Cold Love (3 page)
Authors: Amieya Prabhaker
That night, the Sinha and
Saxena families throw a party to welcome Arjun and Riya back home. Arjun is in
his room, busily and vehemently typing on his computer. He is frowning, as he
is engrossed in his work.
Puja enters and immediately
expresses her frustration that her brother has not bothered to get ready yet
for the party specifically thrown for him.
“
Bhaiyya!
Please go and take a bath now! The guests have already started coming
downstairs. Come on, please shut down your laptop now!”
Arjun ignores her, continuing
his work, “Just give me ten minutes Puja.”
Riya enters the room at that
moment, wearing a lovely evening dress and looking extremely elegant and
beautiful. Arjun whistles, with a view to tease her, “Who is this new girl in
town? In your childhood you used to be a tomboy, Riya, following me around in
all my games– when did you turn into a girl?”
“Very funny!” Riya is not
amused.
“OK, but at least tell me
this; did you continue your crazy childhood activities as an adult? You used to
climb trees with me, use the slingshot to shatter windows … (pauses)… goli,
kabaddi… you used to follow me in all my games remember?! Ha ha! … Miss Riya,
never afraid to take on any challenges, playing in the mud with boys… I went
away for a few years and look at you; you completely changed. I didn’t expect
this from you!” He jokingly makes a face to express fake disappointment.
“I’m still the same today!
Try me if you want to!”
Arjun nods and chuckles with
a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
Puja is annoyed with Arjun
having a go at her friend, “And what do you have to say about yourself, your
highness? You were as lazy then, as you are now. You didn’t learn a single
thing after so many years. … You couldn’t even make it to the airport on time!
Thank goodness at least you made it to the auditorium. (Both the girls giggle)
And now, will your highness bother getting up and going to the bathroom to get
ready? C’mon now just shut the laptop and end work for the day.”
“Just give me two minutes,
Puja! We will be ready soon. Takhliya …” He waves his hand to gesture them to
leave.
“Very funny! Takhliya my
foot!” Puja shouts back, “Please finish your work quickly… otherwise it won’t
be good for you!”
“Well, that’s harassment!
There’s no goodness left in this world anymore. There used to be a time when
sisters would bring tea and biscuits for their brothers while they worked.”
“Oh yes of course! Why not!
Here you go!” Puja punches Arjun on his arm, “is that sweet enough?”
After a brief moment of
banter and laughter, Arjun gets back to his work, typing rapidly into his
laptop. The girls chat and gossip, catching up on all the missed years. After a
few minutes, Puja looks at her watch. Arjun is still engrossed in his work,
typing on his laptop.
Puja, coming closer to Arjun,
“And your time stops … 5.4.3.2.1 … Over!”
“One minute more please,
Puja. Just one minute… Promise!”
“No more time, bhaiyya.” Puja
turns to Riya
“
He
won’t agree this way,” Arjun is not listening as Puja gestures to Riya with her
wiggling fingers.
“
Looks
like formula number 420 should be used! Tickle monster coming your way! Ok,
time’s up!”
She shuts the laptop loudly and
both the girls start tickling Arjun.
“Hey c’mon don’t be kids!
Stop it Puja.”
Shouting and giggling
continues as they tickle him around his waist and neck. Arjun grabs Puja and
throws her on to the bed. All of them fall together on to the bed as Puja holds
on to Riya and drags her down as well. Fun, laughter and frolic continue until
they are tired and Puja, lying next to Arjun, hugs him in a sentimental mood.
“I missed you bhaiyya. I
missed you so much!” Tears fill her eyes as she hugs Arjun.
“I missed you too my sister.
I missed you a lot.”
Riya has got off the bed and
smiles at Arjun as he looks at her over Puja’s shoulder. However, Puja doesn’t
let Arjun go. When he does take her off to look at her face, she has actually
started crying, with big tears pouring down her cheek.
“Hey, what’s this, sis? I
don’t want any floods in my room! If you have to do this, you two better go
back to your room!”
“We have done it already in
our room.” Puja chuckles, looking at Riya, “I’ve met my friend after such a long
time!” She gets up to hug Riya, “My soul mate!”
“OK. C’mon get lost you two!
Go on. I’ll be down in a few minutes. Promise.”
