Untitled!

Vishwajeet was quiet excited! He had just opened his new office, his third in a span of one and a half years and this time it was in Nepal! “Aye Shaabji!” he said before attending every single call, in the typical Nepalese accent.

29 years old that was his age! A second generation entrepreneur who had decided to skip his ,family run business and start something on his own. He had his “chaddi-buddy” Aakash for his company in his business. They were both friends since more than a decade. Aakash & Vishwajeet both knew each other in and out. Some called them brothers who were born in separate families!

They found the Nepalese market a good enough place for some of their premium clothing brands which they manufactured in India. They anyway used to make for their European clients, so the thought of using some of the same designs in Nepal crossed their mind. But Mumbai was where the heat of the action lay.

Vish & Aakash had their main office at Nariman Point in Mumbai. Vish had always wished to have a sea facing office when they grow big and Aakash never had any objections to that because he too wanted the same. They still recollect a day when they were out with Subhash and Snighda, a few years back, and Vish was looking at a building when Aakash said, “We should start our office here, kuch jugaad kar na!” and Vish looked at him and said, “Chal estate agent k paas!” They all burst out in loud laughter! Today that memory keeps coming to them and they would still laugh out loud!

The flight touched the Mumbai airport a good 45 mins. late. “Holy Cow! It is damn hot in Mumbai!” exclaimed Aakash. “Let us run to the car.” Vish just smiled. They got into the car and both of them immediately took the newspaper. They were cut off from the world since the last 2 weeks due to their trip to Nepal. “Vish, do you think this news is alarming, the one regarding the Lehmann Brothers?” Vish looked at the news and looked at Aakash,”It is alarming if the companies keep spending like them. They have more than a few unnecessary expenses which they didn’t plug in when required and now they are paying a cost for that. We should not be too affected with that. By the way did you hear from Mr. Lopez about the order for the 100,000 t-shirts that he had verbally placed. I tried calling him the other day but he kept disconnecting the phone.” “No Vish, I haven’t heard anything from him as yet. I shall try his number when it would be morning there.”

“Hey people! How’s it going?” Vish asked his designers as soon as he entered the office with Aakash. “Hey! It’s going good! Fantastic! We have some very good designs for the latest collection which would really interest you guys!” said Hemal their designer. “Ok then get it to the conference room, in half an hour. “said Aakash.

“Vish I just received a mail from Lopez. He has asked us to stop production. What the hell is he upto? He told us he required it soon and asked us to just go ahead with the production so that he could get it early and now look what he says!”

“Yeah Aakash I did see his mail. Should we call him?”

“Vish do you think this was the reason he wasn’t picking our calls earlier because if it were then he wouldn’t pick our calls even now!” said an alarmed Aakash.

“Whatever it is Aakash we need to have a word with him. Incase this is some kind of a temporary problem we could try and hunt for some solution because we are in a mess if this order get our of our hands. You understand that right? We are as good as doomed! What would be the time now in London? Wow!”

“What happened now? Did the time give you some good reason as to why he ain’t picking the calls?”

“No Aakash, it’s 4:20 in the evening and I looked at the watch yet again!”

“Salle tu ek din issi time pe marega! Yaad hain, Naaz tujhe kehti thi tu 420 hain isiliye 4:20 ko tu time dekhta hain!” and they both roared to laughter!

“Yeah and when we broke up it was actually 4:20 pm” and they both burst into laughter again to forget the pain.

“Chal lets call him, it would be nearing 12 pm there now. But it’d be better if you call & talk to him cuz I might just loose my cool”, said Vish. Aakash agreed and dialled Lopez.

“Hello Mr. Lopez, this is Aakash here from AV Textiles. Hope I am not bothering you. Is it the right time to talk to you?”

The voice at the other end must have agreed for the conversation at that time because Aakash continued.

“Well Mr. Lopez we were out for some work for the last two weeks and couldn’t access our mails. We were wondering what exactly went wrong in that last order for which you dropped us a mail.”

Aakash’s face grew from worried to more worried to tensed to really tensed! Vish was another nervous wreck who also had a short temper which is the reason he used to keep himself away from the negotiations table.

“Ok fine then I guess I shall call you in a weeks time.” Aakash said as he kept the phone.

“What is it? What did he say?” pounced Vish as soon as Aakash kept the phone.

“Vish I think we have some crisis coming our way. He said that they are reviewing the order once again and that he isn’t too hopeful that this order would be processed.”

“But he was the one who asked us to go ahead making it right? Then why this u-turn? There is so much money that we have put in the new factory expecting them to give us business. They are as good as our bread & butter! What would we do if they don’t take this order?”

