Perspectives of Before and After

I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..."

The nano-seconds between each count seemed like they had their own long life. I could hear the whirring of the fan, the sound of the foot-steps coming from the wooden corridor at the far corner from where I was lying, and even the pouring of water from the clay pot that was kept outside my room.

“How is this even possible?” I said to myself. When I can see everyone very clearly, how is it that they are not able to see me trying to call out to them. I had just heard the doctor tell his team “He is no more”. The electronic cardiogram that was buzzing had also stopped making any sound.

“Six, Five, Four, Three, Two…” I could hear conversations that went like “How should we inform his family?”, “His case wasn’t complicated. How did this happen.”, “Maybe he came with a heart ailment and it just got amplified during the course of the treatment.”. One nurse said “I will start finishing the formalities for a Death Certificate to be issued.”

Beep, beep, beep. The electro cardiogram comes to life again. A flush of activity ensues with many footsteps that rush into the room. A nurse rushes out to call the senior doctor. The doctor rushes in with a look of shock on his face. He quickly checks my pulse rate and my breathing. He asks the nurse to hand over some injection, which he injects in my stomach. I do not feel any sensation or pain. A straight jab into my stomach and I do not feel anything? Is it the effect of anesthesia?

“Sir, we forgot to give anesthesia to him.” says a junior doctor. The senior doctor looks at him with cross eyes “I was called into this suddenly. But what were you doing? You should have pointed this out before I put in the injection. It’s good that he is still unconscious. This is nothing less than miraculous. Call the press and turn it into a fabulous story of how I saved this man from the jaws of death by using my skills and my years of experience. It will be beneficial for our hospital as well and the Dean and the Trust will be very happy. A hospital in the middle of two cities is anyway not the most popular hospital. Atleast, this will get us some publicity.”

“But Sir, you had declared him dead. He has come to life on his own.” Chipped in the junior doctor once again. The senior doctor gets livid now and says “This is the problem with you newbies. You do not understand anything of the corporate hospital world and then you wonder that why your career is not going anywhere. Just do as I say and stop putting your brains to everything.”

I do not remember anything after that. I woke up the next morning and there was glucose being given to me intravenously. There was a nurse monitoring my pulse rate. She looked at me and said “Good Morning Mr. Jonathan. How are you feeling now? You are a very lucky man to be alive today.”

I said “Thank You Nancy. I think God wanted that. Dr. Gandhi and his team have done a great job.”

Nancy turned pale. It seemed as if she had seen a ghost. She started stuttering “Uh uh h..hh…how do you know my name, and the names of everyone else? You were brought in unconscious and you only gained consciousness today.”

Now it was my turn to get surprised and shocked. “I don’t know. But I remember all the names that were being discussed in this room while I was being treated.”

Nancy got scared. She kept the medicine tray that she was holding aside and rushed out of the room. ‘What was going on? If I was unconscious, how did I know all the names?’ I tried thinking but I couldn’t figure out a reason. Did I just have a near-death experience? I had read about people going through it, but never believed in it.

I switched on the television set. There he was. Looking smug with the stethoscope, precariously dangling on his white coat. These were his quotes:

“Jonathan was brought in, under a very severe condition. A lot of blood had been lost and he was unconscious. Two hospitals had refused taking him in as it was a police case, but the minute I saw him, without bothering about protocols, I asked my team to bring him into the operation theatre. The operation lasted for six hours. It was a complex operation, but with the help of my team, we were able to save Jonathan and now he is completely out of danger. The only problem is that the accident was so severe that Jonathan’s spinal cord has broken at multiple places and he has been paralysed from waist down, and hence he won’t be able to walk again”

I knew that all of this wasn’t true. I remembered the night quite clearly. I was being driven in his Rolls Royce by my driver on the Jaipur-Delhi highway, when the truck came from the right side. The headlights of the truck at that speed were blinding enough for the driver to just freeze. All I could do was just stare at the headlights rushing towards me. Within seconds, I felt my body being thrown to one side, my spine making a sound of a crack, my head hitting the window and then I think I lost consciousness.

A tear rolled down my cheek on realizing that I won’t be able to walk again. My entire life till date flashed before my eyes – growing up in the bylanes of Sultanpur, a small village in Delhi, doing odd jobs to help my family make ends meet, attending night school to get educated and get out of this misery, my first job as a waiter, working hard and rising through the ranks to the manager level, taking a hefty loan to buy my first small hotel to setting up a chain of hotels to now having establishing the hotel chain globally.