The girls leave the room as
Arjun returns to work, continuing to type intently on to his computer. After
another ten minutes, he finally shuts down his computer and goes to the
bathroom.
Meanwhile, the party
downstairs has kicked off in full swing. Girls and guys are playing antakshari,
a game of songs. Puja spots Arjun in the distance and waves at him. Arjun waves
back but is busy meeting and greeting his old friends. He eventually comes to
Puja and she tries to pull him into the game. Arjun tries to avoid it.
It’s Riya’s turn to have a go
at Arjun this time, “Forget it Puja. Anyway, boys are going to lose so no point
him joining them!”
“Yes, you are right Riya!”
Puja reciprocates, “Loser! Loser! Loser!”
“Shut up! Puja!”
“What good is it trying to
shut me up? If you are not a loser, join the game and play! Then we will see!”
The fun and frolic continues
as Arjun joins the antakshari game. Both Arjun and Riya are extremely delighted
to meet their respective old friends… and getting introduced to new ones.
It’s a new re-acquaintance
for Arjun. He did visit his homeland intermittently, but it’s almost after ten
years that he has returned to his country, to live here forever. The passion,
the life, the friends… he never felt the same abroad.
Nothing feels quite like
being back home!
It is now a couple of months
into the first semester. The new batch of students at the MBA school have been
extremely busy. Arjun and Riya have got along well, and reignited their old
friendship. A full house awaits Professor Ramachandran for the Strategy 101
class in the school.
“
Good
morning, everyone. Today’s class is on strategy. For a start, can anyone define
strategy? And what is the origin of this word ‘strategy’?”
A smart-looking, well-built
student slowly raises his hand.
“Yes, Vishal.”
“
Sir,
strategy is what companies devise to generate more sales and revenue.”
“
Good.
So, by using the correct strategy, companies can generate more revenues. Is
that it?” The professor pauses, and spots Riya raising her hand. “Yes, Riya?”
“
Sir,
strategy is about winning by considering all eventualities and exploiting the
resources at hand to develop a unique competitive advantage.”
“
Right,
strategy is about winning… about competitive advantage. Good. So where do you
think ‘strategy’ came from, Riya? When was it first used in literature?”
“
Sir
the oldest book on
strategy may be…
Art of War
… 500 BC?”
“Yes, good. Strategy is about
winning over competition. And Vishal, companies use strategy to win market
share and generate more revenues. The phrase strategy was coined through its
first use in warfare. In Indian history, the biggest strategist was perhaps Chanakya.
He used the right strategy to create a unified and a financially prosperous
empire. So strategy is as much about vision as about planning and eventual
execution. And as we know Chanakya was not just a strategist, but also a great
economist and a politician too.”
“Sir, is politics strategy
too?” a student asks the professor.
“Absolutely. In today’s
world, politics is the biggest and most complex playground for strategy. Look
at Tony Blair; do you know that after his tenure as Prime Minister of the UK he
ran an advisory consultancy? So who were his clients?”
After a long period of
silence Arjun responds, “Countries.”
“Right Arjun… countries …
like Afghanistan. A consultancy to provide much-needed advice to emerging
nations on diplomatic and geo-political strategy. Also take an example closer
to home. Dr. Kalam’s book on India 2020 … a great call to arms, a vision for
the growth of an entire nation to rise in the GDP rungs among the leading
nations of the world. So my friends, what do you need to create a winning
strategy?”
Riya responds again.
“A vision, sir… such as the
one that Chanakya had for our nation, or to take an example from Indian
mythology, the one that Krishna had in the
Mahabharata
. If we ignore
Krishna’s Godly status, and treat him as a mortal, he made the vision
statement, and also assisted the Pandavas in its execution.”
Riya cannot help but look at
Arjun, who smiles and chuckles, as if complimenting her on her response.
“Exactly. Strategy needs
vision. And eventually it’s all about execution… that requires the best
leadership brains. CEOs and politicians can provide that leadership and
direction. But it’s the executives in a company who actually implement the
strategy at the ground level. And the person formulating the strategy should
communicate the vision with such clarity that the person executing it should
feel that he is the one doing everything on his own! But often in reality,
everything has been meticulously planned, with each piece precisely placed in
the right position by a clever strategist, who has done the planning beforehand
for those pieces to be picked up in the right order by the executive
implementing that strategy. Planning is absolutely critical to such an
execution.”