“Hey guys the designs are ready and the team is waiting in the conference room.”, interrupted Hemal.

“Yeah Hemal, we would be there in a minute.” said Aakash and looked at Vish, “Vish, I am sure we would be able to take out someway or the other. We can think about it today evening. Let us now go to the conference room and check our designs.”

“Cool. Yeah we shouldn’t let it bog us down. Chal lets go and check out the designs.”said Vish.

That evening as they headed home, Vish asked, “Do you think this could be a ploy as he has got someone else to do the job?”

“No Vish, it didn’t sound like that when I spoke to him. I feel it is something serious but nothing to do with business rivals.”

“Ok. But then what do we do now? How do we manage to get our creditors extend time? We also have to give our banks the money they have lent to us. All this wouldn’t help us at all. Do you see a way out Aakash?”

“Vish relax. We don’t need to press the panic button as yet! We should see where else we could sell this to?”

“Ten Thousand pieces Aakash isn’t easy and more importantly that would mean that we would require additional time from our creditors!”

The sun set behind the ocean and they just let silence prevail between them as they drowned themselves in their worries.

The next morning they started on their way to office and Vish decided to get down midway. Aakash was a bit confused but didn’t say anything and let Vish just be! Vish walked down the road and decided to adopt the Mudra of connecting the pointing finger to the thumb and try to forget / concentrate on something. It is said that this particular mudra helps you in doing that. He believed that more so because Naaz his ex-girlfriend had taught him that, so it had to happen. Even till date, after 8 years of separation Vish still loved her and today he decided to hold the tip of his finger and the thumb the way Naaz had taught him to and kept telling himself, “Remove the negatives from your mind.” People often think that miracles don’t happen and infact Naaz was one amongst them. When she broke up with Vish, he asked her, “Don’t you believe some miracles could save this relationship” and she had replied negative. But Vish was always a firm believer of the thought that if you want something, honestly, then no matter what even if it has to be a miracle it would definitely happen for you! That is what exactly happened! His phone rang and the callers name flashed on the screen! Radhika Patel! His friend during his Graduation days. Radhika was also into the same business as Vish & Aakash. They weren’t the bestest of best friends but had a mutual respect for each others ability and capabilities which was the reason why they were in touch even after more than a decade of graduation.

“Hey Radhika! What a blessing!” Vish said to Radhika’s amazement!

“What’s it Vish?” asked Radhika.

“Well I was in between some mess and was searching for some way to get myself out of it. I guess maybe you could help me.” Saying that Vish stopped to hear something from the other end. He had never asked help from Radhika except when she was launching her own Vish wanted to attend the photo shoot which she happily obliged!

“What is it Vish, let me see if I could be of some help.”

“Well Radhika, I was in talks with this European client who verbally gave me an order for Ten Thousand pieces of mens wear. Now he has backtracked. I was wondering if that would be of any help to you. I know you deal exclusively for some select sizes only but do you see some way of helping me out of this?”

“Vish, I too am in a similar mess and I was hoping to get some help from you.” Radhika said to Vish’s bewilderment!

“Wow! What’s it Radhika, why is this happening? Is there some problem in the market which we are unaware of ?”

“No Vish, the world has got a visitor in name of credit crunch! My buyers in Europe are not getting any additional credit for their business and their existing stores, not all of them are doing well! As a result they are now concentrating on getting their inventory off before they could place any additional orders and my take is that the orders henceforth also wouldn’t be as huge as the earlier ones which means that our productions would take a hit and since they would not be in bulk I guess our percentage margins would also trim!”

“ Oh Lord! Just today morning Aakash was mentioning about the Lehmann Brother incident and I just laughed off saying that they were fools who didn’t know to manage their money well!”

“I guess Vish, you would soon need to include all of us in that league too!” replied Radhika.

“Well then in that case, lets hope that we manage to atleast break even with whatever stocks we have as of now. One sec Radhika I am getting another call. Can you please hold while I check.” said Vish who hated when people continue staying on the line for you to answer even if they know that you are on another call! He didn’t pick the call of Dhansukh Bhai his raw materials supplier! In no time he got his call once again and the patter continued! Now Vish was irritated! “Radhika I will have to get back to you, I am getting a second call since long from one of my suppliers. Let me just have a check at what he wants.” He said that and bid good bye to Radhika.

Vish checked the phone and he had seven missed calls of which 2 were from Dhansukh bhai and the others were from Aakash! Is there some good news or is there something worse to listen, wondered Vish. He reluctantly dialled Aakash’s number. “Why weren’t you answering my call?” asked Aakash.

“What’s the matter Aakash? You are sounding too worked up.”