Life had been a roller coaster ride for me and today, it seemed as if the roller coaster is turning upside down and all that I had accumulated so far was falling to the ground.

My hunger for success was so huge that I had committed all my life to become more and more successful. My job was my passion. So much so that I never found the time to find love, to get married or to have kids. Today, as I heard those words ring in his ears “He won’t be able to walk again”, I wanted someone’s shoulder to cry on, someone’s hand to hold. I hadn’t felt lonelier in my life than today. I did not want this to happen to me. I had not bargained for this. I had not worked so hard to reach this stage. Why was life being so unfair to me? What will I do now?

This was the moment when I felt that I could either let my hotel empire wither away or turn this empire into something that generations would remember me for. I had to have a purpose in life. In an instant, I knew what I will do. I will make my hotel chain the ‘Best Hotel Chain for the Disabled’.

It was an eye-opener for me when I started visiting my own properties on a wheel chair after a few months. I realized that the hotel properties that I was so proud of were not user friendly for the disabled at all. We did not have proper ramps across the property; we did not have assistance in the rooms and bathrooms so that the disabled could do their tasks properly and without any help. Some of our restaurants had a few steps to climb, making them completely inaccessible to the disabled. We identified 41 different issues that needed to be fixed across all my properties and it took six months and a lot of money to get these issues fixed as some of them meant reconstruction and changes in layout. I had to convince the Board to see the value behind these expenses. I remember that while the Board understood my own personal condition, they were still debating the merit of carrying out all these changes. I sealed the decision in my favour when I reminded all of them that if our ethos was all about giving the best service to our guests, then there were no reason for us to distinguish our guests. There shouldn’t be a guest who comes to our hotel and feels like he was not taken care of.

While we kept making changes to our layout to make it more comfortable and friendly for the disabled, people did not notice these changes for a while. Our moment of truth came when we had renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking visiting India and staying at one of our hotel properties. He and his entire team were amazed with the attention to detail that we had given to every possible problem that a disabled person faces. In one of the interviews that Professor Hawking gave to the media, he mentioned that how he has traveled the world but no other hotel property comes close to the one where he stayed in India when it comes to taking care of all the needs of a disabled person.

I couldn’t have got a bigger endorsement than this. It just proved to me that we are doing something right. There was no stopping after that and our list of guests who were disabled just shot up significantly. It was not that these people were not travelling or not staying in hotels, but till then they would just stay in any hotel as all the hotel chains had the same problems. But now, they knew that there was one hotel chain that would take care of them. With more and more guests, word of mouth of the hotel started increasing further and it has reached a stage where we are operating with 95% occupancy for most part of the year. We now have a policy where we always prioritise and accommodate guests who are disabled over other guests as we understand that other guests can go and stay in some other hotel as well. We do not like to refuse to any of our guests, but when a choice has to be made, we know who will get the first preference.

I spend most of my time in one or the other of my property and when guests come and meet me personally and thank me, I feel a sense of accomplishment and success that I had never felt before. When they see me on a wheel-chair, they realize how I am able to empathize their predicament and hence offer services like no other hotel. I believe that God had a plan for me and he wanted me to go through this so that I can improve the lives of so many others.

With this, Jonathan ended his speech that he was giving on receiving the award of ‘Best Hotel Chain of India’ and he got a rousing, standing ovation from each and every one present there.

2014: #55WordStory Themes - Set 1

Theme: Curiosity

She had two passions in life – writing and film gossip. To pursue these, she applied for the role of a film magazine journalist.

At the interview, the Editor asked her about her biggest strength for this role and her response was: ‘Curiosity to find out what is happening in their lives.’

Theme: Reading

"Pursue your passion and enjoy your hobbies." said the professor on the last day of the graduation ceremony.

"Oh that's easy for me. My passion is the same as my hobby. Reading." said Malini to her friend Beena.

"That's interesting. In my case, it is writing. So I will write and you read." laughed Beena.

Theme: Allure

The dance floor was crowded. Her shining nose ring was the first thing that caught his attention through the smoke from the smoke machines. She turned towards him and her kohl eyes were alluring enough for him to get mesmerized. The sixth drink was enough for him to mistake a mannequin for a beautiful lady.

Theme: Video Game

Shalini was seething with rage and waiting for her husband Rajiv.

