Mish' Fiction

He suddenly looked very uncomfortable, having talked as much as he did and having revealed the kind of things he did. He walked inside the house without saying anything further. Karishma looked on speechlessly. What on earth did she just hear? He fought with his sister because she insulted her. Diksha was the only person he seemed to care about. And Karishma was the one whom he had humiliated endlessly. And did he accept doing things wrong? To her? Was he feeling guilty? Was he trying to be nice to her now? And if he was, what should she do? Use his guilt to punish him for all he did to her? Or make peace with him and her own life? Forget her humiliations and insults at his hands?

She also walked inside the house and absent-mindedly walked to his room instead of hers. The door was open. She walked in noiselessly. He wasn’t in the room, but the balcony door was open. She tip-toed towards it. She could make out the his silhouette. He was sitting on an armchair. She switched on the balcony lights.

“Thanks for checking up on me. I am fine,” he said.

“How did you know it was me?” she asked. He hadn’t turned to look at her.

“I just know…”

“You had come here to feel better. Sitting alone in darkness is not going to achieve that.”

“Right,” he got up, “You want to watch TV till dinner is ready?”

“I… I don’t watch TV.”

“You used to write for TV without watching it?”

“I used to watch then…”

There was an awkward silence as Siddharth realized that she had stopped watching since he forced her out of that job.

“But I can watch…” she offered.

“I am not interested in Indian TV anyway. Let’s watch some American sitcom. I should have some DVDs lying here.”

“Sounds good.”

—

“Karishma? Is everything all right?” Siddharth was surprised and worried to see her in his office.

“Yes. Why?”

“Why did you come here?”

“Well… I had gone out… for some shopping… Thought I’d drop by.”

“Oh!”

“Oh?”

“No… I mean… It was… It is good to see you… I was about to leave… We can leave together…”

“Okay.”

“Give me five minutes”

—

“Did you tell your driver to go back”

“I had taken a taxi.”

“Taxi? Why?”

“I am not a superstar. I don’t get mobbed by people.”

“No… I meant… There are so many cars at home.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m not. In future take a car…”

“But…”

“This is not up for discussion Karishma. You will take a car when you go out.”

“And I thought that you were…”

“I was what?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t make me yell at you. Just say it…”

“Precisely this. I was wrong that I thought you were trying to be nice to me.”

“Of course, I am trying to be nice to you.”

“Because?”

“Because I did wrong things to you in past.”

“So, now you are trying to compensate?”

“Yes?”

“If I want to walk out of your life, of this marriage that was forced on me, would you let me go?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Of course not.”

“Not even if I cry?”

“No. I can’t let you go.”

“If I fight? A legal battle?”

“Then I will fight back and make sure that I defeat you. I will do anything I need to.”

“Yeah?”

“Short of hurting your mother, of course,” he added with some irritation, “You still have her holed up somewhere?”

“She is happy where she is. As much as I want her, I don’t want her to witness my messed up life.”

“Will you keep fighting me forever? Can you never think of accepting me?”

“In your arrogant self-centered world, probably the word forgiveness doesn’t exist. But in my world, I need to forgive you before thinking of anything else. And you don’t make that easy.”

“Then you have to take the difficult route.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you don’t have any other option.”

“Is this your idea of getting people to accept you? By forcing them? Leaving them with no other option? Have you heard of something like letting your love go…”

“I have heard all the corny and cheesy lines in the world. I was born and brought up in the film industry, if you care to remember. But some things happen only in movies, not in real life…”

“That’s absurd. You don’t force people to be with you. It doesn’t work like that.”

“If it hasn’t worked like that for you, you are just immensely lucky. I had to throw tantrums, threaten to do drugs or kill myself to get my father’s attention after my mother’s death. I wouldn’t have had my sister’s attention, if all of the business and most of the property was not in my name. And I wouldn’t have had that if I hadn’t convinced my father… or rather his trusted lawyer whose advice he always listened to, to do it that way in his will… And even you wouldn’t be here, if I hadn’t forced you.”