Vish just listened to the voice at the other end and immediately called a cab. It took him a good 45 minutes to reach office and find his colleagues sitting there worried.

“I guess we should all meet in the conference room. Shall we?”

Everyone proceeded to the conference room. “Ok So I guess we are facing some crisis because we decided to concentrate on a selected few clients. These are teething problems which I am sure we would be able to overcome.”

“Yeah Vish but what about the money that we have to give our creditors? Dhansukh had called and he said he wouldn’t supply anything until we clear off the 5 lakhs that he was due for last month!” retorted Aakash.

“Fine! Fine! Let us think about it! I am sure we would be able to find some way out.” said Vish with an air of uncertain confidence.

They deliberated on options and the ways in which they could change their existing condition but couldn’t get any solution!

Finally as they called the day the next day looked bleak. By the time Vish & Aakash left office they weren’t sure about how many of their colleagues would return the next day as the markets already were facing a tough time and it was spreading to every industry like a wild fire.

A week passed and with each passing day the employee attendance thinned with the thought that more than the markets it was a bad timing of the company which had put it in a mess. So while the wise actually stuck to their jobs the over zealous just jumped from one established company to some other without knowing that a few weeks later they would be shunted out from there too on accounts of cost cutting.

All this while the overheads dipped for AV Textiles but the debts were still to be taken care of. Orders which had come weren’t honoured by the same clients who had asked for them! New orders dried up! There was no work!

Vish & Aakash decided to try some other way out. They tried to get in touch with some other markets across Europe which had it’s faith on the work outsourced to India. Afterall the job that was done was 100,000 pieces of Man U t-shirts which has acceptance in some of the other parts of Europe as well but unfortunately it was too late.

Everything looked bleak, with all the possibilities having ended. The moment had come when they decided that even if they couldn’t make the profits with the order, which had put them in a soup, they would at least want to have a break even.

Things weren’t just shining or rather things weren’t just looking anything close to bright. But that was the best part about Aakash & Vishwajeet! They had been with each through the worst of times. They both pumped in the confidence into each other when they thought they were pushed against the walls! This was another test for them but only time would tell if it were “THE” test.

“Where do you think we should now go? We have approached every market possible, we have done everything thing within our limits to do.” said Aakash.

“ I don’t know why but I really feel that this time too we will make it as we have done in the past. We just need to keep our cool and think for a way out. Remember how I used to say, we just need to put our foot forward and the rest comes to us and this yet again would be one more case. I think we have done a lot of get our position a bit safe but the right time wouldn’t have just arrived. We need to have patience. I know it is easier said than done but still we need to push ourselves.”

Just then, there came a beep on Vish’s mobile and it was Radhika Patel’s message: “ Hi Vish trying to reach you since long but somehow I am not able to get through your number. Call me when you get this message!”

“Ah! This network sucks! Radhika just messaged and she asked me to call her.” Said Vish as he dialled her number.

“Hey Radhika! How’s it going? Oh that’s nice! Ahha! Ok we will be there tomorrow with the sample. Thanks Radhika!”

“Well! I don’t know if we should count our chicken before it hatches its eggs but Radhika has a client who came to her for some women clothing and he is looking out for some sporting t-shirts. She says maybe he wouldn’t give you the same money which you were getting as he is small player but atleast it helps you to liquidate the stocks and get that burden off your head! So we need to reach there tomorrow morning”, Vish said with a voice filled with relief.

“Oh! That would be tough for me as I have a meeting tomorrow lined up with that Lemon Tree guy. You go ahead and get this one for us!” said Aakash looking more confident now.

That day they went home more relaxed and this time they could happily sip their coffee and tea at their favourite joint.

“Hemal get me some samples. I need to take them to a buyer today. Make sure there’s not problem with the pieces.”said Vish as he got into his lunch break. “I have only half an hour to leave.”

Vish started on his way to Radhika’s office. It was one long drive. His heart pumped fast as he passed each place. The deal was a very important one and the thought kept visiting him again at timely intervals but somewhere he felt positive about the whole thing.

He got into Radhika’s office and got into the conference room to meet everyone! He had reached there just in time.

“Hi Vish, I need you to meet Mr. Lewis a client of mine from London. Mr. Lewis this is Mr.Vishwajeet, we call him Vish.”


They exchanged the hellos and sat down for discussion. “ Mr. Vish, I hear that you are into making jersey’s of EPL teams. Which teams do you have as of now?”

“Well Mr. Lewis at the moment I just have the jersey’s of Manchester United. We wouldn’t mind making the jersey’s of teams as required by you.”

“Well let me just have a look at the sample and could you kindly give me your quote too?”said Lewis.