Her suspicions made her check the browser history of Rajiv and she found words like 'Infidelity and Sex'.

Rajiv came home with a box of cake and announced 'Honey. Months of hard work has paid off. My new video-game will be called 'Sex & Infidelity'.

Theme: Neck

He felt it on his neck first. He ignored it. He then felt it on his arms and he couldn't ignore it any longer.

He was visiting the same place where he had spent many memorable moments with her and today, when she was not with him, he was getting goosebumps all over his body.

Theme: Quintessence

Salil got his big break when he secured the role of Vice-President in a leading MNC. But he was surprised at the culture of the company, where even Vice-Presidents couldn't have a difference of opinion with the CEO. This was quintessentially coming from the subconscious mindset of Indians due to years of ruling by the British.

Theme: Social Media

I knew I wanted to do something like this. There was always the urge, but wasn't aware of the source. A place where like-minded people could talk on a similar topic but with different perspectives. Social Media got me on Twitter and made me find the #55wordstory theme and have been addicted to it since then.

Theme: Date

The argument was heating up between Sonu and Bhola.

"Mango is the best fruit in the world" said Sonu

"No. Watermelon is the best fruit in the world." argued Bhola

"Let us ask Radhika. She knows better." spoke Sonu

"There is no fruit better than date." said Radhika and walked out of the room casually.

Walking through the haze

Where do I start from? The present is muddled up, the past is getting hazier by the day and the future seems to be engulfed in a fog, leaving no chance of any visibility and making one rely on one’s imagination to see beyond that. 

These were the thoughts Ritwik was having as soon as he was asked “Tell me something about yourself” by the interviewer. Not a new question for Ritwik who had given a number of interviews in the last 10 years – not only for a job, but even to the media. 

Ritwik Malhotra had the gift of the gab. Ten minutes after people met him, they would be lapping up things from his hand. A natural charmer was his second name and he knew how to play to the galleries. 

Today, things were different. The simplest of questions was making Ritwik fumble and search for answers. He started off slowly and hesitantly “My name is Ritwik Malhotra. I have been working since the last 10 years and my last job was that of a Category Head with Smith & Baine (S&B), where I was handling their blades and razor segment in their personal care category. “ 

As words started coming out slowly, Ritwik knew that this is not how he starts off. But at that stage, he had no control on what he was saying and he decided to go with the flow. 

“I was with Smith & Baine (S&B) for the last five years. I moved there from A.V. Somani Pvt. Ltd., where I was the Marketing Manager for three years. I was managing their entire skin care range, comprising of three of their large brands – Eternity, Pause and Awe, and New You.” 

“You were seen as a star performer in S&B. With your kind of experience and performance, why did S&B ask you to leave their organization in such a quick and hushed manner?” 

This was the question Ritwik was dreading right from the start of the interview, but it did come up, making Ritwik go livid. He used his calming technique and took a deep breath before looking straight into the eye of the lady who asked him this question. 

“Ms. Dewan, I was not asked to leave the organization. The circumstances had become such that I was planning to quit the organization. S&B got a whiff of what is on my mind and they came up with an allegation and asked me to leave.” said Ritwik with a steely look in his eye, which made the lady a bit uncomfortable. 

A minute of silence followed. 

Once again a series of thoughts flashed across Ritwik. They were not in a set pattern; they were more like a montage of scenes from the last ten years. 

Fashion shows, Niharika Dalal, Achiever’s Award, interviews, flash lights, clubs and parties, wedding, shopping and holidays, legal contracts, business newspaper headlines…. 

“Can you please explain this in detail?”, asked the gentleman sitting on the right. 

“I am sorry but I would not like to talk about this any further than this. The reason that I am sitting here and you are interviewing me is because you believe in my capability, my skills and my talent. All of you giving your time also means that somewhere, you all believe that there is more to this whole controversy than meets the eye. If that is true, then I think we should not dwell on that issue any further and rather talk about what I can do for your company and whether I seem like the right fit or not.” 

“Fair enough, so we will talk on other aspects and let this pass off.” spoke Ms. Dewan once again, acknowledging the nods of the other two gentlemen on either sides of her. 

The montage of shots continued to run in Ritwik’s head and he could not shake them off. He could recollect one of the news articles clearly: 

Ritwik Malhotra, Category Head, Smith & Baine quits S&B suddenly and abruptly. 

