9. Mujhse Dosti Karoge!
“Has nobody ever been pregnant in this office before or what?” Maya snickered, accepting the third dabba of pregnancy goodies. She had already had their head maid and her lunch partner drop off jaggery laddoos, followed by Leo who brought her his grandmother’s homemade Goanese pickle. And now, Riya presented to her a tupperware packed bowl of ‘ambali,’ their traditional Marathi porridge and ghee-gud-methi laddoos.
“Ever since I have worked here? No.” Riya settled beside her on their co-working table.
“I feel so spoiled right now!”
“As you should. We know…” Riya lowered her voice. “You told me your parents are in Dahanu and your ex-husband doesn’t come by anymore…”
Maya gave her a tight smile.
“Tell me honestly, do you have people looking after you? Any relatives?”
“I have a maasi, she is awesome…”
“Great.”
“She is in the US. And can’t come because her Green Card is processing.”
“Then? Any friends here? Are you calling your mother to Mumbai?”
“As if,” Maya snorted. “I mean, she might come for the delivery. I haven’t worked the logistics out yet…”
“Maya?” Rustom’s singular drone sounded behind her.
“Yes, Rusti Bhai?” She turned to him with a grin. He got so annoyed when she called him that.
“Can we talk inside your cabin?”
She glanced around. Today the co-working space was more occupied than usual. Maya set her iPad down and followed him into her office.
“Haan, Rustom bhai?” She closed the door, understanding that he was more solemn than usual.
“I got to know from Riya about your family problems.”
“O… k…”
“In this condition, you should not be living alone. You can come to my house where my mother and wife can take care of you. My mother delivered four children of her own and two of my wife’s.”
Maya stared at him.
“It’s not a house as big as you may be used to living in, but we will give you one whole bedroom for yourself…”
Maya burst out crying. She had tried not to, but how could this fastidious, stern, borderline-disliking-her man stand here offering her accommodation and care in his home, which she knew was already small for his family of five.
“Don’t cry…” he became conscious, “if you don’t like it, it’s ok. I didn’t mean to…”
“No, no,” she sniffled through her tears, “thank you for thinking about me. You don’t know what that means in this time. But I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
“The offer will be open.”
She nodded, still sobbing, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, hoping her ‘waterproof’ mascara hadn’t worn off. Rustom exited her office, leaving her to settle on her puffed armchair until the ugly crying settled.
Two knocks. She clamped her teeth on her lip, quickly wiping her hands down her face.
“Yes?” She sniffed.
“Maya?”
She cleared her throat, trying to sound airy — “Yes, Gautam, come in.”
Those four golden words instantly brought her mood out of the trenches. The joys of saying ‘Come in’ to the grump… Oh. My. God. It was only rivalled by the sugar high of L?derach pralines.
He pushed open her door and his eyes narrowed.
“Please,” she continued with her newfound airy professionalism, “take a seat.”
“Why are you crying?” He shut the door and strode towards her.
“Is it not allowed in this office to cry? Do you have a board put up outside that says dogs and crying are not allowed?”
“Maya.” He hissed.
“Fine, fine,” she laughed. “I was crying. Your ‘may I come in’ made me laugh.”
“I did not say may I come in.”
“Really? I will remember it like that.”
He shook his head, taking a seat in one of her boring visitor’s chairs. His perfect black pants, with not a single piece of lint in this oppressive weather, stretched around his thighs. Don’t look, Maya, you cannot think impure thoughts about him.
“Why were you crying?”
“Suddenly you are so interested in Maya’s world of emotions?”
“If it is due to something that my staff has said or done, then I am. I don’t want HR nightmares.”
“Cool down, Rambo. Nobody has said or done anything ba…” she stuttered, remembering Siya's verbal venom vomit yesterday. “And anyway,” she changed tracks, “What’s happened to you all of a sudden? Knocking on doors, eating cupcakes, that too on a Thursday!”
“You were celebrating your good news, so I ate it. You offered.”
“I know…” she smiled, feeling tingly all of a sudden, talking about the pregnancy. “You were the one who instigated me to make this big announcement. Otherwise I was going to pull people aside in a khopcha and tell them one by one.”
“Khopcha?” He smirked.
“Corners. How have you lived in Mumbai for so long and not picked up tapori slang?”
“I didn’t meet you again, probably that’s why.”
“See, life gives you second chances,” she waved a circle around herself. “Now you have me to teach you all this, and just wait till my baby comes. I am on a mission to make a mini Maya in this darkening world.”
“God save us all,” he rolled his eyes. She laughed, reaching for the bottle of water close to him. He passed it to her, sitting back and getting comfortable in his chair. She poured water into her mouth, another pregnancy rule — massive quantities of H20.
Maya eyed him over her giant gulps. “Why are you getting cosy in my chair?”