Karishma sighed audibly. He was incorrigible, “So, you think the way to get people is to force them, manipulate them and show them carrots or sticks?”

“It sounds bad when you speak from a high moral ground. But yes.”

“You don’t think you can or should let go?”

“No.”

“Tell me something, then. You had said you wanted me. Why haven’t you touched me till now? After so many months of our marriage?” He pressed the brakes hard and the car stopped with a screech, but she continued talking, “Physically, I can hardly fight you. Socially – it would be absurd if I go about complaining that my husband had sex with me. And not only now, why had you let me go even on that fateful day, when… when I had gone out to book my tickets after my father’s death and you had been furious… At that time, you didn’t even have these noble thoughts of trying to be nice to me and I was too distraught to do much to stop you. Why did you let me go?”

He waited for a couple of seconds after she was done and then asked her angrily, “Are you finished?”

She just reclined back in her seat and sighed again. Something was broken in him and she just had to deal with it.

“Take a car next time you go out,” he said when they reached home and strode away to his room.

—

He walked into her room and sank down on the couch.

“You look tired?” she asked.

“Diksha doesn’t want to work with the company anymore.”

“Why?”

“She said there is no point in working for a company she doesn’t own anything in. She is going to France and joining her mother in the fashion business”

“She doesn’t own anything Sen Motion Pictures?”

“No.”

“And you don’t think it would be worth giving her some shares to keep her happy?”

“I can’t let anyone blackmail me about the business. She can make money, all right. But I don’t think she values the business the way Dad did or I do. I have let her do her thing. But I can’t let her have the right to decide.”

“Hmm…”

“I will need someone to run the TV division. Will you take the job up?”

“What?”

“I need someone trusted to run the show there.”

“I… I am sorry. But – no.”

“Why not? It would be a great opportunity.”

“Yes. But you have to understand, I am not an ambitious business-woman. I don’t have the ability you or Diksha Ma’am have. I am just happy editing the manuscripts or writing stories and screenplays. Just because I am your wife doesn’t make me eligible to run a business like that.”

“Hmm…”

“I’m sorry. You will have to find someone else or figure out how to keep Diksha Ma’am from leaving.”

“You can stop calling her Ma’am! She is so much younger to me.”

“She is younger to me too. But a personal relationship is not what we share. So…”

“I see. And what do you call me these days? Boss? Sir?”

“I… I haven’t called you anything in a long time,” Karishma replied awkwardly.

“Whenever you decide to call me anything next time, it better be my name, my first name.”

Karishma didn’t reply.

“And would you like to work on another screenplay?”

“Another one? You still have your shooting to finish for the last one. When are you going to UK?”

“When you agree to come with me.”

“What? That’s not fair…”

“On whom?”

“On… I don’t know.”

“There is a story I have gotten from a new writer. Not a rom-com. But good multiplex-audience kind. If you want to have a look, call Ramesh and get a copy. I think you should write the screenplay. It would be a good experience and good progress in your career too.”

“I will call him.”

—

To be continued

“Your crutches,” Siddharth came back later in the evening, “You can use them to go to the bathroom. No more walking than absolutely required though, okay? You want to use them now.”

She nodded. It was a little awkward at first to use them, but Siddharth helped her get used to it. She freshened up and washed her face in the bathroom.

“I’m sorry,” she said after she was settled back in the bed.

“You don’t need to be.”

“I panicked.”

“I know. And can I tell you something?”

She nodded.

“I might be a monster… to you. But this monster could not break you. What broke you was an imaginary monster you had created in your head. He was… well… beyond even me… I didn’t like this imaginary monster breaking you. In fact, I don’t like anyone breaking you. Not even myself.”

Karishma stared at him blankly. What was he saying? Was he… changing? Had he changed already?