It is quite surprising that Ritwik Malhotra, who was seen as a star performer at Smith & Baine, and who was being groomed for more senior roles has suddenly decided to leave the organization. 

Ritwik has been credited for reviving the sagging fortunes of the blades and razor category of Smith & Baine with his innovative and different style of marketing. This not only grew the category in double digits for three years in a row for the first time ever, but also made one of their brands Smoother Me one of the most trusted brands by consumers, featuring in the 10 most trusted brands list for the first time ever since the time of its launch. 

Ritwik Malhotra is married to Niharika Dalal, who was a super model in her heydays. They started dating when Niharika Dalal was signed as a brand ambassador for one of the brands Ritwik was managing – Pause and Awe, while working for A.V. Somani. 

Some unconfirmed reports say that Ritwik Malhotra was asked to leave and his character was questioned by the organization. This is surprising as last year itself, S&B gave Ritwik the Young Achiever’s Award and made him the youngest member of the Board. 

Emails and SMSes sent to both Smith & Baine and Ritwik Malhotra did not elicit any response. 

Watch this space for more updates on this story. 

“So Ritwik, do you think you would be fine working with a company which is 1/5th the size of S&B and hence the brands are also much smaller?”, asked the guy in pin-stripe suit, breaking the train of thoughts of Ritwik. 

“I have never been bothered about the present size of the company. What is most important to me is how big I can make the brands I handle and the company I work for. That is the challenge I thrive on. So you can be rest assured on that front. “ 

“It is good to know that. I think we have asked what we wanted to ask you. Moreover, your work is pretty well known in the industry so we don’t need to know more on that front. We would like to offer you the role of Chief Marketing Officer in our company. I will work out the entire offer and send it to you on your email by tomorrow.” said the HR head sitting on the right. He then extended his hand to shake hands with Ritwik. 

Ritwik thanked each one of them and headed to his car. He was relieved to get a job after the big stories of last couple of months around him. 

At the age of 34, Ritwik had his life set. An extremely stunning wife, youngest Category Head in Smith & Baine, the star of the senior Management Committee, an Audi Q7 in his parking bay in tony South Mumbai and a career that looked headed in the right direction… atleast till the series of events of the last two months. 

It was 2002 when Ritwik had seen Niharika in one of the fashion magazines he was surfing through. He was short-listing magazines to advertise in, for the three brands that he was managing at A.V. Somani. They were looking for a face for their premium skin care brand Pause and Awe, and Niharika Dalal seemed to fit the bill perfectly. She had a lovely jaw line, a great body, fantastic skin and an aura around her personality. Ritwik personally attended a few fashion shows where Niharika Dalal was the show stopper to be sure about her as the brand ambassador. 

A meeting was set up between Ritwik and Niharika through her agent. Both hit it off instantly from their first meeting itself. Ritwik signed Niharika for his brand with a two year legal contract and those were also the two years that he dated Niharika before proposing to her. They got married in a lavish wedding ceremony at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba, attended by everyone from the fashion world and the FMCG industry. 

Ritwik Malhotra had become the poster boy of the FMCG industry after turning out two brands of A.V. Somani into market leaders. This happened when the brands were being written off by the veterans of the industry and it made everyone take notice of him. CNBC did a story on him that led to the CEO of Smith & Baine noticing him and calling him over for a cup of coffee. The coffee resulted in a job offer at S&B as their Category Head. 

While his professional life was on an upward swing, the same was not true of his personal life. His married life was rocky and there were serious compatibility issues between Ritwik and Niharika. They tried to work it out by going on a number of holidays, but it just did not work out. Ritwik and Niharika had been staying separately since the last one year, though they were yet to take a legal course of action. 

Four months back, there was a party to celebrate the highest ever growth year of Ritwik’s category, where he met Irene. Irene had just completed her Masters in Psychology from New York and was visiting Mumbai for a few months. Ritwik’s Thank You speech won him an admirer in Irene. She went across and introduced herself. Ritwik’s natural charm further enamored her and he was also impressed by her intelligence and world knowledge. They exchanged numbers before saying a Good Bye that night. 

Exchanging numbers was a bad decision in retrospect according to Ritwik as he was thinking of these series of events while driving. 

Hey there. How are you? I am super bored. Do you want to catch up for a cup of coffee? Irene Beeped Ritwik’s mobile, while he was sitting in one of the usual presentations. 

