Category: The crescent moon

Sometimes she would share about the families of those colleagues, sometimes she shared the gossips she came across about office with her mother.

Nita is the witch and the trainer was an imp.

One day when we met in our home, Lizzy suggested,

“Tell me, Nita is not married or divorced or separated or in some such men goofy rackets, is she then eyeing this young man, Binky, probably trying to reduce competitors.”

We had a hearty laugh on this.

But then Shrum knew Sucheta was fond.

If Shrum ever joins to like someone she can immediately begin reading hearts.

In her nine years, I don’t remember she ever insulted anybody on the face.

Though she has grudges and been offensive behind at times, just when she has not understood the reason for their rudeness, their back comments.

They were tapping her call, I and Lizzy could see that. We tapped into some people to know their motif.

“After all, it is not called stealing if you steal on a thief.”

The software’s are widely available, and we heard into late night dramas.

Till then, they were unable to unfold much, since Shrum was an epitome of perfection.

She was still safe. They were using crude means like her lady manager would be calling trying to collect information.

Often she would want to know, what Shrum thought about Durjoy John since Shrum would smile at him brightly as well as to her director, a bright mind.

“Nothing much I think about him Chinni, I just think he is caring enough to ask how I was liking the place, so I return a smile to him. What else?”

“Yeah what else. You know he is not married but he said he was dating someone. He is slightly old.”

“It’s fine, men are never old they say, it’s women who grow old after menopause. Let him date. Why do you worry?” She was leaning on the terrace, drying her hairs in the sunlight. There was nothing except stretches covered with homes and homes.

“Ahh! Why should I worry. Anyways, I am also seeing a man, he takes a lot of care for me.”

“Ahh! Great. Hope things turn well.”

“They will, of course. No hoping it will.” She said.

“Yeah.”

The call ended, when Shrum told me, I told her something which came spontaneously to me.

“Why on earth are they trying such cheap tricks? Are they very small? We don’t have all this shit in our office. Do they think of taking you down to a man, making you kneel down, beg, borrow, steal and go down the path of destruction. They might be knowing through background checks, your family could not arrange a match for you.”

“Perhaps, there are so many mouths to tell them that also. I choose to not get married, if I don’t marry the face, I want to meet.”

“You can’t tell them that. It is a world where women marry to preserve safety, to be productive in something since most of them are non productive, money wise or mentally. Women marry for so many different reasons, they are trying to find that one reason for you.”

“Really, then shall I leave the job? Maybe I can find something good as yours.”

“Ours don’t use such cheap tricks since they keep us safe for bigger tricks. There are some though even in our office who would serve to satisfy women who are unmarried, widowed or divorced, many bachelors, even married men without commitment entertainment but then they settle down eventually leaving these women groping for more when these giant of women land themselves in trouble coz they can’t control what was ignited beneath them.”

“Is it so hard? To control.”

“No, but the world does not give them time to resolve, they ignite their egos when a man leaves them. So, they say, hmm what if one left I will find another. Then another leaves and another.”

“Okay, do one thing, confuse them.” I said to her.

Sucheta had told one of her colleagues in front of Shrum that she would not mind a husband at home, and a husband at office. She can manage to which our holy Shrum relayed the incident to her mother over the tapped phone.

Her manager had changed.. one lady gave way to another.

A Reiki healer, who knew the meaning of Om Mani Padme Hum, an enthusiastic woman who lived singly. She was in training with Shrum and once when both were washing their hands in the restroom, Shrum in error asked her,

“Are you married?”

The answer was something which Shrum might have to give some years later.

“There should be something good to get married, something more meaningful, something beyond our words.”

Shrum heard it, smiled her bright smile.

She thought while coming back that she would add one word,

“Love, she would only get married to give and get love.”

Rest she knew she could manage, if she could not manage dying was not a very disrespectful decision on her part. She was never scared to give up whereas I was so scared to give up.

The manager would send Shrum for audit rounds and wink at her Quality review trainer, she tested her.

But, then she gave her a chance to flourish.

She was quality review certified much earlier than people told her would take.

The trainer Biyonte who trained her in the training period was a short stout man, with a gleaming skin. Every woman asked him the secret behind the shine. He was definitely proud of who he was and his knowledge was vouched for, he was also soffit spoken towards Shrum and certified her every now and then whenever she did some huge case or added a note of thanks.

This is what Shrum was looking at, she decided to pave her way through her work.

She did one mistake though, she told that upfront.

She knew Sucheta had an emotional bond towards this man, and she never disturbed her. What enraged her at times, was the thought that Shrum was probably behind the trainer which was never the case.

