Part 40 Scoop of Life--Glimpse

Feb 10th 2011
Malviya Nagar
5 ish PM
Raghav: "Radhika?"
Radhika spontaneously looks up at her cowrkers, almost as if to check if they heard her full first name being mentioned....... the strange uneasiness takes over again.....
Rad: Hi!?
Raghav: Busy?
Rad: Just getting ready for my Kanpur trip yet again you know....... This time  I "aint givin up baby!" mimics in a Western accent
She can feel him smile
Raghav: Pretty close!
She slowly gets up from her chair and walks outside the building to the street and starts walking down the sidewalk.........
He listens to all the background noises...... "Can we meet for lunch tomm?"
Its her turn to smile
"My FIRST geek boyfriend" "I am meeting him for the second time" "YESSSS" she does with her fist........
Radhika: late lunch karen kya? Kal Aurin is bringing the Dutch donors for a meeting all morning. Saare projects leads present karenge. UP is my fave so I picked that, there is 11 of us, I could get away after mine is over but I am not sure what the sequence is"
He listens..... patiently........... "How long is yours?"
"Well........ between 20 and 30 mins I am guessing........ thats all they gave me, you know me, mera matlab (giggle) I could talk for the whole 6 hours all by myself, but time crunch"
Pause.......... they both listen to the chaotic Malviya nagar traffic...... she makes her way back to her office, the lobby is quiet...... relatively.......
"You paid and I picked last time, if I am going to pay you should pick the place"
"I dont think I agreed to let you pay" (softly)
"What? Thats unfair! Then we should reconsider going....." (challenge) I can go help my Ma score test papers, I suck at the subject but can look at her sample answer sheet and pretend to be a Prof. You should try it, its a lot of fun"
"Do you like French food?" he interjected.......
"I dont "love" it, but yes, sure Ive eaten a few times.......... as long as you dont expect me to cook it..... actually, expecting me to cook ANYTHING might be disastrous to your life."
He smiles in response......
"Your Mom's a cook book author so you prolly get gourmet food served at every meal..... how fun....."
"It can be" admitting quietly
He could sense her fidgeting with something, he wondered what it was.......
"May I pick you up?"
"Kahan se aaooge tum?" If we eat Amour in Hauz Khas village, then its closer for me, I can drive myself...... I can even give you a ride in my new shiny Santro" "But tum bahut tall ho you cant have a comfortable ride"
"How far is your work from Hauz Khas.......?? Oh! Right, its not  those Guragon IT companies........ hmmm"
"Radhika, I will commute from CP"
Complete tranquil upon hearing her own name being said quite like that.........
"I have half a dozen nick names........... nobody calls me by....... THAT....." almost as if if she said it herself it was going to sound like how it does when he says it
He can sense her feel short of breath.......... "I" she begins and ends.....
"You can tell me what those various derivations are, to your name when we meet?"
A sliver of joy snakes through her system at those words............ of seeing him...... looking at her while she spoke incessantly..........
She walks over to her iMac and looks up her agenda for tomorrow....... "1:30 chalega?"
"Great!" is his response.....
She wants to ask "Are you going to hang up"
But he doesnt hang up, ...... waits to hear her ramble.........
"Are you at work now?" she finally gives in and asks
"I was going to be" he says smiling
"Instead?" she offers.........
"Catching up on other things" he says cryptically.....
She smiles mischievously "I bet you were working on trying to develop the next big thing in super computing"
"I wish" he says.... playing along......
She wanted to ask "Why do you say that?"
"Amour @ 1:30 ?" he asked.........
"I think so" "Unless...........IF the donor agrees to fund us tomorrow I shall then abandon you in favor of bringing clean water to 17 villages" (sighs) (laughs at herself)
"Will you do that Radhika?" he asked..... something about the combination of her name being said and the tone of the question, made it sound very earnest to her ears......... stunning her in the process...........