UNPRECEDENTED TRANSPIRING

It was wintery morning. Sharp at 5am, i don't know what made me stir so badly that i came out of my abode and beheld the most irksome episode in general drama of narrative called life. There was nothing except fog all around. It was so dense that it harbored the fading moon and stars so adroitly like a consummate magician. It seemed to me as if it was preconceived script unweld by the almighty in his jest. Out of the blues, i heard a shriek which made one freeze in zero weather. I was never expecting anything like that because not a living soul was around. Abruptly i turned to observe about that unprecedented transpiring and was astonishingly taken aback. I couldn't believe what i saw- a flickering light originating from the abandoned notorious mansion, known for being the abode of evil spirits. I never trusted on such myths. That's something not to be summoned upon by a phd in physics. But, i was meek at that moment. Weakened by the chills. No theory for existence of that light in that relinquished house could be hypothesized by me. I started walking towards the dwelling, as if the voice was calling me, the unpleasant breeze attracting me. Unable to control my footsteps, i was standing in front of the main gate of that capacious palace. Th screams were gone, but the terrible feeling of existence of a ghost persisted. The horrified emotion held me. It was better to leave the place before it was too late. As i started to move ahead with my plan, someone held my arm, i turned, but to my surprise there was no one, not even a proof of existence of any life. It deemed that all the earlier proceedings were a lie.

Escaping the venue, i rushed to my home. Panting not less than a dog, astonished like never before. After an hour of struggle to come back to my senses , i noted peculiar finger prints on my arm. I was petrified, shaken from the first hair strand on my head till the tip of my toe nail. Science didn't support this. But i had no proof against it. This feeling made me want to tear my meritorious certificates, "Why can't i find the reason, What's the use then, if the mystery remains the mystery?"
I continued to stay in the dilemma of science and spirits, continued to live in fear and iniquity for weeks.
The memories faded with years, but till date the old terror holds me whenever i am alone, out in the cold-dark moon.

The last diary

"Hey Raj, look! what i found, appa's diary"; "Why you so curious to read it, it's not a good etiquette."
"I just wish to know what happened on 19th July 2001 - the day everything changed for all of us.";
"Surely, you can read then. I am not going to stop you, as i know, it is then going to be a failed try."
"I found the page, here it is. Nurse told me that appa wrote the diary that day as well, the last page of his life."
"I only know that that day he was going to visit daadi maa, who lived in Ludhiana, by bus. Raj. He was much thrilled to travel by the bus for the first time. I don't know what happened wrong."

"You want to listen? I am going to read."

" As the bus started to move, it gave me immense relief, though it stopped on the terminal for a couple of minutes, yet it was densely populated. The incommodious was increased by the conductor who was sporadically moving here and there for the tickets.  To add insult to the injury, it was the bus of Roadways. It was already an obnoxious day and my spirits were in full mood to yield before the providence. When the bus was back on highway, everyone became agile, if not physically then mentally. Within a few hours, as we hoped that we all will see, the most precious sight of our destination."

"Raj! What is this? I can't find a clue about the incident. His last words appear to be written by a trembling hand. Where are the other pages? What happened? How did it happened.  Absolute emptiness. No detail at all." said Alisha wistfully. 
"Sweety! Newspaper said the bus driver couldn't handle the steering when truck came from wrong side and then the bus crashed and most died and the mere survivors like your dad died at the hospital."

"You need to cope up Alisha. He is gone. Stop thinking now. It's been years."
"Trying Raj. Trying."

She is the man

"Do you have any idea about who is going to be the next CEO of the company?"; "Only information i have about the person is that he was earlier positioned as the CEO of a telecom association" replied Raj curtly to the query of Mohan. Raj and Mohan have been working for this MNC, "Pastime", manufacturing sports wear, for about 15 years. Raj's crooked nose; rough- patchy skin; dark-narrowed eyes, scanning everyone's work were just appropriate for his job of being an executive manager. He was tagged "loutish" by every one except the female colleagues and his acquaintance Mohan, who was the general manager. The impassive man used to be passive around the working ladies, he believed that they were the key to set equality. Mohan admired Raj for his this attitude.

"Today is a big day, i am retiring as the CEO, it's an emotional day, but am elated to announce that the company is going to have a new, meticulous, highly-skilled leader to handle my position, the candidate is awarded with Padma Shri; has done MBA from Harvard University; at the age of 28, was the youngest billionaire; was  also mentioned amongst the top 10 businessmen of the world by Forbes magazine in 2013 edition..."

"Is this man real or a fictional character, so many achievements at such an early age","He must be the gene found once in an epoch", "Looking forward to work under his histrionic intelligence."  While,

Mr. Duggal was giving the introductory speech for the future head, every one was amused by the qualities of the successor.

"I know you all are looking forward to work with Ms Seema Shergil , who is also known as 'The man in the men's world', she is an inspiration not only for the females , but also for the males living in the society, 'She is the Man', her work is..."