Vish immediately passed the requirements.

“Well Mr. Vish, you should give us a days time and we should let you know how it could go for us. How many of these do you have, ready?”

“Well Mr.Lewis we have 100,000 such pieces readily available.”

“Fine then Mr.Vishwajeet, we will definitely get back to you within a day.” They all got up and left.

“I think it was good enough a meeting and I have taken the risk of quoting a little less that whatever we had originally quoted so that even if he asks for discounts we could pass it to him, in worst case scenarios. How is it going with Nimbu ka Jhaad” asked Vishwajeet mocking the name of the company whom Aakash was currently meeting.

“It’s going ok but you know how they are, you cannot just trust them even if they are saying something good about the project. All we can do now is have faith and keep our fingers crossed. Anyways I will catch you in office. I will get lunch for you while I come. ”
Vish got engrossed in his work when Hemal came in and asked him for lunch.

“Thanks Hemal but I am waiting for Aakash. You go ahead.”

Vish got up to look through his window, the lunch time saw many office goers get out of their work space. Everyone was in their own world. Just as he was about to get moved with his thoughts he heard his mobile ring and it was Radhika. “Hey Radhika! Tell me.”

“Guess what the Mr. Lewis is interested to buy all of your 100,000 pieces. So when do you treat me for this one, huh?”

Vish just couldn’t believe him and convinced Radhika to join him and Aakash for a lunch immediately! Now it was time for a surprise for Aakash , “Dude don’t get lunch, we would have to go out immediately so just rush in here and pick me. We need to go to meet someone.”

“Oh good you called me immediately because I was almost at the restaurant beliw our office. So come downstairs and we will go where you want to. But what is it and where are we going, I am hungry and it is past 4 pm!”asked Aakash.

“Well that is a surprise, just wait across the road. I will be there.”said Vishwajeet making sure he wasn’t showing too much excited.

Vish just couldn’t stop himself from running to the lift. He ran as if he was running for his life. As soon as he reached down he located Aakash right across the road. His happiness knew no bounds as they had yet again managed to get past their hurdles in life. His head was filled with a lot of ideas of getting things in shape now that this deal was through. His overheads weren’t high now but whatever his inventory was it would be down now and their debts would also be trimmed to a huge extent. No was a time when their business could be run with much more care, the money could be put to much productive use. This time they wouldn’t commit a mistake. This time they would be more wise than opening new offices too early.

There was a screeching noise followed by a “Thud!”

Vish had missed to see an approaching B.E.S.T.bus and lay on a pool of blood. There wasn’t even a sign of life in him but that didn’t stop Aakash & the other passerby’s to make an effort to reach him to the nearby hospital. In a few hours from then Vish’s death certificate was given to Aakash and it read the time of death as 4:20 pm! Miracles do happen but so do certain obvious indications. He never tricked anyone in life but like how Naaz, with a little change, Maut ne Vish k saath kar di char so bisi!

The bad time had passed but that moment didn’t leave Vishwajeet!

This is where it all began & This is where it all ended!

Coffee shops too often have great tag lines, I never knew I would see something so close!

“Ah! You’re late again.”the girl sighed as soon as she saw her guy approach the table. The guy had a sorry look on his face but it was too late, the girl had already given him the welcome shot! “I’m sorry.”he tried to cajole her but alas, it was a non-retractable missile! “One cappuccino & One Assam Tea please. .”the girl shot the order to the waiter. She seemed to know even the guys preference of drink.

“Didn’t you say that too often, Ajay?” she continued.

“I know sweetheart but honestly I don’t know how come it just happens, the traffic, whenever I come to meet you. Trust me Arundhati!”

“Oh just let it be! By the way I hope you remember that we are here for a serious discussion or has that gone in the traffic?” The guys face went from worried to damn worried! “Yeah I do remember”, he replied.

“And still you managed to come late?” Arundhati queried. Ajay just let it be. The silence filled in their minds felt as if their world was indeed coming to an end.

That silence was broken by some laughter immediately, at the adjacent table! There were a group of four friends who were enjoying a cup of coffee; 3 guys and a girl. “ Salle tu toh chuppa rustum nikla! But how did it all happen? where did you guys go? Who was the one who took the initiative? Was Aman too romantic?” the guy asked in just one breath!

“Viraat, hold on. I shall tell you everything. Every little detail that is within permissible limits. Look at Dev he looks to be just lost in his world or do you too have questions running in your head Dev? Malini just look at their faces!”the guy said. “Malini why don’t you start? I shall pitch in. In that ways you could also be a part of our conversation or else this would turn to be only a guy-guy conversation.”and the others smiled in agreement.