“Because you are about to tell me why you were crying.”
She pursed her mouth. “Fine. I got emotional because Rustom offered something very sweet.”
“What was that?”
“He invited me to come and stay in his house.”
Gautam’s face tightened.
“He is married, stop thinking dirty.”
“I know,” he nodded. “Why would he invite you?”
“Because… wait, you can’t use this against me and taunt me.”
“I won’t. I am sorry for before. I shouldn’t have said some of those things.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because I couldn’t see you so clueless and helpless. You were going around in some different world ever since you discovered about it and that is not you. I just didn’t like it.”
“So instead of coming and nicely having a chat about it, you pulled my pigtails? Seriously, how old are you, G?”
“You were saying something about Rustom inviting you to live in his house.”
“Yeah, so… he got to know about my family situation and can you believe it? Rustom? He was so sweet and generous that he offered me to come and spend my pregnancy there. His mother and wife would take care of me…”
Even saying it out loud made her choke. She cleared her throat and took another swig of water. “Anyway, I thanked him and said no. They live in a small house in Parsi colony…”
“What is your family situation?”
“Sorry?”
“You said he got to know about your family situation. What situation?”
“You are asking as my boss or as my long-lost friend?”
“Just answer.”
“Fine. My parents are not here, so…”
“They didn’t come back from Dahanu?”
“Why would they?”
“Because you are pregnant.”
“Not their problem. They suggested a couple of solutions, I did not accept.”
“Like what?”
“Like getting rid of it. Like getting back with my ex-husband. Like coming to Dahanu and hiding there to give birth, and no thanks, I am not doing that! I have read enough regency romances to know that they take away the single heroine’s baby and give it away to the house help for her to never ever see it again…”
“Maya,” he cut in.
“Yes?”
“Back to the topic. And please switch on your filter.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. And was that a tiny smirk she saw?
“What about your ex? He is supporting you, right?”
“He doesn’t want anything to do with the baby.”
Gautam reared back. Maya had never seen such a strong reaction from him. Maybe ever, not even as a teenager when he had worn his naive emotions on his sleeve.
“Please tell me this time you are joking.”
“I am not. And I am grateful. I get to have this baby all to myself.”
“That’s not how it works. I don’t know much about these things but… it cannot be easy alone.”
“When has life ever been?”
“Maya, are you really serious about it?”
“Listen,” she stood to her feet, palms bracing on the desk between them. “Do not ever underestimate my decisions. I may look like I take it all easy, but I know what I am doing. The how, I will work out, as I always do. But I know what is at stake here. I know a tiny baby, a real human being is involved. But it is my human being now and I will not ram blind into the future when it is concerned. Understand?”
“All I meant to say is…”
“Do you understand?”
He swallowed. Then nodded. And for some reason, Maya felt the need to smile. At the crazy role-reversal which, for a the record, she hadn’t planned. He smiled up at her. His first real smile for her, so tender in his eyes, reminding her of that old G.
The gravity of the moment slowly faded. And she sat back down — “It felt nice to be in your shoes for a minute.”
“Didn’t it?” He quipped dryly. “Anyway, I came here to tell you about Amber Raisingh. She will be coming here for a visit tomorrow. Her deliveries are due in batches over the next months, we have a schedule prepared at GK Textiles. You collaborate with them, the design team here, and prepare a presentation. Need not be a slideshow, but we have to give her a systematic update.”
“Why not ask Aarya? He has done all the grind work…”
“Do not be modest. It doesn’t suit you. I know who did what.”
She grinned — “Then would it suck you dry to say good work?”
“Language, Maya, language,” he pushed to his feet. “Call the GK Textiles people down to work with you, you don’t climb up. And if you do, make sure to take somebody with you.”
She kept grinning, cocking her head to see if her act-cute could get her another smile.
“And don’t do that. You look even more creepy.”
Her mouth dropped open. He turned and strode out of her office, that slight shake of his head telling her he was hiding a smile somewhere in front.
————————————————————
“Ok, comrades, gather up!” Maya clapped both hands. Aarya saluted her and stood first in line, followed by everybody else who had helped her prep the conference room for the Amber Raisingh meeting. Some of the samples were neatly laid out on the long table behind her, looking luscious and creamy. That was her campaign — The Creams of Paradise. And all the fabrics sourced were in varied shades or embellishments of cream — Paper, Sand, Blossom, Rose Gold… such beautiful fancy names that had come from Amber’s headquarters. Maya was lowkey fan girling, she was about to meet Amber in 20 or less minutes.
“Now, for our presentation today,” Maya pointed behind her — “Humko Sand, Blossom, Mousse, Roasted Peach, hone ko chahiye.” Rustom reached behind her and held the pieces up. “Barley, Ivory, Paper — nahi hone ko chahiye. We don’t have their delivery schedules set yet, and what we cannot give a date on —“
“We do not show!” They repeated in perfect comrade-y sync. Wow, she had made them all like her! They not only understood, but even appreciated Josh references.