“There are no games here,” he added after a pause.

“I still hate you,” Karishma said almost involuntarily.

“I know. But that doesn’t mean I would let you go.”

“Why not? If you don’t want to…”

“I think you need to eat, take your medicines and sleep. I will order dinner.”

—

“I don’t know where you have sent your mother,” Siddharth told her when they reached back to Mumbai, “But if it is to someplace she didn’t want to go or is uncomfortable, you should get her back.”

Karishma nodded feeling awkward. Suddenly the idea that she needed to protect her mother from him sounded ridiculous. And yet – just couple of days back, it hadn’t been so. She was really worried then.

She spoke to her mother. Though she missed her daughter, she was enjoying her time in the village. “I find such peace in the kuldevi’s temple. I just spend hours there,” she had told her. Unless Karishma really needed her, she would like to spend couple of more months there. Karishma didn’t insist. Her own life was in such a confused phase that it was better handled alone. If her mother was around to question all the oddities, it would become more difficult.

—

“Pack an overnight bag,” Siddharth came to her room and told her, while she was busy with her editing assignments.

“Excuse me?”

“We are driving to Lonavala and will come back tomorrow.”

“What for?”

“Just want to spend some time there.”

“I am not going anywhere.”

“Why not?”

“Just because you are not torturing and threatening me now, all is not cool between us.”

“Just because I am not torturing and threatening you now, I won’t take a no for an answer every time. You can either pack, or you will have to do with whatever is there in the bunglow there. It may not be much.”

“What the…”

“Half an hour!”

—

“I always drive here myself. The road is lovely,” he announced, rather than speak to her. The body-guards were following them in another car.

“How does it feel? To have this obsession? To hate someone and yet not letting them go.”

“Is that possible? To hate someone and not let them go?”

“You should not be asking that question. You are the one who does it the best.”

“I don’t hate you. I destroy the people I hate. I just… want you.”

Karishma fell silent. She didn’t know how she should reply to that. He wanted her! Is that why he had brought her with him? His huge mansion in Mumbai was always filled with office staff, people he had to meet and the house staff. Complete seclusion was not possible. If she resisted, he would find it awkward to force himself on her. Now she was alone with him and would be at his mercy. So, he could rape her. Not that she cared though. Thanks to the marriage, it would at best be a fulfillment of his lust, and he could not use it as a threat or a weapon against her.

—

“Bro? What a surprise! And with his not-so-newly-wed-wife!” They found Diksha in the bunglow already.

“Diksha! Mind your language.”

“How touchy Bro! Just like the heroes you portray on-screen, isn’t it? Anyway. If you want I will leave. You are not quite in a mood for family reunion, I see.”

“Why would you leave Ma’am?” Karishma interrupted, “This is your house too.”

“Actually no,” Siddharth replied icily, “This house is in my name. It’s mine. And since you seem to be hell-bent upon insulting my wife Diksha, it’s better that you leave right away!”

“Thanks a lot for reminding me about the property division!” Diksha barked and went to her room to start packing.

“You can use that room,” Siddharth told her after Diksha left, “The caretaker stays nearby. I will call him. Let him know if you need anything.” He wasn’t forcing her to share a room with him!

—

Diksha’s behaviour had not come as a surprise to Karishma. Even before leaving for UK, she had tried to get Diksha to help with the movie production that was stalled. But she had been least interested, in fact curt and rude. The sun had set by the time Karishma freshened up. She went out of her room and saw Siddharth standing in the lawn. He was facing away from the house, so she could not see his face. She approached him. He turned on hearing her footsteps.

“Dinner will take time. We can have tea and some snacks meanwhile,” he pointed towards a table laid out nearby, “Caretaker is in the kitchen. If you want something else, you can tell him.”

“I am fine.”

“Why is she angry with you?” Karishma asked after a while.

“Did the other possibility ever occur to you? That I could be angry with her?”

