AFTER EFFECTS OF ENCOUNTER NO.1...
After the encounter with Sidekick no.1 & 2, Shrads was disillusioned. As said before, she was a girl who believed that LOVE CONQUERS ALL and that no one would be bad to her coz she had never done any harm to anybody else. But that wasn`t how things were done here. She decided she would resign. This was first of the many urges she would get over the twelve-month period to resign. She didnot want a boss who would humiliate her in front of others.She had no idea that it would become a part & parcel of her life later.
Also she remembered the sparks that had flown between her and another BH, Mr. Shamshersingh when she suggested to him that he could come to her for any sort of help required from her end whenever he took sessions at her office. The thankless git instead of being grateful to her told her that he had been working there for around 4 years & didnot need her to find his way around. He left in a huff.She was later to realise that he was a pretty whimsical person, though good at heart and she later won over him too with her good, decent behaviour and polite ways. She, being a sensitive girl thot that she had offended him terribly and called on his personal cell to apologise for the same. He accepted the apology & the air was cleared. But she had decided to steer clear of him. She had been obsessing that she had been pretty rude to him, all day and asked her staff if calling him up to say sorry was ok??? The staff said no. Here again Shrads` gut feeling told her that her staff was playing games with her. They knew something was amiss between the two of them and probably wanted to capitalise on it. So she listened to her heart. Called up the guy and apologised. And the matter was sorted for good. This was because she knew that a grapevine network exists in all organisations and didnot want it let out that the new MBA BH was a snob.
Shrads knew that her existence in her position was not very welcome by many people. Every other day she was introduced to some or the other new speaker by Mr. Surya, as "Hamari nayi BH, who has replaced Tulsi ma`m."(with special emphasis on the REPLACED part...just as how a new vamp bahu REPLACES the seedhi-saadhi TULSI). She could sense the negative vibes emanating from him. She had heard from him earlier that he was offered the job of the BH here but he declined it since it was a pretty tough job. She had asked him innocently if he would help her cope up with it to which he had replied "Ofcourse". If only Shrads knew... It was later on during a lunch-time chat with SI Aunty that Shrads learnt that he had indeed been offered the job of BH here but was appointed to some other vertical due to the fact that he couldn`t converse in English very well. But he had refused the job there deeming it lesser than being the BH here. Shrads was suitably shocked.
As said before she was being introduced to new people every day. The ladies she was being introduced to seemed to like her right away and their off-the-record discussions ranged from topics like 'Was Shrads` wavy hair naturally wavy???' 'Where did Shrads shop for her clothes??? Especially her trademark kurtis??', `Was Shrads pakka a Maharashtrian???' (This one asked by Chirag who insisted that Shards couldn`t be a Marathi mulgi coz she looked pakka like a South Indian).Yes Shrads did have shoulder-length wavy hair, medium sized eyes which she widened with kajal, a dusky complexion and two cute dimples on her cheeks. All these factors taken together made Shrads look like a South-Indian/Bengali/Catholic/Martian/Mongolian, anything but Marathi. Shrads had felt like laughing at this. Good genuine laughter, that too after a long time...
While the women gelled well with Shrads, the men were a different situation altogether. Some of them stared at her openly as though "Yeh bacchi, Business Head??? Wat other wonders are we going to see in this company????". Others stared at her simply because she was a female. Some others proceeded to ignore her and get on with their work. She preffered them.
It was at this time that one of the verticals which ran at Shrads` office provided transport for the clients. The driver had to wait back for the clients to finish their session. The driver thot Shrads was reason enough to stay back at the office. He stared at Shrads continously while she worked on the computer, walked around the rooms, had tea, talked to the clients etc. Shards felt uncomfortable under his gaze which seemed to follow her everywhere. He tried to talk to her too and she responded politely to whatever queries he had. But Shrads was getting increasingly conscious coz she was a girl who thot people stared at her becoz of her pear-shaped body. But who could she tell??? Not SI Aunty coz she thot that the driver was a cuddly cute baby who slogged himself for his family. Shrads was later disgusted even more to know that the guy was married. In Aunty`s eyes, the driver was a darling since he called her "Mom", something which even the sub-staff called her and she expected even Shrads to call her that. ("Ya rite," Shrads thot..."not in a 100 years, you selfish old hag!!!") . Our dear girl would later on ban anyone from calling each other Mom-Son-Daughter or anything of that sort in office. Go girl!!!
