Through Wild & Life

Milestone 02: Playing On The Brave Front

"Stop nagging me Viragi, I said I will be there at 5 this evening. Don't you trust me but at all?" Sumit was whispering on his old blackberry phone hoping his firm manager ,Mridul, won't notice him chattering on phone after having an argument with him about his leave, the whole morning.

"Jeez..calm down. You're just prone to being late for literally everything except those horrible horror movies you make me watch."

"Vir I'll be there. Bye for now." Sumit switched his phone line and tried to focus on the document open on his computer.

It had been pretty egregious of him to not only apply for a whole week vacation but also to argue about it in full vigor with Mridul. No one in his office had ever taken a stand for their own interests and now Sumit was being treated as a rebel hero. His colleague Dikshant had offered to file his paperwork at the end of the day and the cute receptionist Shweta who wouldn't usually spare him a second look had gone out of her coffee trip to ask him if he needed something.

Considering how much Mridul's unchallenged dictatorship had been influencing people's life at this multimillion organization Sumit was assured of severe consequences of his audacity. But Mridul had been generous enough to grant him an unpaid vacation, which wasn't the best of the deals but Sumit conceded.

Deciding to not trigger Mridul's temperament further, Sumit was trying to focus on his work in hand when Viragi texted him about the expedition group meeting later in evening that day.

Not knowing what other choice he had and definitely not wanting another enervating argument he texted her in affirmative. In spite of which Viragi made it a point to call him every hour to confirm and reconfirm his attendance.

Shaking off all the thoughts of how dreadful his day could go he started reading the State Vs Arvind Agrwal case, making notes and adding comments, keeping an eye at the time.

At about 4:30 Sumit at long last logged off his system and picked up the files he had neatly stacked with all the record book papers and dropped them off at Dikshant's desk, who was supposed to handle Sumit's clients for next week.

Not wanting to seem too happy about being relieved from the work pressure for a few days he quickly said his good byes to his colleagues and knocked at Mridul's office.

His Assistant Shikha nodded and asked Sumit to let himself in.

"You do know that such a leave on a very short notice is not just absurd but also very disheartening considering how well you have been performing Mr.Mehra for about a year now and how close you were to your promotion." Mridul spoke in a cool sadistic tone which has proven to be very effective in past.

"I understand Sir but this is something I can't just avoid, but I assure you I have made it a point to have all my next week's appointment to a bare minimum, and those cases aren't very complex. I have had a word with Dikshant and he will be able to fill in easily for me. " Sumit tried reinstating his position as a legal consultant and hoping his promotion was still being considered.

"Perhaps then, this promotion is really deserved by Dikshant and not you Mr.Mehra. Anyways you asked for a leave and I have already approved it so here's a piece of advice for you – Don't be so carried away with your fun and frolics that you forget at our organization we care about our clients at a very personal level and we're here to help them at all times." Mridul laughed knowing how almost every time the vulnerability of promotion made people cancel their leaves altogether. He was convinced Sumit would atleast shorten his leave by a couple of days making Mridul victorious yet again but when Sumit finally spoke Mridul was shook by his resolute.

"I'll ensure that none of our client suffer because of me Sir, and thanks again for sanctioning my leaves." Sumit quietly excused himself trying not to think about the doom awaiting him as soon as he returned from his vacation.