“That was a given. I have stopped trying to find reason behind you being angry with people.”

“Right,” he replied bitterly, “I guess there is no point in having this conversation.” He got up and walked away to another corner of the lawn.

Despite herself Karishma felt bad for him. She shouldn’t, she reminded herself. He was a monster, who didn’t care for people. If he was in pain, he deserved it. And for all she knew, it was just another act on his part. Could he feel pain? Could he feel anything at all? But finally, she could not help following him.

“I am sorry, I did not mean to hurt you,” he was facing away from her and did not turn this time.

“That’s not true. You did mean to hurt me. I am the reason of all your miseries. It…”

“Look,” she walked around to face him and was surprised at the sight. Although his voice gave no hint of this, his eyes were filled with tears. She was visibly startled and then moved away from there. What should she do? Feel happy that he is suffering, whatever be the reason. Or try to ease his pain, like she would do with anyone else. She came back to where the tea-table was laid and sat down. He also came back after a while, looking more composed.

“Why are you angry with your sister?” she asked.

“Let it be. It was not the reason I was…” his voice trailed. He couldn’t bring himself to say that he was crying.

“Then why? Is it something about this place?”

“It had created a huge media circus at that time. People move on from one news to the other. But I can’t. It was my mother who had committed suicide in this house when I was twelve years old.”

“I am sorry!” Karishma said sincerely. Both of them didn’t say anything for a while. Then she spoke again, “You… want to talk about it?”

“Talk what? Why did it happen? Where will that talk end? With a blame either on my father or on my mother.”

“When I think of my father’s death, I only think of the sadness, grief, loneliness and loss me and my mother felt. Whether his illness, his death was fair or unfair, whether it could have been otherwise, whether he didn’t have good enough doctors, whether something or somebody could have prevented it, whether there was someone responsible for it, whether I hate you for not letting me meet him before his death, all of these are secondary. The things I have to come to terms with, and I think I have done it more or less, are my own feelings, my sadness and grief on his loss. Other things either can not be changed, or can be dealt with separately. Acknowledging your feelings and dealing with them are most important.”

“Your father had died before you left?”

She nodded.

“The same day that…”

“Yes. But that is not the point right now.”

“How much do you hate me?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“You want to walk out right now, right? You wish I were rather dead or…”

“Shut up. I don’t wish anyone dead.”

“But you do hate me.”

“I don’t know. Okay? I don’t know how I feel about you. You… you just confuse me to no end. Till sometime back, I would have known. Now – I am just confused. The man I have seen in last few days, the man I have seen today… I don’t know… He is not the same man who I obviously hated…”

“Thanks”

“Thanks?”

“That’s more than what anyone else in your position would have said.”

“What’s going on? Why did you want to come to this place? It doesn’t seem to do you any good at all?”

“It usually does. Today everything is going haywire.”

“Because I am here?”

“No. Because of Diksha…”

“And why so?”

“I had… expected too much from her.”

“Expected what?”

“That she would grow up to be someone I could be friends with. But I never meant as much to her as she meant to me.”

“She is much younger to you, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. Fourteen years.”

“Fourteen. Didn’t you say your mother died…”

“My father had remarried. She is my step-sister…”

“Sorry. I had no idea.”

“Old stories. Media has moved on.”

“Where is her mother?”

“In France. My father and she divorced a few years later.”

“She goes to France to meet her,” Karishma recalled Diksha’s absences from the office, which the employees knew as her Paris shopping trips.

“Yes. She was never as invested in me as I was in her…”

“She has a mother she seems close to. She is much younger to you. It’s not fair to expect her to be like you… People can’t just be what you want them to be…”

“I couldn’t help expecting. But I didn’t demand anything from her. And it was all right between us. But…”

“What went wrong?”

“She didn’t understand things I did… She didn’t even try to… I did wrong things… But she didn’t try to correct me by understanding me… She accused me… And she…” he suddenly fell silent.