It is difficult to overpower temptation and loneliness often forgets rationale. 

Despite knowing the repercussions of this could be bad, Ritwik sent a reply: I am doing very well. Thank you. I am stuck in a meeting at the moment and will get done by 7 pm. How about meeting at the Oberoi Coffee Shop at 9.30 pm today? 

An instant reply came to Ritwik: Done. It is a date then. Shall look forward to an interesting evening J 

Ritwik skipped a heartbeat on reading the message. Not because of excitement, but because of guilt. He knew this was not right as he was still married. 

Ritwik and Irene got along like a house on fire. They both had similar interests – movies, long drives, nice cars and writing. They both enjoyed each other’s company. 

One date was not enough for both. What followed was a series of dates, movies, dinner and also a weekend holiday to Lonavla, where they made love for the first time. It was special with the rains hitting on the window sill, making the outside temperature colder, while the inside temperature continued getting hotter. 

Despite being together for a month and a half, Ritwik had not disclosed one big secret of his life to Irene - he was married. 

One evening, Niharika saw him holding Irene’s hand and enjoying his wine at Aer lounge, the open air lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel and just flew off the handle. Abuses were hurled. Loyalties were questioned. There was lot of bad blood all around. Irene watched all of this shell-shocked. As soon as the scene got over, she just got up and walked off without even having a word with Ritwik. 

Ritwik tried calling Irene a number of times over the next few days but she would just not respond. 

A fortnight passed and Ritwik was still not able to get in touch with Irene. She had also blocked him on all social networking sites. While Ritwik was sending another message to Irene, he was asked to come into Mr. Shroff’s cabin. As soon as he walked in, Mr. Shroff just let it go “You swine! Fucking liar! How dare you play around with the emotions of my girl.“ He caught Ritwik by his collar then and hollered “Despite being married, you went around with Irene and made her pregnant! Irene is my daughter and the apple of my eye and you hurt her. You bastard!”. With this, he slapped Ritwik on his face and asked him to leave his room and not try to get in touch with his daughter again. 

Ritwik was taken aback. Not by Mr. Shroff’s reaction and him slapping him, but with what he had just said ‘Irene is my daughter and is pregnant’. How? He had used protection. Did it tear off? Did he not realize when that happened? Or has there been someone else also in Irene’s life? Why did the name Irene Shroff not ring a bell in his head when they were dating each other? 

Ritwik’s head was buzzing with all these thoughts but he tried to gain his senses to figure out his next steps. He had to leave this organization after all that had happened today as his career in this organization was in jeopardy after this reaction of Mr. Shroff. 

Ritwik came to the office next day with a resignation with him, which was accepted immediately. Mr. Shroff had spoken to HR and managed to convince them that Ritwik’s character was questionable and S&B could not have such a person on their rolls. As the CMD, Abraham Shroff wielded power across functions and across the Board. Being the highest stakeholder in the company further added weight to what he had to say and everyone had to hear that. 

Everyone in the organization was shocked by this sudden development and there were a number of rumours and stories that started doing the rounds. Ritwik just did not have the patience to clarify and correct people. 

All the business papers were busy speculating and talking about this new development in Ritwik’s career and this sudden move, but neither Smith & Baine gave a comment nor did Ritwik reply to the numerous queries that he got. 

Ritwik drove straight to Marine Drive and went and sat on the parapet from where he could see the sea right across, the horizon above the sea – teasing it and the stars in the sky. This was the same place where Ritwik had started dreaming his ambitions at the start of his career. He always wanted to shine like the star above over the city of Mumbai. This was also the place where Ritwik and Niharika had come often, late in the night to escape the shutter bugs. 

This was not how it was supposed to be. Ritwik wanted to get his life back in order. He decided to drive straight to Niharika’s place. He needed someone today more than ever, who could hear him out patiently. He wanted to give it one more shot with her, if she was willing to allow him into her life once again. 

Short Story: Radhika's Dilemma

‘Ladies’ man’ were the two words that came to Radhika’s mind after getting out of his room on the 37th floor. After heaving a sigh of relief, Radhika went back to her duties.

Radhika had been working at Hotel SpringCity as a Manager for the the last five years. SpringCity was Mumbai’s Island Paradise, a stately 7 star hotel, in the middle of the Arabian Sea. With its 87 floors, 706 rooms and 87 suites, its clientele fittingly ranged from the wealthy, the glamorous and the glitterati the world over. They converged to its lovely rooms whenever they were in the financial capital of India. So bumping into European royalty, corporate leaders, or International film stars was almost a given here.  Jestin Langford, a celebrated Investment Banker was one of them.

