The Symphony of Saudade

Chapter 2

‘Wow! He looks so cool,’ declared Madhu, while she browsed through the photos I was showing her.

‘So, if he is sitting by the campfire holding a glass of beer in his hand, he looks cool, uh?’ I asked her sardonically.

‘Maybe it’s not cool. But, fuck it, he’s gonna be your branch manager for another two years. How cool is that? A young and charismatic man who seems to be living his life to the fullest.’ Madhu rolled each word on her tongue, trying to get an accent that made her seem modern.

‘Okay, that’s enough! Give me my phone back. We cannot just check out his Facebook profile. What if we accidentally like something?’

‘Akka, you know, this is not just checking out someone’s profile. It’s stalking. If men were doing this, we’d be screaming our lungs out by terming this as stalking. But aren’t we doing the same? So, is it called something else when women do it?’

‘No, of course not. It is still stalking. And that’s why I want to stop right now. I already feel unethical doing this. It’s unprofessional too.’

‘Hey, chill! He’s never gonna know that you checked his profile out. You did it just out of curiosity. Maybe you can check out his Insta too…’

‘Madhu, stop it. I have already cleared my recent searches. I don’t want to go back to his profile.’

‘Okay, okay, I am going to sleep. What are you going to do?’

‘Sleep, of course. I would doze right away as soon as my head hits the pillow.’

Saying so, I climbed on the bed beside her and pulled my covers over me. As soon as I closed my eyes, Faneel Basnet’s photos floated inside my mind. The one that had him chilling by the poolside. The one that showed him practising archery in a hilly area. The one where he was with his friends in a restaurant. I shook my head and tried to think of something else so that I could get into a slumber. But I just couldn’t drive his face out of my mind. 

Argh! Why am I thinking about him? Is it because I cannot get over the shock of having a boss more or less the same age as me? Or is it something else? Above all, why should someone from Shimla get transferred to a hill town in Tamilnadu?

Somehow, sleep overcame me as those thoughts swirled in my mind.

*

27.05.2019

‘Malarkodi and Chandni, I’d love to host a lunch tomorrow. Let’s go out to a nearby restaurant to eat. It’s my farewell treat,’ Brindha Mohan announced as soon as we had settled into our respective cabins.

‘When is the new manager joining, madam?’ asked Malarkodi.

‘June 7th.’

‘We’ll surely miss you, madam,’ I piped in.

‘Oh, I’ll miss you both, too. You have been fine employees. Well, let’s have the farewell speech on the day when Faneel joins the branch. Let’s get back to work now.’

Just like that, Brindha’s bossiness took over. She wasn’t that difficult to handle, but she could get quite tough when the odds weren’t in her favour. Secretly, we felt glad that she was leaving us. 

‘Well, I enquired about Faneel in his previous branch…’ She came out of her cabin again.

Now, that had our attention. Anything about Faneel would be useful for us. We’d know what to expect of him.

‘He seems to be kinda good. Reserved, it seems. At the same time, he gels well with everyone it seems. So, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.’

‘Madam, which is his previous branch?’ I questioned.