Part 90

Modi Dastur

Worli Sea Face

January  12^th 2012

4:10 PM

Her lunch sat in her drawer.. she couldn’t get to it… didn’t feel hungry either… her head was beginning to hurt

“Signing Shiv up is afterall not such a bad idea” she thought

Between working the numbers for M&D’s new project, they were undertaking for Axis Construction, and taking care of her money matters, every inch of her brain was filled with numbers.

Axis was small but dreamt big… they had bought a couple of old run down 1960s houses in Marine Drive… a Middle East investor was heavily betting on Axis………Khanak’s new project was  the 16 apartment luxury condo project.

Ram was upbeat about the whole thing… his eyes were set though on the Lower Parel textile mill project.

The Bangalore Builder Esteem was leaving no stone unturned in nabbing it

Rahat and Esteem’s CEOs were captured feteing Lower Parel’s Municipal Commissioner

The Mumbai TV networks were on to something… except this was nothing new for Ajmera………..

If Esteem gets it… Modi & Dastur would be hired… Ram would get a big chunk… Khanak’s next milestone it would be……..

Bai had called after a long time, curious why she hadn’t called much…

Aada was leaving tonite… with Fa

Bai worried if she gave any more money to Fa or Sonali

Khanak told her about the “money management help”

Bai was ashamed… she asked if her “var” would be paying off the loans

Khanak reassured her that it wouldn’t happen.

Mom In Law, Bhabhi and her had a spa appointment for the evening… she wasn’t sure if she would go…

“Three nites without s---, and you are in a mess” she mocked herself…

She was in bed fast asleep, he didn’t wake her… she saw his side  crumpled and tousled… and some of her clothing was undone…

She was in a hurry to get to work, so she didn’t pause to think when he left for work……….

Pradyun had texted her about Suraj Kund Crafts mela in Feb, and if she wanted to go…

“I could see Ritu” she thought…

She reached for her third glass of lemonade… as it continued to rain outside…

She wondered what was for lunch…

Her phone beeped a text…

It was a picture her husband had taken of the sunrise that morning…

“?” he asked

Orange blended with blue… as the sun sparkled in the horizon…

 she wrote back…“Awesome”

“The pic or taker?” he asked

“jpeg” she returned… mischievously

Again looked at her lunch thermos… her calendar beeped her next meeting… She checked the next week.. scrolled up and down through the month…….. and began to count…her heart skipped a beat…

She walked to the conference room… it was full, already… Axis was here everyday… they were small and untrusting….

The meeting went for 3 hours…

Khanak left the room walking back to her cube… finished her warm lemonade….

CNN-IBN’s news alert popped…

She went to their website… “Ulwe is the new multi crore project. MMC, MMDA and and builder hand in glove…” the ticker rolled

“Picketing and vandalism at Ajmera’s Ulwe Site , Union management clash”

Her face paled as she read on…