| |
––––––––
For his second day at Singhania & Co., Amit left his home in a grey suit at 8:30 A.M. He suffered the same brutal metro ride during the Delhi rush hours and climbed 11 floors to reach his office. This time he didn’t ever to bother to check whether the lifts were free. On reaching the office, Amit went to his cubicle, took his seat to catch his breath and adjusted his rust colour tie.
Everything looked the same to him as it was the day before. Amit took out his laptop and switched it on.
Suddenly a clickety-click sound made him look up from his laptop. He saw a woman, at least 5 feet six inches, walking through the corridor. She wore stilettoes that were making that distinct click, click, click sound. She had long flowing dark hair. She wore a light brown sari that was tightly wrapped around her slim waist and when she passed Amit’s desk, he realised to his horror that her back was fully exposed. Not even the boldest of girls Amit knew dared wear something like that to office.
The lady was sure to become a centre of attraction and gossip, Amit mused. Did she care what men thought about her choice of clothes? Didn’t look like. It would be for the HR to tell her to dress more appropriately for office, Amit presumed.
Amit sensed that the lady had a “couldn’t care less attitude”. He could figure out that she was very fashion conscience and gutsy. She walked as if she were a model on a ramp. Her eye makeup was also not that subtle but if you forgot this was an office, it was done perfectly and suited her well. The lady could have been on the cover page of any Women’s Fashion Magazine, Amit thought.
The lady headed straightaway for the cubicle next to him and threw her purse on the desk violently. She then made a grab for the chair and sat down with her legs crossed. Amit noticed that the lady had no smile on her face as if there was a lot on her mind. She looked completely lost in her own thoughts and was totally oblivious to her surroundings.
Amit suddenly remembered what Vaishali had told him the day before about a new girl joining the firm. He expected that she would introduce herself to him but she appeared to have had no such inclination. Amit waited for some time, but nothing happened. So he cleared his throat to ask:
“Excuse me, are you Naina Karnad?”
“Yes, I am Naina Karnad. Any problems?” Naina glared at him. Amit could sense anger in her tone, and a certain coldness in her heart that puzzled him.
“Umm...no, no, no... sorry I didn’t mean to offend you. I was told that you would be joining us today, so I was just curious,” he said apologising.
Naina didn’t respond.
“By the way I am Amit. I joined here yesterday,” he said with a smile trying to put her at ease.
She didn’t smile back. Her face was expressionless. She didn’t seem to care for her surroundings. Amit thought that was bizarre.
Usually the people he had come across so far in his life had at least pretended to be friendly on the first day in school, college or at work. And this was when Amit knew that he wasn’t the most outgoing of his colleagues. In fact, he had problems in opening up with strangers but still a smile would come to him naturally. Amit would be hesitant but still made an effort to shake hands with men and pleasantly greet the women.
Amit suspected that Naina was neither unsocial nor shy. In fact, the way she walked, dressed, sat down and spoke, exuded immense self-confidence and belief in herself. Amit wondered what then could possibly be wrong with her.
Did he really say something obnoxious? Or was he the one who didn’t know how to interact with women? Whatever, but Amit’s curiosity was now growing. He wanted to know more about this mysterious girl sitting right next to him.
Amit was not really good at small talk but thought that he should give Naina one more opportunity to open up. May be she was feeling disoriented. He knew that feeling. That first day in school, university, or in a new town, where from the people to the climate, everything seems so unfamiliar. Amit knew the feeling and hated it.
He, however, knew from his experience that the best way to get rid of that feeling was to interact with others. Say a few words, which in England meant just a nonsensical comment about the weather, and you could let the conversation take off from there. Amit also accepted the fact that not everybody would like what you liked or would be willing to discuss what you wanted to, but as long as they made an effort to interact, it was fine with him.
“So how does your first day feel like?” he asked breaking the silence.
“Very different,” Naina replied this time calming down a little.
“You worked with Shah & Shah before, right?” Amit asked.
“Yah...right,” she said.
“How was your experience there, with Shah & Shah?” asked Amit.
“It was alright,” she said.
Amit ran out of questions now. He had completely failed in his quest to put Naina at ease. She just didn’t open up. And Amit was not too comfortable blabbering about his own feelings, about his first day in office, about his bosses, clients, etc. So the conversation ended there.
Amit turned back his gaze to his laptop, which had booted-up by then. He entered the password given to him with his joining report papers, logged on to the office Wi-Fi and opened Microsoft Outlook to check if there were any tasks in his Inbox.
Just then, Vaishali, the HR Partner walked in. She said hi to Naina, who stood up to greet her.
“So how is everything? Come, let me introduce you to Arshad Khan, your team leader. You will be assisting him in all matters,” Vaishali said and took Naina to Arshad Khan’s desk.
Amit was really disappointed with Naina. She didn’t at all turn out to be the kind of girl he had imagined. At the least, Amit expected her to be good company in this dark corporate house. But to him she looked exactly like the cold, calculating, corporate type that he wished to avoid, if he could help it. Too focused on outer wear and too shallow from inside.
From her overall demeanour, Amit knew that Naina was not the quiet, shy type. Yet she failed to strike a simple conversation with him, a skill which comes so naturally to outgoing people.
Or maybe Amit was at fault. May be he didn’t know how to strike a conversation with a lady. Or whatever...
Amit now dreaded the thought of spending the whole day sitting in a cubicle next to Naina’s.
