Rudra never imagined that the day would come when he would be the responsible one in a group. It was always his brothers, or in his friend circle, Chubby or someone else who would take care of him. But for some unfathomable reason, both Chubby and Soumya chose, yesterday night to 'lose control' as one of the other friends in his group put it. To think that in that group, it was Rudy alone who stayed totally sober, made sure everyone took a cab back home, and himself dropped Chubby and Soumya off; Rudra sighed, his brothers would never believe him.
His phone buzzed, it was Soumya.
"Rudra, how much did I drink yesterday?" Soumya asked, without preamble
"Enough to announce to the pub, that the drinks are on the house because this is your break-up party." snorted Rudra
"Oh no! Don't tell me people over there took that seriously?" Soumya said anxiously
"You think a crowd of college-going people will refuse free drinks on a Saturday night pubbing? Don't worry, I took care of it." said Rudra
"Oh, no no, Rudy I must pay you back." said Soumya sounding anxious.
"Chhod na yaar (leave it friend). It was nothing, you are my friend, and have helped me out a lot. This was peanuts. Come to think of it, all those hours I've spent studying, I forgot to blow my pocket money. Shivaay bhaiyaa would have got a seizure to know I haven't spent, so its good that I spent it yesterday." said Rudy, making light of the situation.
Soumya trusted his genuine voice.
"Thanks Rudra. Not just for paying and everything, but also for dropping me home. But...how bad was I last night?" asked Soumya apprehensively.
"Oh you were fine, ranted about some research somewhere which proves women have better capacity than men, and then challenged some guys there to drinks, which eventually led to all of them getting almost passed out, where you were the last person standing, so the winner. Yay!" said Rudy matter-of-factly
Soumya groaned. "No wonder I have a splitting headache today morning, and my mouth feels like cactus."
"Oh, its okay yaar, others were much worse, I had to literally haul the rest of them in shared cabs with the help of the bartenders there." said Rudy, almost laughing at the memory
"You what? You....made sure everyone reached home? Wait, with the help of bartenders, meaning you alone were sober?" asked Soumya, suddenly feeling more awake
"Well, yeah couldn't leave my friends there now, could I? I didn't drink yesterday. So, I just packed everyone into cabs, drove you and Chubby home myself. Thankfully both of you could still pretty much walk without help, since I wouldn't have been able to lift either." joked Rudy
"Ha, ha." said Soumya sarcastically. "Anyways, thanks again, but I better go now, and drink some lemon water, or take a dispirin."
"Take care. I'll call up and check on Chubby now, bet his dad has gone beserk after yesterday night." Rudra laughed, as he disconnected the call.
Soumya was surprised but pleased with this new, responsible Rudra. Not that she felt, that he could never be like this, but before she had only seen this version of Rudra for his brothers and Annika didi, who he loved a lot. To see him act like an adult, taking care of everyone, was something that would take getting used to. Soumya smiled as she got up from the bed.
*********************************
Gauri was feeling really proud of herself. It was almost nightfall when she returned from her Sunday classes. She has been working double hard at her studies, ever since the play got over and she had her evenings and nights free. The book Omkara gifted was a great help to her and helped her progress to an advanced level of mathematics, beyond her class level.
Yesterday after returning from Omkara's place, she spent a good amount of time studying those pictures, enlarging them, copying the graphs and numbers. After considerable time, she figured out what was wrong in the stats. But Gauri wasn't so confident yet, so she badgered her Maths teacher after classes today, and together they slogged for over an hour on the problem. Finally, with the reassurance that she was right, Gauri decided to ring up Omkara.
Gauri dialed Omkara's number from her phone. She wondered if he would pick up because she had forgotten to give Chulbul's phone number before she left yesterday. He picked up on the second ring.
"Who's this?" came Omkara's voice annoyed.
"Hello Omkaraji, its me Chulbul." said Gauri, holding her throat, as she put on her Chulbul voice.
"My, my I can't believe you are calling me on your own." said Omkara, sounding surprised.
"Okay, no time for your little jokes now. Omkaraji, I solved the sums." said Chulbul excitedly
"Sums? What sums?" asked Omkara confused
"Omkaraji, listen there is a leak in your side of deal, as in the company employees who are managing the deal from your company. One of them is siphoning money from the accounts to his own use, and showing it as expenditure on investment, but there is no consequential profit or result to show for it. Where is that money going then?" explained Chulbul
"Hold on Chulbul. From where did you learn all this, and how do you know it?" asked Omkara, overwhelmed that Chulbul of all people would be solving this issue.
"Omkaraji, don't waste time asking questions. This was not a complicated issue. I am sure, that the person handling accounts in your company knew about this. Get these files and accounts checked by, wait, I learned that word today, wait......yes, au...audited by someone called C.A." said Gauri.
Omkara smiled. "C.A. as in Chartered Accountant, Chulbul. And his name is not C.A., its a profession. And you are right, one of the things a C.A. does is audit accounts. Where did you learn all this?"
"My maths teacher taught me. He felt I was ready for this. But my other teachers are not that impressed. I was hoping to make it to mid-upper in the coming new session, but only my Maths and Hindi teachers have agreed for that." Gauri sighed.
"Don't worry Chulbul. I will help you with other subjects, or whichever that I can." said Omkara. "Thanks for the advice, I will get these files audited by an independent auditor. And when I catch the mole, he's has it."