“What?” she urged him.

“She insulted you. I lost it after that.”

“What!” it was an exclamation this time and not a question.

—

To be continued

“You wanted to know why the bodyguard was angry?” Ramesh asked.

“Yes. Did he tell you?”

“He did. But he is terrified of your reaction.”

“Terrified of me?” Karishma was amused, “People who work under Siddhartha Sen are terrified of me.”

“Well… It was about you…”

“Me?”

“He was apparently drunk and passing some remarks about you being Boss’…”

“Mistress?” she helped him complete his sentence when he hesitated.

Ramesh nodded reluctantly to agree, “In worse words than that… He claims that he was just joking with friends, but Sid Sir heard him and humiliated him before others. He got angry…”

“Great!”

“If your marriage was reluctant, the body guard is is your culprit, in some sense.”

Karishma laughed bitterly, “You think your boss married me to protect my dignity or something? Like the heroes of the 70s movies? I wouldn’t be surprised, if even this leak by whomsoever was a part of his plan.”

Ramesh sighed, “Everything you accuse him of – I can’t say that he is not capable of doing it. He is capable of all that and worse. And yet – it is different with you.”

“How so?”

“He will do anything to get what he wants. But I have never seen him obsessing over anything, anyone like he does over you. I mean he tracked you down even after three months of you leaving. He just couldn’t forget you. You mean something to him.”

“Obsession. Am I supposed to be happy about being the obsession of an ego-maniac, powerful man?”

“I guess not,” Ramesh sighed, “I hope and pray that it is something better.”

“Thank you,” Karishma said sincerely, “Despite professional loyalties, you are a good friend Ramesh.”

—

“Ouch!” Karishma was walking down the stairs and accidentally sprained her legs.

“Karishma!” Siddharth ran towards her. Ramesh and a few other people were also there and rushed to help. Ramesh reached first and held her to help her stand. But he let go when Siddharth reached. Karishma cringed at Siddharth’s proximity, but her sprain was bad and she was not in a position to stand without support. Siddharth seemed unaware of her reaction.

“Are you hurt? Can you stand?” he asked.

“No!” she hissed, “It’s hurting.”

“Let’s get you back in the room,” he said and held her so that she could walk with one leg. Still, the sprained leg was hurting and she had tears in her eyes by the time she reached the room. The process of settling her on the bed caused so much pain that she started crying openly.

Ramesh had called the physiotherapist who was traveling with the unit. Meanwhile Siddharth tried to use the first aid box. He applied some pain reliever, but her tears did not stop. The doctor hotel had called and the physiotherapist came at the same time. There was no fracture. But it will take sometime for the swelling to subside. She was given the painkillers and the physiotherapist massaged her sprained legs. Once the pain subsided, she drifted off to sleep under the effect of pain-killers.

—

“What time is it?” she asked anxiously, when she woke up. It was almost dark.

“Six. Why?”

“The flight is at eleven. We need to leave soon.”

“You are in no position to travel.”

“I will manage.”

“Try to understand.”

“I told you, I will manage. If you want to stay, feel free to. I am going,” she threw away the bed-cover and tried to get down.

“No. You are not!” Siddharth pushed her back on the bed and said angrily, “Don’t you dare leave this bed without my permission.”

She hadn’t seen him that aggressive in a while and she cowered.

“This place is not going to bite you,” he added in a reoncilliatory tone, “Nor will I.”

She suddenly felt very weak and vulnerable. She was on the verge of crying.

“What happened?” he became concerned.

“I want to see my mother,” she spoke honestly.

“We can fly her in. I will ask Ramesh…”

“She is not in Mumbai.”

“Where is she?”

“She is…” she stopped suddenly. She didn’t want to tell anything to Siddharth about where her mother was. “Never mind.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Don’t cry. Just tell me whatever you want.”

“Just leave me alone and let me cry if I want to cry.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because… Because I hate to see you cry.”

“What?”

