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Two years ago...
It was hardly 8 in the morning, but Amit was already in front of his dressing mirror getting into his favourite black suit. He adjusted his blue tie to the right but was not happy. So he adjusted it to the left.
“Nah, it still looks crooked,” Amit muttered. He finally managed to adjust his tie right to the middle, which now looked alright.
Amit was quite a perfectionist. It was his first day in office and he wanted to put his best foot forward. His eyes were glittering with excitement. At the age of twenty five years, he was finally becoming a man, with a job, and a corporate identity. Landing a job, only a few months after he had graduated from University College London, one of the leading law schools in the world, was a dream come true.
When Amit was in his teens, he had visited his cousin working as a corporate lawyer in New York. That was sometime in 2000 and Amit was very impressed with the swanky offices located in glass covered skyscrapers towering above the city landscape. His cousin earned well enough to take him to the most expensive fondue restaurant in town, where Amit had a blast dipping meat and veggies in cheese and chocolate as he wished. Learning that corporate lawyers regularly earned a six figure income in US dollar terms, Amit decided that he wanted to be like his cousin.
He worked hard for it. In university, he was solely focused on getting good grades while other men were busy womanising. Amit was referred to as a “bookworm” and sometimes even as an “anti-social” but that did not deter him one bit.
Amit did have many other interests in life, of which one was working out. He also loved travelling and seeing historical places. Amit did have a few close friends but his goal was single minded, that of making it to India’s topmost law firm.
And he succeeded without breaking into a sweat. Singhania & Co, one of India’s oldest and largest law firm in terms of size and revenue, had hired him straight from college. Amit had after all an excellent academic record, a degree from one of the topmost law school in the world that the pricky Bar Council of India too “recognised”, and was also very presentable. They just couldn’t say no to him.
Singhania & Co’s office was located in Connaught Place, the heart of Central Delhi. It was fortunately just a short 10-minute trip from Amit’s flat in Jor Bagh by Delhi Metro.
Amit took a leisurely walk to the metro station and clambered down the stairs. He was carrying a rucksack which was x-rayed at the entry by a bored CISF (Central Industrial Security Force, a special force to guard most of India’s Public Sector Units) personnel, quite like it is done at the airports.
Amit scanned his metro smart card and passed through the fare gate heading towards the platform. He could see hundreds of people all waiting impatiently on the platform for the oncoming metro. This was the prime office hour after all.
More people appeared to board the metro than the number who got down. Amit was just lucky to get inside the train going to CP, as Connaught Place is called in short. He barely had any place to stand. With more and more people trying to get inside the already overcrowded train, he was being squeezed from all sides. He felt as if his rib cage would be crushed. This was so different from the rather civilised experience that he used to have on the London Underground for the four years that he was in the UK.
Amit was gasping for breath when the doors closed and the metro started moving. Fortunately, in around 10 minutes, the train reached Connaught Place. Amit had just survived his first brutal interaction with India’s population problem.
He got down hurriedly and climbed out of the CP Metro station. A cool November breeze greeted him, which was such a welcome respite from the stuffy confines of the metro. Amit immediately saw the familiar tall building covered in glass just in front of him on the other side of the road, where he was interviewed about a fortnight back.
The road was busy and lots of cars were simply zipping past. Connaught Place was looking bright white. The 100 year old Victorian style buildings were freshly painted and had quite a new feel to them. Amit slowly moved towards the building taking one step at a time keeping an eye on the traffic and was finally able to cross the road.
Amit knew he had reached the right place but thought it prudent to reconfirm that this indeed was the right building. He saw a guard standing next to the gate and asked him whether that was the Mauryan Estate. The guard nodded his head in affirmation and so Amit walked inside the building.
Amit was told to come to the 11th floor, but there was a huge queue in front of the lifts. It appeared that all the office staff of that building was waiting for the lifts to hit the ground floor and the doors to open.
Amit hated queues. He also had not exercised in the morning. So he took to the stairs. With every floor that he crossed, he could sense his legs feeling heavier, but Amit loved the sensation. He enjoyed challenging himself. At last, he made it to the 11th floor and saw the reception with a big logo on top reading “Singhania & Co”.
Amit walked past the glass door with an erect gait and head held high. He asked for “Ms. Vaishali Singh, the HR Partner” and could see the receptionist picking up the phone and dialling an extension number. She smiled at him and asked him to take a seat.
Before sitting down, Amit thought it prudent to visit the Men’s room to wipe the sweat from his brow and to comb his hair. Then he came back and made himself comfortable on the leather couch.
A few minutes later, he saw a middle aged overweight woman hardly 5 feet tall wearing a dark skirt and white shirt walking through the glass door. Her complexion was dark, and her hair tied in a neat bun. The white shirt could hardly hide her protruding belly. The lady introduced herself as Vaishali and Amit stood up to shake hands with her.
Vaishali then took Amit to the Corporate Department also located on the 11th floor. Amit’s face lit up when he saw the nicely laid grey carpet on the floor, well planned cubicles and the extremely quiet surroundings. The firm had a look like any other Magic Circle Law Firm in London that Amit had visited so many times during vacation placements or familiarisation tours.
Amit saw a number of young person sitting at their desks. Some were looking at some documents while others were staring at their computer screens. Some were typing furiously while others appear to be indulging in a little chit-chat.
Amit suddenly felt a strange sensation of “emptiness” within himself. The office was perfect. Just what he had imagined it to be. In fact, it was too perfect to be real. So why was he feeling so empty? As if this was not what he was supposed to do. He belonged somewhere else. To some other place... To some other Universe...
Vaishali was explaining that there were nearly 70 lawyers working in the Delhi office, out of which 25 worked in the Corporate Department.
“In England, the largest law firms had on an average nearly 2000 lawyers working with them. And England is just a small island. Then how come we, with a population of 1 billion people, have only 70 lawyers in one office and call it the biggest firm?” Amit wondered but didn’t dare ask the question.
Vaishali then introduced Amit to a woman in her early thirties, around 5 feet 3 inches in height, fair-complexioned, slim and wearing a cream coloured Salwar Kameez.
“Meet Smriti Jain, your team leader,” introduced Vaishali smiling. Amit stretched out his hands to shake with Smriti’s.
“From today you will be assisting her in all matters,” Vaishali said.
“I have a client meeting today at 11. Why don’t you join me? It will be a good learning experience for you,” Smriti said and Amit nodded.
“Oh, before you leave, let me show you your workstation,” Vaishali said. She then took Amit to his cubicle which was only a few steps ahead.
“There you go. This is your workstation,” Vaishali said pointing to the cubicle. On the right hand side of the cubicle, there was a cabin, with glass all-around that was empty at that moment. The name plate on the cabin read “Ram Kapoor”.
“That’s your Partner. He sits there. He has been with the firm since the 1970s when the firm opened its Delhi branch,” informed Vaishali.
Amit then glanced sideways and noticed another cubicle on his left which too was empty.
“That’s where Naina Karnad will be joining us in a few days. She has worked with the prestigious law firm Shah & Shah before. So you will have company soon,” said Vaishali with a smile. Amit didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled.
He couldn’t help but imagine a girl, in her mid-twenties, just like him, sitting next to him with long flowing hair, sparkling eyes, sharp nose and a warm smile that could take his breath away. But he shook his head and tried to focus on the forthcoming client meeting.