“Great then, let’s leave the conference room set. And nobody enters or changes this setup until Amber is here.”
One by one they all began to file out as she went around checking the screen connections. With Gautam’s blessing, she had foregone a powerpoint presentation, instead opting for mirroring her iPad and running the photos of these fabrics in the process of being developed. That would be a much more creative visual with her updates going on in the background.
“Maya beta?” Their head peon strode in, a cardboard box of Cornettos in hand.
“Whose birthday?” She frowned. How did she not know it…?
“Sia Madam bought a new house.”
“That was last week…”
“She got ice cream for everyone today.”
“Hmm…” Maya reached into the box and selected a double-chocolate Cornetto. The butterscotch was closest to salted caramel but the baby did not seem to like salt and caramel together. Weird baby. Maya began to follow him out of the conference room when Sia passed by — “Hey,” she peeped into the room over Maya’s shoulder. “All set?”
Maya stopped in the process of unwrapping the paper over her cone. Now that she thought about it… she eyed her Cornetto suspiciously. What if Sia had poisoned it?
“Go eat with everyone, I will wait here.” Sia offered. Not nice but not nasty either.
“It’s ok,” Maya took her steps back, not trusting the witchy-bitchy Sia. She quietly shut the door and sat down on the sofa farthest from the table of fabrics, biting into her ice cream. No, nobody would be so mean as to poison this cream of paradise.
But…
Sia would have gotten up to some mischief if she had been left alone in this room. Not about to happen , Maya smirked, licking her ice cream and the fresh chocolate waffle cone that tasted soooo good. She couldn’t wait to reach the end where a pyramid of chocolate waited.
“Did you find traffic on your way here…” the door opened and in walked Aarya, followed by Amber Raisingh herself. Maya shot to her feet, starstruck by the aura of the Amber Raisingh, in person. She was in her fifties for sure, but the botox had pulled her face taut. The heavy eye liner and kohl, coupled with her unique shade of red lips made her suck all the attention in the room, not to mention her long, sweeping cream kaftan… or was it ‘Whole Wheat’ kaftan that ‘flowed effortlessly down her toned body.’ Maya swooned, unable to take her eyes off Amber. Her hair was out open, perfectly blowdried, sunglasses pushed up into her hair. She carried an Hermes Desordre Mini Kelly 20 and wow, wow, wow . She was perfect.
“Hi, I am May…”
“Why is this woman eating near my samples?”
Even her voice was creamy. Super rich.
“I asked you, Aarya.”
“Oh. Umm… Amber,” he glanced at Maya, eyeing her ice cream with wide eyes. “She was eating sitting there on the sofa.”
“What is my rule when working with material?”
“No food, water or any kind of substance in the room.”
“And?” She turned to Maya with disdain. “What do you do over here? Do you even know how precious these fabrics are…?”
“Oh,” Maya tried to smile. “Don’t worry. Please. These are samples, and I assure you I haven’t gone near them. I was supposed to guard this set up from Si… I mean, I was supposed to make sure nothing was disturbed. That’s all.”
“What’s going on?” Gautam strode into the room, followed by the rest of their team.
“I wasn’t aware you hire incompetent secretaries who don’t even know how to behave, GK.”
Gautam glanced at Amber, then at her.
“I apologise,” he immediately nodded, without even asking her if she was at fault. “Let’s begin now, the setup is ready.”
Amber gave a queenly nod, moving on small feet towards the table. Maya quickly discarded the cone into the dustbin and was about to rush into the ensuite to wash her hands when Amber chirped — “What are you doing?”
“Just give me a moment, I’ll be right back to run the presentation.”
“You?” More disdain, more once-over from head to toe. Maya wore a loose black tunic to cover her mild baby bump over a tight pair of black jeans. She didn’t think she looked shoddy or shabby.
“Maya is the Senior Textile Designer at Made in Mumbai…” Aarya helped.
“No way. I am not listening to her drone on when she has not respected the sanctity of my material. Gautam, you or Sahyadri lead it, or I am leaving right now.”
Gautam glanced between them, then nodded.
“Take a seat Maya,” he tipped his chin at one of the chairs.
“What part of not respecting the sanctity of my material did you not get? She is not coming close to these at any cost.”
“It’s alright,” Sia cut in with a big pacifying smile. “No problem. I’ll lead this,” she nodded at Gautam, some private conversation happening between them. “Maya, please leave your iPad here.” She smiled again, that nice sugary smile, effectively dismissing her.
Maya walked out of the conference room, a part of her seething, another part of her ready to cry, and the biggest part of her regretting throwing that half-finished Cornetto into the dustbin. If she was to sit out of the class, then at least she should have had a treat!