Behind Her...
Every now and then the big conference hall with a large monitor in front of the oval table comprising some 45 members of her company and the people concerned with the event, murmured when the screen flashed a new price.
Her big eyes that remained calm in nearly every situation, a trait she had developed after spending nearly a decade in the corporate world were not that calm today, she had seen the days of Ups and Downs but today was the day when the project that was about to make her company a leader in the market was through the biggest test of its journey.
The company was going public and the process that had started nearly a year ago on her birthday was now taking shape when bidders announced their bids and the monitor kept flashing with the bids only getting increased... Looking crisp in her burgundy trousers and white shirt Keerti turned to her and blinked her eyes with a smile, the bidding was going to be successful and in just a few minutes they were about to create a history in the Indian market.
Keerti, her good friend and now her sister in law had worked hard on the digitalization of the company and brought her intelligence of the Modern finance changes in the market to the company and made them market competitors for others.
She recalled the day a few years ago when board members and even her own husband thought she was giving his sister a favor but they didn't know the quest of change she had seen in Keerti after reading her thesis on how modernization was going to rule the Market monopoly in coming years.
Keerthi had already shut the mouth of her critics including her own brother after she made a series of changes possible in Pallavi's firm and started receiving offers from others to join them.
Pallavi opened her fists when one of the members typed something on their system and the digits on the monitor changed again only to reveal they had moved past some significant stock price caps in recent times.
This was the moment Pallavi was waiting for, taking a deep breath she cleared her throat and everyone's attention turned to the MD and founder of the company.
"Gentlemen, i suppose we have arrived at our final price..." she paused and saw the surprise on the faces of investors who were not satisfied with the words.
"Mrs . Rao, we have not completed yet, let the prices sour the market, the investors who are rooting to provide you anchorage in case your shares fail is terrible, we must not stop with this price cap." the agent from one of the leading banks of the country became the voice of others who had similar concerns.
"anyone else has any issue other than this one?" she straightened in her chair and then smiled, the signature smile that was popular among her colleagues as the warning before Pallavi Rao answered the worries of people who didn't believe in her decision.
After waiting for a few seconds she assumed this was the only issue among them she pushed the office bell and the office staff entered the hall, she gestured to him to connect the monitor with her system.
After everything was settled, she opened the first slide and everyone focused on the screen, where a news article of how the shares of some of the most anticipated companies landed on their face after they went public for the first time with one of the highest price caps.
The slides moved one by one and names of companies kept changing until the last slide said in bold words, DO WE WANT THAT?
After that, the screen turned dark and the room that was turned dark to accommodate the white screen of her presentation was filled with lights.
Pallavi gestured the staff to leave the room and then turned her attention towards the most important people of the country sitting in front of her.
"The high price cap was not the only reason why these initial offerings failed, Ma'am." Farhad, the representative of her husband's company, and another young enthusiast spoke.
"of course... that was not the PRIMARY reason, Mr. Khan," Pallavi said in a soft voice.
"so why are we stopping at this price... what stops SVC to reign the market Ms. Pallavi." Ved, her husband's opponent but one of their early investors and a no-nonsense businessman commented.
"Alright, So... mostly every representative here is already involved with one or another IPOs that failed recently and in no case I am trying to make a comment on that. My suggestion is to let our price caps be defined on the latest bid, it has been a woman's company on most of the fronts so as an intrinsic factor, we try to think about risk management even before thinking about the adventure we are signing up for...
In simpler words, we have got an amazing set of investors who are going to provide us anchorage and by keeping the price lower I want the retailers or public to invest in something that is not going to ruin the money they poured here."
"but this is not how it should be done you cant...
"one minute Mr. Ved, I have still a few things to quench your worries..." another smile flashed in her eyes, and then she gestured to Keerti for their master card.
"companies go public for their own interests but with the capital we are bound to generate, we want to invest the 70 % of them in your companies... it is like a partnership of sorts as and how it attracts you, Sir." Keerti's gaze focused on Ved after walking through every member in the hall.
"and of course, the details of the proposal would be sent to you only after the shares are public... anyway it won't be your loss, in the case of prices falling short of the cap you decided, you will be compensated so the decision is yours." with that Keerti completed and turned the microphone away.
Another moment of muffled whispers followed where Pallavi dearly missed her phone to check the amount of buzz that was involved around this event thanks to Keerti's efforts. This woman was intelligent and had taken the advantage of the best of corporate ethics to be in the news for all the good reasons.
The microphone crackled and everyone focused their attention on the speaker, one of the agents from another leading bank.
"seeing the current situation, market scenario, status of foreign markets ... I think Ms. Pallavi's choice to gain the trust of investors seems a good idea, even a common man who would subscribe to the shares would not want his money to get wasted and after a pandemic, the stock market needs the trust of Public... we agree to settle on this price cap, cut off would be decided after taking the bids in consideration., with this I announce that SVC has completed the final procedure to go PUBLIC."
A round of applause followed with Keerti taking the center for thanking all of them for the success of the event. After the agents and company heads' exit, the board members and the MD were scheduled for a press conference so everyone walked out and only Pallavi, keerti and Ved were left in the hall.
"Congratulations Pallavi... it surprises me how a seemingly introvert woman makes the most outlandish ideas work." Ved walked to her chair and genuinely praised her.
"thank you so much Mr. Vedant but if not for these girls, SVC could not have made it possible." gesturing towards Keerti, Pallavi searched the long end of her Silk saree with her right hand and secured it to her front. it was another of the traits people praised about her, how she never took the credit for any of her successes, for her it was the team that was the reason and it was the team's success.
"Now if you excuse me, I have an important call to make." Pallavi smiled before leaving Ved and Keerti alone in the room.