“Do you want some tea or coffee?”

“What did you just say?”

“I will order coffee,” he said and walked out of the room leaving a perplexed Karishma behind. Did he really say something like that?

He didn’t stay out for long though. He came back carrying a take-away cup of coffee for her.

“We don’t need to postpone the flight for too long,” he said, “Doctor said that you should be good to go day after tomorrow. I know you are not liking it here… What happened?” Karishma was not listening to him. She was lost in her own world.

“Huh?”

“What happened? You look lost. And you coffee will go cold?”

“You brought me coffee?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“All this caring… pampering… What’s the new game now? How do you plan to break me next?”

He stared at her and looked dumbfounded for a bit. Then he spoke very slowly and deliberately, “I am doing it for the same reason that brought you here? Were you playing a game?”

“I don’t play games.”

“I am not playing one either. I was ill. You came to take care of me. You need care right now.”

“I came here only because Ramesh asked me to. And you don’t need to stoop down from your high pedestal to take care of me. I just want to go home.”

“Day after tomorrow, you can fly back. I already told you that.”

“I want to go today.”

“Stop whining, will you?”

“Why do you want to keep me here? You are planning something, aren’t you?”

“You have lost your mind.”

“You have found my mother?”

“What?”

“You know where she is, don’t you? You have found out. You are going to hurt her. Is that your plan?”

“Shut up Karishma. What are you talking about? And what do you mean I have found your mother. Why should I… Oh God! You have been hiding her from me, is it? You thought I was…”

His reaction brought Karishma back to her senses. He wasn’t trying to hurt her mother. But had she given him an idea now?

“I… I… No. No,” she stammered.

“Where is your mother?”

“Don’t hurt her please,” Karishma started crying, “Your problem is with me. I am the one you want to punish. Don’t hurt her, I beg you.” She made to get down from her bed.

He rushed to her and shouted, “Stop moving.” He held her hand and spoke again in a calmer voice, “And stop crying. I’m not going to hurt her. Nobody is going to hurt her. I don’t know where she is. I had no idea she was not in Mumbai. And if it scares you so much, I am not going to ask you anything about her whereabouts. Stop crying, now.”

But his assurances seem to have no effect on her. She continued to beg, “You wanted me to cry. I am crying. You wanted me to break down. I am broken. I am completely broken and at your mercy. Do whatever you want to do to me. Just leave her…” She buried her head in her knees and Siddharth’s face twitched as if feeling her pain.

“Why don’t you call her and assure yourself that she is fine,” he said, “You don’t have to use the hotel phone. Where is your mobile? Here… It’s not working here… No problem. I will send Ramesh. You trust him, right? Use his phone. Nobody will know where you called and where she is. Okay? Just wait a minute…”

He went out and called Ramesh to his suite. “Give her your phone and make sure that she talks to her mother.”

Ramesh looked confused, but nodded and went to Karishma’s room. He found her wiping her tears.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Boss wanted me to give you my phone. To call your mother…”

“Yeah… I just… panicked…”

“Why didn’t you use the hotel phone? Or his phone?”

“Yes… I actually can… I am sorry… For bothering you… You can leave…”

“No. Call her…Here is the phone. I will come back after ten minutes.”

—

To be continued

“Ramesh?” Karishma was surprised to receive a call from UK, “What’s up?”

“Boss has fallen ill.”

“I read in the newspaper.”

“I think you should come here…”

“I am not a doctor Ramesh,” she laughed slightly.

“Media doesn’t know everything. He has been drinking a lot…”

“You are saying it like he is a teetotaler otherwise.”

“Not a teetotaler, but he is not much of a drinker. Trust me. Doctor says he is suffering from depression…”

“Get him somebody he can humiliate and torture. He would be fine. And don’t call me about it. In case you still have any confusion, let me clarify that our marriage is farce. Just another way for him to try and control my life. Neither of us care about each other…”

“Karishma. Listen to me…”

“What?”