Jestin Langford was a regular at SpringCity. He visited India once a month to service his Indian HNIs and to put together the strategies for their mergers and acquisitions. A suave New Yorker, he was a Harvard product, working for America’s number one investment bank – A.L. Stinsons. SpringCity served as his base of operations, due to its proximity to his client’s tony offices at Nariman Point, making his 37^th floor suite indispensable.

Being a regular to Maximum City, Jestin knew all the hot-spots as he strongly believed that a city has not been lived-in truly if one has not seen what it has to offer as its night life. He was clear whenever he was out partying with his clients – to never discuss work. Jestin was an enviable mover on the floor, having learnt salsa for nine years. His lithe body pulsating under strobe lights made Indian women swoon and lust after his agile body.

Radhika was the face of Hotel SpringCity, knowing each regular by name, occupation down to their likes and dislikes. She considered it as an integral part of customer relationship management. There had been instances in the past where a guest was disappointed on not being given the service that was promised and it would take only 10 minutes for Radhika to pacify the guest. A charming personality aside, she was a pleasure to talk to.

Radhika had met Jestin for the first time three years back, at the Front Desk while he checked-in. At first glance Radhika was awe-struck by Jestin;  6’2, debonair, a man with blue eyes, looking dapper in a slim-fit Italian cut-suit. As he greeted Radhika, and asked her for the keys to his suite, a story had begun to brew. But there was something about Jestin that looked familiar. She could not put a finger on it. As soon as she handed over the key, Jestin came a little closer to her and said “Thank you very much. You are a very pretty lady.” Radhika blushed, managing a feeble “Thank You.”

By his next visit, Radhika researched Jestin as part of her responsibility. She would notice sexily dressed women coming to pick Jestin for his evening parties, whenever he was here. While she never discussed him along with the other staff of the hotel, in her mind, she had formed an image of Jestin as that of a ladies man.

Radhika was a 30 year old Mumbai girl, brought up in Bandra. Blessed with beauty, over the years, lots of people had tried to cajole her to enter beauty contests but she was clear with what she wanted to do. After her graduation, she went on to do her Hotel Management course from Switzerland. Upon completing her course, Radhika landed a job at SpringCity - the kind of job opportunity she was looking for. Over the years, her dedication, great customer service and charming personality had earned her the responsibility of Manager of the hotel.

While in Switzerland, Radhika met Steven, a student from an exchange programme, for the first time in the college library a week upon his arrival. They both wanted the same book and co-incidentally asked the librarian about the book at the same time. Both looked at each other and smiled. Steven then introduced himself as some instant sparks begun to fly. Radhika took the responsibility of showing Steven around – the Alps, Interlaken, Jungfra. After their fifth meeting, Steven invited Radhika to one of the college parties which he had organized. Radhika went, dressed in a short-red dress with a plunging neckline, which accentuated her assets nicely. Lot of guys vied for her attention but she was smitten by Steven as much as he was and both of them did not leave each other through the party.

After a couple of Grey Goose shots, they decided to hit the dance floor, and they danced through the night. After the party, Steven took Radhika to the university lawn and under the stars, they kissed each other. Radhika did not know whether it was the vodka or Steven, but she just could not control herself and she gave in. When did passion turn into possession and instantly into obsession, she did not know. The dew on the grass blades merged with the sweat on their bodies and the grass below them got completely crushed with the throbbing, the pushing and the biting that took place between the two. Radhika knew that this is a kind of love-making that one can experience only once in a life time. Steven and Radhika became a couple for the next two weeks that Steven was there. On the day he was leaving, Steven promised Radhika to call from New York, but he never did.

“Can you please send the manager to my room?” Jestin hollered in the phone to the front-desk.

Radhika was immediately called for and apprised of the situation. Jestin’s suite had a different wine bottle than what he drank regularly and this had upset him. So Radhika had to go placate the situation. She entered Jestin’s room along with a bottle of his favourite wine   and a personalized apology card. Jestin’s anger vanished as soon as he saw Radhika but pretended to be really cross and said “I am a regular guest for years now and the hotel does not even remember my most basic requirement?” “I apologize on behalf of Hotel SpringCity for the inconvenience that you have gone through Mr. Langford. This mistake has happened due to a new intern. Let me offer you this apology card and also your bottle of wine as compliments from the hotel and an assurance that you will not get a chance to complain again.”