"I have an intuition that you would deny, but how about a dinner tonight?" Ved sat on the table in front of Keerti who was packing the papers and her laptop in the bag.
She finished packing, grabbed the bag in her hands, and then only chose to look at him, " let me remind you your words again, A favored and incompetent choice who got the position of project head only because of her brother."
"God, that's been four years, I agree I doubted Pallavi's decision, you were never favored, and what more you want from me when I have openly agreed at times you are one of the best."
Keerti knew this guy was sorry for his amateur comments back then and in recent times he had backed her at platforms only known to the board members and them but to trust him was a long road she was not interested in currently.
"I think I still need some time to forget your words... see you after the D-day, Sir." referring to the day of actual stock listing of SVC, she turned away and all Ved got was the sharp clinking of her Stilettos.
____________*___________
"Bhai has landed in the city, so spend the evening with him, we'll celebrate the day some other time." the moment she opened her phone to call Keerti for their planned outing she saw the message in one of the pinned chats, and a few missed calls from the close colleagues who wanted to congratulate her after the press went live.
But ignoring all of them for the time being she focused on the two missed calls from the man who was her best friend, advisor, critique and the only confidante.
Instructing her driver to stop at the lord shiva temple before driving home, she dialed his number.
___________*__________
It seemed Raghav had gone to his office straight from the airport because he didn't take her calls and even the house seemed silent.
Keeping the box of sweets she had offered to God on the table she walked inside of the house, where was their household cum cook, even the staff on the main gate asked for his leave after opening the doors for her car.
It didn't seem normal to her and apprehensively she opened her bag and took out the mobile phone, in case of an emergency she needed it the first thing.
But all her impulsive thoughts dissolved away when she saw her husband walking towards her with a candle-lit Birthday cake in his hands and that infectious smile on his face that made her weak in her knees even after all these years.
"and you said you were coming next week." she covered the distance between them and hugged him tightly.
"Surprise should make people look surprised, Saree ka Dukan," he said keeping the tray of cake on the table and completing the hug.
"oh, I missed you..." he said sniffing her hair.
" I missed you more ..." she whispered hiding her face where his heart was.
"ahem ahem..." someone cleared their throat and Pallavi looked up at his face before breaking the hug she was so not interested to break.
"Amma, Keerti..." she walked towards them with surprise evident on her face. "you brought these, there was no need Amma." taking the gifts Pallavi hugged her.
"Happy Birthday Beta, aur gift to aaj tumne sabko diya hai" her mother in law was happy for her.
"all because of your Blessings Amma," she told her after touching her feet.
"Amma tum sach me Pallavi ko favor karta hai, abhi uske aane ke pahle Raghav kitna kamjor ho gaya hai, Raghav, tu apna dhyan nahi deta aur ab dekho Pallavi ke aage tumko koi dikhai hi nahi deta." Raghav's fake anger was well known to everyone so Jaya, his mother didn't pay any heed to his words.
__________*___________
Raghav was watching the news when Pallavi joined him in their room after attending a final meeting before the D-day, she pulled the remote where the anchor was telling the world about HER to turn it off when Raghav took the remote control.
"did you not say after our marriage that no work-related talks in the bedroom?" She crossed him.
"let me hear about THE Pallavi Rao, please." he genuinely seemed interested in the news.
"often criticized for her media-shy persona, Ms. PALLAVI creates the history again, from enrolling the first woman's startup to running it successfully, then becoming the fastest unicorn and many more accolades, she is in the final countdown of her company listing for the stock markets...she is going to rule the world of men."
"You are going to rule PALLAVI." Repeating the ending words of the anchor he smiled at her proudly.
"This is the kingdom I want to rule forever...": poking at the place where his heart was she shifted close to him.
"you were and you will be the only queen of this heart Pallavi." keeping an arm around her he kissed her head.
"every time when there is a change when I have to make decisions I am nervous, I want to hide somewhere but then I work on it, I think about it, I discuss it with you, this journey took a long shot but honestly it is when I sit with you, I feel blessed, to be honest."
"you are an intelligent and hard-working woman...
"But even after this success story, my heart is at ease then it is because I have a man behind me, who has always encouraged me to move forward... who talks with me all night when I fail to understand a scenario my team wants me to, who boosts my morale after I fail to make my point in front of people, who believes in me and my decisions when I myself am nervous about.... I am a certain PALLAVI in this world because a certain RAGHAV keeps me ahead of him." she would not have stopped if his finger on her lips did not make her.
"how come people believe you are a person of fewer words...haan?, send them to me and they'll know about a chatterbox" he teased her before pressing his lips to her.
She wanted to say something but she had to make a choice between the assaults on her body his lips and later his fingers had started working or the talks... her mind stopped thinking about anything the moment his fingers traced the underside of her breasts.
He was the first one to support the idea of her startup when they were just starting their career and even today the ideas that went on to become a trend for others to follow were first discussed with him till late nights; he was always there in every decision she made whether to not take his fame for her journey to begin or to delay the pregnancy because she was not sure about it.
She was a tough woman and even tougher with the choices she made as a businesswoman . she continued to shine because she knew this man would be there to push her forward whenever her steps faltered or whenever this male-dominated world tried to scare her.
_____________*___________*____________
"Rich or not, good looks or not but choose to Be with a man who understands you and is emotionally attached to you,"
Sudha Krishnmurty , chairperson of the Infosys Foundation.
Happy women's Day to all you lovely people, always believe in the choices and the decisions you make. we can do everything we want to.
hope you liked my attempt of showing a strong side of Pallavi through this os, I'll be waiting for your feedback guys.
love you all
Morusya.