Aarav found meetings entirely useless, an early morning meeting more so. His head was pounding from the outing the night before. His boss, the branch office supervisor, was screaming at the top of his lungs something about how he expected them to captivate him with their ideas on the new project, and that he was sorely disappointed.
"Now, you may all have millions stored away in your bank accounts by your parents, but I don't," Mr. Dayakant Bose complained, waving his chubby hands in the air, "I have to take care of my wife, my parents, and three kids. So, I cannot lose my job, and you better make me some money or else they will close down the branch. Is that what you all want? My ruin?"
Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, Aarav thought. At least then, he could take some time off, travel, something he had been planning to do for years.
"Nikhil, what do you have for me?" Dayakant Bose, or as everyone else in the office jokingly called him DK Bose, turned to one of the other team leaders. Nikhil wasn't a bad guy, quite clever, but he had the confidence of a hamster. He stammered a little, made some repetitive statements, drew a few lines, and finished his presentation awkwardly.
DK Bose surrendered with a sigh and looked around the room. The white of the tube light shined on his bald head too brightly, and Aarav had to look away. The door to the conference room opened, and it was Sonia, with a large folded blue paper in her hand. The girl was in Aarav's team.
"Ah, Sonia has deigned to join us this morning," DK Bose exclaimed with full sarcasm, "please, come in and take a seat." She looked a little confused at first but then walked all the way around to the other end of the table and sat with Aarav and others in the team.
"Tell me, has your morning been pleasant?" DK Bose asked, and Sonia began to answer, but Bose kept going, "because mine hasn't. Your friends here have shown me some highly disappointing plans. So, unless you have anything interesting to share, I would rather you all go back to your desks and bring me something exciting. I hope that is not too much to ask."
The twenty or so people in the room looked enormously relieved that they didn't have to listen to this early morning rant anymore when Sonia laid down that huge ass blueprint on the table. DK Bose raised his brow, and Aarav groaned internally.
The girl cleared her throat and began to explain, "Sir, I believe this would be a unique proposal for the project. I know they want something exclusive that will turn eyeballs, but it is not easy in the residential building space. Every building has to be different. So, I thought maybe we should suggest an eco-friendly building complex."
The supervisor winced at the words like something stabbed him in the brain. "Miss Sonia," the man only used that kind of address if he was losing his patience, "I mean us to win the project, not lose the project."
Sonia did come to Aarav with that plan several weeks ago, and Aarav thought he had told her to nix it and work on something else. Clearly, the girl did not know how to follow instructions.
"Sir, this is the future," Sonia insisted. Aarav saw a few of the other teams sniggering and wished the girl would just stop making him look bad. "If we get the contract, we would be the first architectural firm in the entire country to use this model for a residential building of this scale."
DK Bose did not respond to Sonia but turned to Aarav instead. "Did you greenlight this? I made you the team lead for a reason." The man looked very unhappy, and Aarav realized he had to intervene.
Aarav closed down his laptop and set it aside. "It is a new concept, yes. But I believe it has potential," he explained, and he could almost feel the surprised look Sonia was giving him. But he was the team leader, and he had to take responsibility for their work. "Initial investment will be more than usual for similar residential complexes, but we can argue to the client that it is eco-friendly; it would save the costs over time. The return would grow over the years, and they would get marketability since environmental-friendly rentals seem to be the future."
Aarav traded a glance with the girl, and she looked very relieved. DK Bose was not impressed right away, but after contemplating for several minutes, he yielded.
"Fine," the bald guy said, "I want the full plan and the entire proposal by the end of tomorrow. And you two would do the presentation to the client. If it fails, I want no part in it."
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"Thanks," Sonia chirped when they all came out of the meeting, "for having my back."
"Next time you present something, you run it by me," he cautioned but tried to sound soft. He knew she hung out with Ru now and then, and Aarav didn't want her to run to Ru and complain about him.
"Will do!" She actually flashed a smile and then asked, "Do you want to join us for lunch? Ru is coming. We are thinking of going to a South Indian place."
"Sure."
When Aarav walked by Ru's desk, he was happily arranging a large bouquet on his desk.
"Hey! How was the meeting?"
Aarav remembered whining to Ru about the meeting over coffee that morning. "It was great! Couldn't be better."
Before Ru could even follow him back to his office, he closed the door. If he let the guy come in there, not one thing would get done.
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All four of them got Masala Dosa at the South Indian restaurant. It was new in the area, so there were not a lot of customers in there, but the smell was mouthwatering.
"I haven't had dosa in forever!" Ru almost sang when he saw that plate of long, crispy rice lentil crepe in front of him. "Please pardon me if I start eating like a thousand-pound yeti."
The other two who had joined them for lunch were the two girls Ru had quickly become very close with in the office, Sonia and Gul. Aarav almost believed Ru when he had told him he was bi. And he hated thinking what a big ladies man Ru would have been if he was bi or straight.
"Who says you don't?" Aarav teased Ru only to receive a slap from him. The girls giggled.