So there went Malini, to my amazement it was just the previous day that they had got into a relationship! It was fresh! It was freshest! The smile on my face just couldn’t hide itself as I muttered, as always, “God Bless you guys!”

Meanwhile at the other table Arundhatis’ voice began to choke,“Dad wants me to zero down to a guy within a couple of days. He said that now that I have met the 3 of them I have to select as he feels one of them definitely would be good for me, besides the kundali matches too! I really am not sure of what to do!” Ajay too wasn’t sure from his looks.

“Arundhati, I feel you should tell your parents about us. It is my responsibility to convince people at my place. I guess we could atleast get engaged and that could make our relationship more secure. Trust me as soon as this slow down ends I am sure I would get a better job and nothing would stop us from realising our dreams! Remember how you had agreed to grow old with me?”

“But you aren’t even earning so well that I could introduce you at my place. What would you tell my parents when you meet them and ask for me as your companion? Do you think my father would agree to you when he thinks about my future? Think practically Ajay! It would be a flat no!” Arundhati shot back to Ajay’s amusement!

I was a bit upset but thinking practically the girl did make sense. No father would have given his girl to a guy whose future wasn’t secure. No father would gamble with his daughters future, even if they don’t meet eye-to-eye.

Laughter was indeed the taste of the season on the adjoining table. Malini had just opened her mouth and she couldn’t stop blushing! “ Oh ho! Look at her!”, said Viraat. “Oh Viraat! Come on! I am a girl and you should not be surprised with my reaction at such moments! Ok so if you really want to hear the story you need to first promise that you wouldn’t pull my leg!” Too eager to hear the story Viraat just pushed the promise without another word!

“There isn’t actually a story, we just liked each other and just hit it off!” Malini said to Viraat’s amazement! “Then why did you ask me to promise?” Viraat shot immediately.

“Viraat, I just wanted to ensure I was safe for future. Or else you would keep pulling my leg in future and I just wanted to be an opportunist!” Malini said. Aman too agreed with Malini and told Viraat that there wasn’t really a formal dating before they hitched. It was a story which thousands of Mumbaikars would have encountered; a girl and a boy, travelling together and suddenly realise after the college ends that their company was indeed special and confess their liking to each other! I would say, there isn’t something wrong in that as long as people are faithful to what they say. Malini continued with the usual traits which she loved about Aman and the story continued.

Ajay, meanwhile was having difficulty in adjusting not only with the questions but also in stirring the Assam Tea, his hands were shivering and his eyes were moist. He looked at Arundhati and I guess he knew what was running in her mind. That was the moment I guess he couldn’t control his emotion and a drop of tear just rolled off his cheeks! “Come on Ajay now please don’t make it difficult for both of us.” Arundhati said. “We have to be strong and move on with life. Just making life difficult and unpredictable with each day, doesn’t make sense for both of us.” Ajay just looked at her. Probably he was recounting the number of times, during the Happy-Happy Days they would have repeated of standing by each other during good & bad times! That’s what atleast it looked with the stare on his face and pain in his eyes! The looks were just too evident!

He stared to no where! She moved her hand to hold his but stopped midway! Confusion? Na! The decision had been made in her head it looked! I said a small prayer for them because that wasn’t an entirely “non-connecting” scene for me! Pain just freezes you for that moment! Thoughts dry up! Time just shoots at a rocket speed and all that was just yesterday seems to have been long gone by, including the love!

Ajay just had the cup of tea in one go!

Malini looked at Aman and rested her head on his shoulder with a smile. “Why don’t we go and meet Shilpa and Sanjana? We could call them at Cypress and give them this news aswell”, Aman said in a celebration mood. They asked for the bill and laughed within their conversation! As they moved out, I could see their palms touching each other and Aman immediately slipped his finger through Arundhati’s. A mark of togetherness came as they held each others hands and walked into the crowd.

As I shifted my attention to the love torn table the bill was paid and silently the message conveyed. Ajay looked at Arundhati, but this time his eyes were dazy! It looked as if he had just got some kind of a shock! He just looked at her and wanted everything to stop at that very moment. With the message conveyed there wouldn’t really be another time when he would see her! That face which he had held in his palms innumerable number of times. That face which he desired to wake up and see every morning! They walked out of the coffee shop and I looked at their hands brushing each others but this time only to separate and loose in the crowd.

I looked at my watch, it was two and a half hours since I had sat in the coffee shop and the date too wasn’t entirely a bad one, it was 13th of February, the day before Valentine, I saw the birth of a relationship. But alas it was Friday the 13th of February 2009 which saw the death of another!

Indeed a lot can happen over a cup of coffee, after all this is where it all began and this is where it all ended!