Her soft spoken words and her soft looks was who she was, and of course a deeply grateful person she would express it to all those who stood to help her on her terms.

But, one day almost a year later, Biyonte for some reason blurted out to Shrum’s new manager,

“Who the hell would marry such a girl.”

She was simple, never judged humans based on what they worked as, she would talk with the same respect to a driver as she would to a scientist. This was a weakness I knew the drivers would soon explore even if not a doctor or a scientist.

Meanwhile she kept visiting places in the city, tourist spots with a room mate who had SLE. Vini was on medication and Vini would take Shrum with her to the hospital for check ups. She was on medication and Shrum had grown emotional.

She would ask Shrum to place her up in her company, but Shrum knew how much slogging goes everyday. So, she would deny her every time showing her the amount of work required.

But, then one day they fought over hygiene.

The girl never got back to her.

Vini left the PG and I knew she was interested in Shrum only for her own selfish sake, and Shrum was very amenable.

Even if she is in deep pain, she would always consider others. Probably she understood pain like her Zongpa taught her in childhood.

When she was not talking to Sucheta, not really talking, the cab one day began picking up only them. So, only two people occupied the cab and though she was now not liking her in entirety, she knew rivalry was closing in Sucheta’s eyes, but Shrum spoke plainly to her. Sucheta was worried about what she did was an easy job and what Shrum did was a little better, as per company standards.

Sucheta might have once thought it was due to her colour, burnt mahagony when compared to Shrum’s golden glow. But, then Shrum knew one thing well. She could keep competition out of her head. When Shrum walked into my life, I too began leaving competing with others behind.

I knew this was the fuel in MNCs which keeps you alive but if you are not a person who is of this kind from within, you would soon tend to outgrow it.

This incident build the first point where I knew they had begun studying her.

One day when no one was watching in August, I called her to a discotheque. With an anonymous crowd you are safe to talk.

Lyra and Lizzy, the threesome of us were together.

Lizzy and Lyra were smoking in the bar when Shrum argued outside with a boxer. He would not allow her inside in a salwar and she would not budge, a stubborn head by nature.

If she thinks, she thinks, end of the world. I loved her like a sister and could understand it to the extent that I found it funny.

I often shared all the funny stuffs with her.

Anything in this world, almost all are surrounded by a rim of tears but when you know it’s core, you know it’s not a rim of tears and fears and pain, it never was. It is then that you laugh out, heartily.

“Leave her Jack, she is with me.” They knew me as the loner.

I never interacted with anyone, even if someone tried I wouldn’t talk. For the past five years, I had only come here since I was in the city. Lizzy and Lyra cam down mostly, so we did not need anyone.

Jack never thought I had ever known someone who’d be so scared to even enter the disco bar. He looked at me, screwed his eyes and shrugged allowing her in.

I had began planning a Ph.D in robotics and I knew I would leave by the end of 2014. I had found my sister some six months back and I was trying to establish contact each day.

She would listen to my voice and cut the call.

One day she told me she was on a voyage.

But that morning she called me up, she did not speak much but she gave me her number.

“How are you? How’s mom and dad? How was everyone? I have a long story how I dropped into this, I should have not trusted that guy. Love you. Call me after ten pm in Amsterdam.” That’s it, I heard from her.

But I was happy, she was safe.

But robotics was hard to get in European countries and I had very few choices.

“By 2015 end I would surely leave. I can help you till then, but then you have Lyra and Lizzy. But, you can always call me, anytime. Physically I can’t help you but I can help you.”

She listened quietly and I had to repeat myself a thousand times. She could never hear sometimes, she said there was a beep, a long beep, short beep in her ears.

Some random person told her once when she had been in Leh, that it was divine intervention to protect her from hearing falsities and falsifying details.

She had specs, she could not see well either.

So God protected her eyes and ears. But, then she was so truthful that often she blurted our truth even when not required.

I told her to not speak every truth so plainly.

I told her to not speak out at all when not required.

A half truth is a lie as per some, yet as per the philosophers of this world, Socrates, Pliny and Plato,

“A truth half is always half and never a lie. A lie is not even a twisted truth, is however, close to it. A lie defies all laws of truth, the four pillars of truth.

It does not have a base, a pillar, a roof and walls.”

I showed her Pliny’s thoughts and made her read Plato, asking her to never budge even when people tell her that a truth half is a lie. I told her it was not. I told her it was the way of the world.

I was surely fond of her. I knew by August 2010 she had not become any of these

A competitor

A follower

She was safe for the month.

Though she faced competition, though her seniors refused to help her learn new things, though she knew she was the scapegoat and she ended up doing big, huge cases. She was under the radar though.