The school bell rings at that
moment. Professor Ramachandran quickly wraps up. “Another stream of literature
states that ‘Execution is strategy’. After all, execution is what really
matters to deliver that competitive advantage…that ‘X factor’. Formulation, as
people argue, is often the easy part. In my view, it’s a blend of both. CEOs
and leaders formulate a strategy, put in place a vision and a meticulous plan
but eventual execution is what matters at the end of the day. That’s all for
today, students; we will continue tomorrow. Thank you, everyone.”
The class gradually
disperses.
Later in the afternoon, Riya
and a few of her friends are in the gardens of the school, chatting whilst
seated on the grass. Suddenly, Riya sees Arjun in a corridor of the school,
exchanging money with a suspicious character. The guy offers Arjun a small
white packet. Arjun first smells it and then puts a tiny bit of the powder on
his tongue. They nod, and start walking. Riya is intrigued. She excuses herself
from her friends and starts to follow Arjun.
“Arjun!” Riya calls, but
Arjun is too far away to hear her. She rushes through the corridor to catch up
with him, but soon the guys disappear round the corner. She tries calling
Arjun’s mobile but there is no response. She texts to him instead- “Arjun,
where are you? Who are you with?”
Again, there’s no response.
Riya starts walking faster and after going round the corner, spots Arjun and
the guy again far ahead, as they are walking towards the slums behind the
school campus.
“Arjun! Arjun!” Riya shouts
at the top of her voice, but in vain. She takes her heeled sandals off in her
hands to try and run faster. But the heat of the road and the pebbles halt her
progress, so she has to put her heels back on. Next, Riya fiddles with her
mobile again, trying to call Arjun. No response again. As she is about to rush
again, her mobile beeps. The SMS message reads- ‘I am tied up with something.
Please go back home and I’ll speak to you later. Arjun.’
Riya ignores the message and
continues following Arjun. The trail leads her into the lanes of the slum areas
just behind the school. Riya is rushing to keep pace with Arjun as he walks
faster, with the suspicious character alongside. Riya makes a call on her phone
again, speaks to someone for a minute and continues walking as briskly as she can.
Arjun is conscious that he is being followed and moves swiftly as well.
After walking through several
narrow twisting and turning lanes in the slum, Riya sees weird characters
emerge on the scene. It’s getting dark already; the sun has set and it is now
early evening. Riya notices a few scantily dressed girls, standing in the
doorways, backlit with bright lights, with Bollywood music playing in the
background.
“Ehhh chikni… New around
here?” One of those scantily dressed girls asks Riya. Riya ignores her and
keeps walking.
“Hey, tell me sweetie, do you
need some stuff?” Riya looks at her but ignores her again. “Hey, why are you so
dry, darling? Need a customer do you? I can you get you a fat one…”
Riya
ignores her and rushes away hastily. The scantily clad girl waves her hand in
disgust and lets her go. As Riya continues to follow Arjun, she walks through
one narrow lane after another. Each lane is bounded by dilapidated houses, some
with multiple floors, on either side. Finally, Arjun and the sleazy guy arrive
at one such house and quickly climb the stairs.
Riya, who is struggling to
keep up with them, comes to the same location but does not know where to go
next. Weird characters are still lounging around and staring at her. One of
them comes over to speak to Riya.
“Eh madam, what do you want?
Are you from the school as well?”
“
School?
What do you mean?”
“MBA school,” he responds, “I
mean the hero who came just now. You want the same stuff as well?”
Riya nods yes, confused.
The guy smiles and looks at
his partner, a dwarfed obnoxious looking guy next to him. “That’s wonderful!
What a lovely business we get from the school. It’s the new thing in fashion,
shorty! All the girls and guys want it… You want it for a party as well?”
Riya nods, as she understands
what he is talking about.
“See, no party in Mumbai is
complete without the stuff… The kids of all the Mumbai millionaires want it
whenever they party around. Ha ha! Good business for us! Come this way.” Riya
hesitates, as the guy leads her on, “Yeah come on… Don’t be shy.”
Riya walks up the stairs to
the building. They walk past numerous narrow corridors and eventually arrive at
a large space divided into crisscrossing smaller cabins. She could see several
workers in the cabins; they were busy wrapping white powder in plastic bags and
cartons. On the far end, there was a balcony overlooking a wide backyard,
perhaps an unused playground that was concealed discreetly from all sides, as
it lay between the crowded houses of the slum. Riya spots Arjun at the far end
with the same guy with whom she had seen him earlier.