Also she remembered the sparks that had flown between her and another BH, Mr. Shamshersingh when she suggested to him that he could come to her for any sort of help required from her end whenever he took sessions at her office. The thankless git instead of being grateful to her told her that he had been working there for around 4 years & didnot need her to find his way around. He left in a huff.She was later to realise that he was a pretty whimsical person, though good at heart and she later won over him too with her good, decent behaviour and polite ways. She, being a sensitive girl thot that she had offended him terribly and called on his personal cell to apologise for the same. He accepted the apology & the air was cleared. But she had decided to steer clear of him. She had been obsessing that she had been pretty rude to him, all day and asked her staff if calling him up to say sorry was ok??? The staff said no. Here again Shrads` gut feeling told her that her staff was playing games with her. They knew something was amiss between the two of them and probably wanted to capitalise on it. So she listened to her heart. Called up the guy and apologised. And the matter was sorted for good. This was because she knew that a grapevine network exists in all organisations and didnot want it let out that the new MBA BH was a snob.
Shrads knew that her existence in her position was not very welcome by many people. Every other day she was introduced to some or the other new speaker by Mr. Surya, as "Hamari nayi BH, who has replaced Tulsi ma`m."(with special emphasis on the REPLACED part...just as how a new vamp bahu REPLACES the seedhi-saadhi TULSI). She could sense the negative vibes emanating from him. She had heard from him earlier that he was offered the job of the BH here but he declined it since it was a pretty tough job. She had asked him innocently if he would help her cope up with it to which he had replied "Ofcourse". If only Shrads knew... It was later on during a lunch-time chat with SI Aunty that Shrads learnt that he had indeed been offered the job of BH here but was appointed to some other vertical due to the fact that he couldn`t converse in English very well. But he had refused the job there deeming it lesser than being the BH here. Shrads was suitably shocked.
As said before she was being introduced to new people every day. The ladies she was being introduced to seemed to like her right away and their off-the-record discussions ranged from topics like 'Was Shrads` wavy hair naturally wavy???' 'Where did Shrads shop for her clothes??? Especially her trademark kurtis??', `Was Shrads pakka a Maharashtrian???' (This one asked by Chirag who insisted that Shards couldn`t be a Marathi mulgi coz she looked pakka like a South Indian).Yes Shrads did have shoulder-length wavy hair, medium sized eyes which she widened with kajal, a dusky complexion and two cute dimples on her cheeks. All these factors taken together made Shrads look like a South-Indian/Bengali/Catholic/Martian/Mongolian, anything but Marathi. Shrads had felt like laughing at this. Good genuine laughter, that too after a long time...
While the women gelled well with Shrads, the men were a different situation altogether. Some of them stared at her openly as though "Yeh bacchi, Business Head??? Wat other wonders are we going to see in this company????". Others stared at her simply because she was a female. Some others proceeded to ignore her and get on with their work. She preffered them.
It was at this time that one of the verticals which ran at Shrads` office provided transport for the clients. The driver had to wait back for the clients to finish their session. The driver thot Shrads was reason enough to stay back at the office. He stared at Shrads continously while she worked on the computer, walked around the rooms, had tea, talked to the clients etc. Shards felt uncomfortable under his gaze which seemed to follow her everywhere. He tried to talk to her too and she responded politely to whatever queries he had. But Shrads was getting increasingly conscious coz she was a girl who thot people stared at her becoz of her pear-shaped body. But who could she tell??? Not SI Aunty coz she thot that the driver was a cuddly cute baby who slogged himself for his family. Shrads was later disgusted even more to know that the guy was married. In Aunty`s eyes, the driver was a darling since he called her "Mom", something which even the sub-staff called her and she expected even Shrads to call her that. ("Ya rite," Shrads thot..."not in a 100 years, you selfish old hag!!!") . Our dear girl would later on ban anyone from calling each other Mom-Son-Daughter or anything of that sort in office. Go girl!!!