"She is the man", the words were a thunderclap to the ears of coterie. They could not hear anything beyond it, all the words by Duggal sir were fading into oblivion.
The people were same, but the words and ideology was different now.
"How can a woman make decisions regarding sports wear? What does she know about it?"; "How can a woman be the man in the men's world?"; "Now a double X chromosome is going to rule us? Don't you know the second X chromosome is the ruler of insanity?"
"What are you saying pals, what about being a Padma Shri, youngest billionaire title, her excellence in work, did you forget all that?", enunciated an assertive voice.
Everyone looked at the direction of the tone, and there was standing Raj, just in front of Mohan, who was uttering these words.
Mohan was a silent man, who never whispered a word from his thick yet soft lips. His red-flushed cheeks, deep dark brown eyes, his placid smile , lean- tall body, made him look like a sensitive person, but he never used to speak anything except work. He was considered to be the assistant of Raj, always giving nod to his words, although both were positioned professionally at equal levels.
He taking a stand today was a revelation.
"Can't we just respect her for her work? I feel privileged to work under her. I am sure there is lot to learn."
"C'mon are you out of your senses? Let's face it, their species can not handle pressure with ease." said an unexpected tone, that of Raj.

The day was the day of revelations, unexpected things happening after each page was turned over. The leaves of the book were bringing out unanticipated discoveries.

"Raj, after hearing what you said, i guess, i reckon you wrongly.";
"I am just saying the truth";
"This is the truth? Then what about you admiring working women?";
"I do admire them, but not as my boss";
"That's hypocrisy";
"No, this is life";
" I can understand it lucidly; equality, empowerment, all these were and are just words for you, words mentioned in the dictionary, words which seem good to speak about in public."
"Yes! This is it, you got me right" said Raj aggressively.

All this while, Mr. Duggal, unaware of the talks happening down the stage, was now going to introduce Ms Shergil to the mob.
"The wait is over, you all must be excited to meet her, the exceptional expert, the leader, the connoisseur, the man, your new CEO, welcome with applause, Ms Seema Shergil. "
The Kalpana auditorium was echoing with conditioned applaud.
From the penumbra of the curtains enclosing the entrance to the stage, stepped forward a unique soul. She was not pretty as princess, but was beautiful, her confident face depicted her assured, assertive nature. There was something about her that swayed her critics. It was not the way she looked, but the glow reflecting on her face, charm of knowing what she is doing and is going to do.

The light on her face reminded the saying by Buddha,"To succeed, you have to make the light of yourself, and one day you will glow."

"Now, i know the feeling of meeting a prodigy." said someone from the crowd.
"Let's see what she wish to say" spoke Raj

"Good evening to all. No need to give bouquet, garlands or bow in honor. I am here as your acquaintance and not as your boss. We are a team. I thank you for accepting me as part of this group. You and i together can make 'Pastime' to reach the heights of success as dreamt by Duggal sir."

"Her words are spell-bounding"; "She nailed it"; "Surely, she is the man", perspective was changed again.

"I told you Raj, working under her is going to be great";
"It's too early to comment, Mohan","No one is perfect", articulated Raj
To this, Raj's secretary, Mohina replied,"Sir, but her saree is crisply ironed, each pleat is finely made, hair nicely groomed, posture is firmly erect yet her body is flexible, she is perfect."
In support, Mohan said,"It is believed, the way a person dress, is the way a person thinks. You also believe in this, don't you? You told me about this belief a year aback, just repeating your words."
"Ah! Don't smirk" urged Raj

Meanwhile, Ms Shergil was done with her speech and had shown her desire to have an interrogatory session.
"... feel free to ask me anything, we need to work together, border of hesitation must be broken."

Mohina, who was already leading the fan club of the new CEO, catechized,"Ma'am, how do you manage to work effectively yet effortlessly?"

"That's flattering! In reply to your question, i would like to share my key to success i.e. loving what you do, or do what you love. I followed my dream work and money, fame, success followed me. This love, passion for my job makes me work effectively, though efforts are put in, but i guess the lure to learn more in my field makes it seem effortless."
Applauses were real now, as real as the applauses bestowed at the time of victory of Indian cricket team in the world cup.

Raj's mind was now sure about the efficiency of the lady, but his heart was not ready to give up.

He gave a situation to her," Ma'am, you have an unprecedented mind, am sure you would be able to give solution to this situation; If our rival companies sell their products at half rate, than ours and we can not lower our prices to such an extent as it would cause us heavy loss, what will you do to make sure that we do not lose our position in the market without suffering any loss at the profit-rate."

He smirked.

"There isn't any solution in which market value and our profit value sustains. Raj is doing this on purpose." argued a colleague.
"I know, she has the answer, i am sure about it." said Mohan.

Eyes and ears all were at red-alert, eyes staring her mouth, as if when will they be open to give a reply, ears eager to listen to her solution.

She smiled, "This is easy, all i need is the best advertisement campaign. Marketing sells. In addition, our manufacturing cost is higher than other organizations, this implies that we don't compromise in quality. All we need to do is make people realize this. Our institution has a brand value, many other co-operations wish to share an assignment with us, we will talk to such organizations and make a deal of promoting their name with our own, for this they would invest and we could offer deals to the consumers, deals like 'buy a Pastime sweat shirt and get Yacoo's lawn tennis racket free'. Such offers are always attractive. People would buy our product for the first time because of gluttony of the deal, and later they would be lured to buy only our products in order to have the best quality. This way neither the market value would be lost, nor there would be any compromise with profit-rate."

Raj was stunned. His heart also surrendered to the beauty of brain.

1200 people at the venue and no sound was heard. Everyone was dazed by her wit. The moment was serene, as if, it started snowing and snow absorbed the sound waves.

In this deadly silence filled with expressions, Mohan broke the quietness and clapped with pride.
And soon the hall was radiating cheers and laurels, not only honoring  the adept lady but also announcing the bright future of the company.


by vartika puri