“There you go; there’s your
hero from school.” They guy leading Riya tells her. “C’mon madam, this way!”
They walk across the space.
Arjun is frustrated Riya has managed to reach him. He gestures to her with his
eyes to go away just as they reach him.
“
Ae
hero! Look, I’ve brought one more girl from your school. Do you know her?”
“No.” Arjun responds gravely.
Riya is stunned to hear Arjun’s response.
“
Really
?
This madam says she
knows you. She said you study in the same school.”
“The school has over 2000
students,” Arjun tries to extricate himself with a dry and disinterested
response.
The guy looks at both of them
and chuckles. “Never mind! What do I care? Anyway, what do you want madam? Same
stuff like him?”
Riya again nods, feeling
increasingly confused, stares at Arjun with pleading eyes, demanding a lot of
explanations.
“OK. How much? Our hero here
has a big party. Actually the biggest order this month! Bhai will have to come
for such an order. The good thing is he is scheduled to be here anyway today.
So lucky for you, hero!”
The broker then turns to
Riya, “So madam how much?” Riya does not know what to say, so he helps her out.
“OK, how much money do you have?”
Riya sighs and responds
nervously, “Umm… twenty thousand rupees.”
“Hey, what will you get in
twenty madam? I can give you at most two packets. OK?” Riya nods. “All right; come
with me this way then.”
Riya and her broker walk to
the other end of the space, while Arjun is still at the far end. The guy next
to Arjun offers the packet to Arjun, who tastes a pinch of the powder. Riya
looks on intently, increasingly perturbed. She is interrupted by her guide.
“Here you go madam.
Absolutely fresh! Go on; try a snuff if you want.”
Riya is confused; she
realizes immediately that a transaction in this part of the world inevitably
requires the customer to taste the stuff before buying it. She sees Arjun at
the far end, his eyes now fixed upon her, as he slowly shakes his head as if asking
her not to taste the white powder. Riya takes the packet that her broker gave
her. She pauses and is about to put a pinch on to her tongue, when she clumsily
drops it, bumps into a pile of packages on the desk behind her, knocking off a
whole carton of packets down to the ground. The man behind the desk rushes to
grab any more packets falling to the ground.
At that moment, Riya notices
a few cars and a long black Jaguar in particular that have moved into the
playground behind the house, as seen through the balcony. A guy in an elegant
black suit gets out of the Jaguar and walks to the house. Meanwhile, the mess
Riya had created has been cleaned up and she is handed the open packet again to
taste the stuff. Instead, she stares straight ahead at Arjun at the far end; a
moment’s pause feels like a lifetime. Arjun, his eyes still on Riya, eventually
ends the stalemate by raising his left wrist to his lips and speaking into the
cuff of his sleeve.
“All units move in… Target is
in town… (Louder) Move in … Now!”
Bullets start flying all
around as special crime units swamp the area through the main door, through the
windows and the playground below. All the special unit squads are wearing black
bullet proof jackets and helmets as they attack the mafia, who are caught
completely off guard. Arjun rushes towards Riya, grabs her and takes cover.
“
Arjun,
what the hell is this? What’s going on?”
“Trust me… Stay close… very
close to me.” Arjun holds her hand tightly as he drags her along behind him.
“And keep your eyes open!”
They both duck behind one of
the desks as several bullets spray around all across. The members of the mafia
are getting hit as they are no match for the special crime units. The guy who
had come out of the car rushes back into it to retreat. A few other cars that
had come in a few minutes ago are hurriedly reversing out of the playground.
Riya and Arjun are right at the edge of the balcony overlooking the playground
underneath.
Just then, Riya notices a man
sneak out from the long black Jaguar. The man walks a couple of steps towards
the house, facing her. At that moment, Arjun is busy taking a shot at another
goon on the opposite side of the room. A fraction of a second later, he turns
around to look at Riya, whose face reveals the shock and horror she feels at
what she has just seen. The man who had walked a few steps out of the car fell
to the ground, dead. His skull has been ripped open by a bullet from the back.
Riya shrieks loudly; she had a clear view of the guy holding the gun in the
car. The car window closes immediately as it speeds out amidst shooting from
all around.