrow is fixed and she is making all my favorites. I know some of these people are vegetarians but we will enjoy your mothers preparations! He said in jolly mood. Khushi raised her eyebrow and flared her nostrils in disapproval for non veg food."
She came back to her seat thinking about Arnav and imagining how he would react at this news. She smiled losing herself in his thoughts.