Jestin showed that he has cooled down and said “That’s ok..Radhika right? I guess I over-reacted for such a small thing when I know that you guys have taken great care of me always.  It’s just that today has been a bad day. We missed out on two deals and I had put my heart and soul for the last few months in preparing it and so I was disappointed. Anyways, would you like to join me for a glass of wine? I could do with some company today.” Radhika was taken aback by this offer but she kept a calm face and said “Thank you Mr. Langford for the offer, but I am on duty and so I cannot drink with a guest.” “That is my bad luck then. Maybe some other time? Hey, how about on a day when you are off-duty? We can catch up for dinner outside SpringCity. What do you say?” asked Jestin. Radhika turned red on hearing this as no other guest had ever asked her out before this. She said “I am sorry Mr. Langford, but that won’t be possible. Now I would like to take your leave.” With this, Radhika left his room quickly on the 37^th floor, and her mind just kept saying “Ladies man.”

Two days later, Jestin met Radhika in the elevator and he candidly asked “Is not going out for dinner with guests a policy of the hotel or yours?” Radhika was a bit stumped by this straight-forwardness and replied “Well, Mr. Langford, I am uncomfortable going out with someone who is a guest in our hotel.” “Let me tell you, I do that all the time with my clients and I don’t feel awkward about it because after business hours it’s not about protocol with clients anymore. I am leaving tomorrow. It would be great if I can meet you at the Thai Pavilion tonight by 9. I hope that is fine with you?” “After a minute of silence, Radhika finally said “OK, lets meet at 9”.

Throughout the day, Radhika was cursing herself to have agreed for dinner. Thoughts kept clogging her mind with questions like “Why did you say a yes knowing that he is a guest and also knowing  the kind of person he is?” Thrice in the day, she thought of calling him and telling him that the dinner was off but she thought that would be rude and could not muster the courage to do that.

At 7.30 pm, Radhika ended her day and headed home. She kept thinking what would she wear, how should she come across to him, he should not get any wrong message. After 15 minutes of going through her wardrobe, she finally said to herself “What the heck. He will be gone in a day. I might as well dress myself and enjoy my dinner.” She took out a lovely black strapless dress and her mother’s vintage pearls. She tied her black high heels, and suddenly felt like a diva. She reached the Thai Pavilion at 9.15 and Jestin was there waiting for her, dressed in a monogrammed black blazer, looking absolutely irresistible. He came to her and said “So you sizzle not only in a Sari, but everything you wear. Thank you very much for coming.” Radhika managed a slight smile and said “Thank you Mr. Langford.” He turned around and said “Please don’t make me feel like a 75 year old man out for dinner with a young girl. Call me Jestin.”

Jestin had booked one of the best tables at the restaurant overlooking the beautiful Arabian sea. He pulled her chair and allowed her to sit before sitting himself. “What would you like to drink?” He asked. “A glass of Sauvignon Blanc please”. “That’s a good choice Radhika.” They sat there for three hours telling one another their stories, their dreams and aspirations. To an outsider they would have seemed to be old friends reuniting after decades.

Finally, she said “I need to go now. It’s getting late” and he gallantly offered to drop her home. He made her slid into his black BMW, which he always used whenever he was in India. Just a little before reaching her place, he stopped the car, looked at her and said “I must tell you that I have never seen anyone more beautiful than you in my life.” Being slightly tipsy, Radhika managed to say “You must be saying this to every woman you go out with. I have noticed different women coming to pick you at the hotel. You are a ladies man.” “Well, I appreciate that you have noticed me going out, but let me tell you that all these women are clients thinking that going out with me will help them in their business. There is nothing else beyond that.” Having said that, he leaned in closer and kissed her lightly on her lips. “I fell for you the day I saw you Radhika, but I just did not know whether it would be appropriate to ask you out. I thought yesterday’s wine incident is a good opportunity to call the manager as I knew that would you.” He smiled, leaned in and kissed her again and this time she reciprocated with a longing kiss and blurted out ‘So both of us need to thank that intern for goofing-up” as they continued kissing. 

Suddenly, Jestin’s mobile rang and the name that flashed on screen said – Steven Langford- Brother.