"Okay, bye Omkaraji, I have to go now." said Chulbul cheerfully, and disconnected the call.
Gauri was glad that her education was actually of some practical use to her, or to Omkara, in any case. The sense of fulfillment which this gave to her was unparalleled in many ways. She felt grateful to Jahnvi for enrolling her these classes. Gauri decided to meet Jahnvi aunty tomorrow to thank her for this.
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Jahnvi was feeling the onset of a panic attack. She told herself to keep a cool head, but she couldn't believe this was happening. Her new venture had just started and this storm hit her. She had accepted that order on trust, but it turned out that it was a big mistake.
"Namaste Auntyji." Jahnvi turned to look find Gauri greeting her. Gauri saw the expression on her face, and her smile changed to worry. "What happened?" she asked.
Jahnvi spilled the beans. "Gauri, I think, I think, everything is ruined. I don't know how can my company recover now."
Gauri said, "Calm down Jahnvi aunty. If something can't be built in one day, then it can't be ruined in one day either. Tell me what catastrophe has occurred."
"I don't know how to explain this. See one of our customers, a bigger company basically in the business, placed a customized order with us. Customized basically means that its specially made for a purpose, i.e. it is not general furniture that can be sold to anyone. This company was going to buy it remodel some place. But just this morning they cancelled their order. The order was based on trust because this company is a renowned retailer. So, I have no security. I borrowed money to complete the order and even paid the carpenters and others in advance. Now I am looking at the massive loss, and its so early in the fate of the company that I don't know whether the company will survive the hit." finished Jahnvi, almost collapsing on the sofa.
Gauri thought for a while. Then said hesitantly, "I know maybe this is not the best example, and certainly not from someone like me who ran a small shop in a small town. But I'll just narrate a small incident to you." Gauri started, looking at Jahnvi, hopefully. "A couple of years back, some rich and respected family had contacted a temple priest in Kanpur that they were going to hold a big Jagraata at the temple, and invite some hundred guests, all females, who would all be gifted maata ki chunri along with other things. The temple was also a huge institution there, so they placed an order with me for stitching those hundred maata ki chunris. There is no formal security in small towns, all our business, is mostly informal, word-of-mouth. So, I slogged for three days and completed the order. On the day of the delivery the temple priest sent me a message that the order was cancelled, because the jagraata itself was cancelled due to some unforeseen tragedy in that family. Now I was stuck with hundred chunris, and I had to pay the fabric vendors from whom I had bought the fabric in advance, hoping to pay them with the profit on the chunris. So what did I do? Karva Chauth was in a few days, so I thought of a gamble. I bought some golden and silver thread and did some fancy embroidery on the dupattas, asked my friend Richa to buy one and parade it around the city, even though she is unmarried and hates fasting. Luckily, other unmarried girls and married ladies liked the dupattas and I managed to sell all of them, though I did make less profit than I would have if I hadn't lost out on the original order. It wasn't a win-win deal, but I managed to stay out of the clutches of moneylenders who are feared and abhorred in our zila."
Jahnvi looked kindly at Gauri, and said, "Thats remarkable Gauri, but you don't understand beta, this furniture is garden furniture, and.."
"There are no gardens in Mumbai." said Gauri, realizing the problem. Jahnvi nodded sadly.
"There are no gardens, because Bombay is congested, but people here surely have a lot of balconies, to enjoy the sea breeze." said Gauri, thinking of that huge fake garden separated by a glass wall in Omkara's large apartment.
"What are you saying Gauri?" asked Jahnvi, looking up cautiously
"Rich people here don't live in bungalows mostly, they live in, what do you call them.....penthouses?" asked Gauri. Jahnvi nodded.
"These p..penthouses have fake gardens, right? What if we convert those garden furniture so that they can be easily used as storage spaces as well? I mean, just put in a bit more money and make them into one of those box bed like things." Gauri suggested.
Jahnvi called one of her designers immediately, and together the three of them sat together to work on the idea of affordable storage-cum-seating units, which could double up as garden furniture, because the company had originally placed the order for special wicker furniture placed in gardens mostly. Jahnvi's small office saw a flurry of activity as her employees walked in and out, and decided the pros and cons, finally releasing a prototype on the website for the general public, keeping their fingers crossed that the ploy would work.
Gauri saw the time, and decided that it was time to rush to work. She consoled Jahnvi, that tomorrow is a new day and who knows she might wake up next morning to see advance orders piling up for the model they put up on the website.
Jahnvi hoped so too.
************************************
"Thakur saab, we think we've found her." said the guard dressed in white and black
"You think?" asked the voice laced with amusement, but a threat underneath.
The guard stuttered. "I mean, we have found her mother. You were right, Thakur saab, they are not in Delhi. Looks like her mother was hiding in her friend's house. We kept a check on the post-office like you suggested. We saw the woman collecting the money-order delivered at her friend's house. She is Mumbai, the delivery person told us" the guard finished, bowing his head in submission.
"Oh my Bulbul! You thought you could escape Kali Thakur so easily? Time for the caged bird to come back to its master. You have flown enough."
Kali Thakur's laughter rang throughout the silent corridors of his haveli.
P.S. Okay I don't know much about business or commercial maths, just take the facts as a given. LOL!