“There are things I have seen over the years and I can tell you more about what I feel you mean to him… But right now here is the most important thing. I bring him back to his room every day, when he has drunk too much in the bar… He keeps asking for you when he is unconscious… More than once I asked him say ‘I am sorry’ to you… It’s painful to see a fierce person like him in this state. His depression is so severe, he can’t work even when he is not drunk. Please come once…”

“He is one lucky bastard. Despite being what he is, there are people who care for him. But I am sorry, Ramesh. I am not one of them. I don’t want to discuss this again. Bye.”

—

Karishma again looked at the photo Ramesh had sent to her. ‘He has gotten a lesson or two in shrewdness from his boss as well,’ she grumbled. When she did not listen to him on phone, he just sent her a photo of Siddharth. He did look miserable and Karishma just couldn’t get that image out of her mind. It was indeed painful to see a fierce person like him in this state. But what caused it? Surely it was not because he was feeling any remorse for her. What was that ‘I am sorry’ business. Ramesh must have made that up. And what the hell! Even if he was sorry, it didn’t mean he deserved to be forgiven for all that he had done.

But she was getting ahead of herself. Right now, he was miserable. And if Ramesh was to be believed, her presence might help. Unable to detach herself, she dialed Ramesh back.

“Who can help me with VISA and ticket?” she asked.

“I will arrange for someone from the office to take care of it,” Ramesh was relieved.

—

“What’s going on?” She asked Ramesh, rushing into Siddharth’s suite at the hotel. Ramesh had not come to receive her at the airport and had sent a note mentioning that there was some emergency.

“He has found out who leaked the story to the media and is furious. It was one of the bodyguards. We have sent for him. There he comes…”

“What story?”

“Erm… your… hate-converted-to-love story?”

“Someone else had leaked it?”

“What did you think?”

“Nothing.”

“He hadn’t leaked it.”

The bodyguard had come to them by then. He looked worried. Obviously the news had reached him.

“Go in,” Ramesh indicated towards the bedroom.

“No. Wait,” Karishma intervened. She recognized him as the guy who was not letting her enter her office in Delhi, when Siddharth was visiting, “Did you leak it?”

“N… No Ma’am. There is some…”

“I will help you only if you tell me the truth.”

“I… I’m sorry Ma’am…”

“Yes?”

“I got angry and I just took up a reporter on her offer… I hadn’t said all she wrote though…”

“Of course. Ramesh. Can you please find out for me why this guy was so angry at the boss that he spoke to the media? I will go and see him meanwhile.”

—

“Knock before…” Siddharth shouted as Karishma entered his room, but fell speechless when he noticed who it was. Despite having seen his photo, Karishma was surprised to see him in person. He looked sick, hadn’t shaven in probably over a week and she could smell alcohol even from a distance.

“When did you come?”

“Just now.”

“How?”

“Of course, I didn’t swim across English channel. I flew.”

“I mean… I hope it was comfortable… It was your first international flight?”

“Yes. Ramesh helped me.”

Just then there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Siddharth responded and Karishma noticed that even his voice was weak.

Somebody had brought her luggage. They looked awkwardly at each other. Then she asked the guy to just deposit the luggage near the door.

“There is an attached twin room in the suite,” he pointed towards a door, “You can use that. Take rest. I have to see someone right now.”

“Correction: You have to fire someone…”

“Who told you that?”

“Why do you want to fire him?”

“You don’t have to bother about it,” he had asserted himself before her for the first time since their wedding night.

“I just don’t want anybody fired or punished because of me.”

“Do you know what he did?”

“Did you try to find out why he did that?”

“For money. What else?”

“For revenge, may be. Money would be a good side-effect, of course.”

“Revenge?”

“He is not the only one angry at you, is he? When you go about insulting and humiliating people left and right, what do you expect?”

He just stared at her. Then asked sounding defeated, “What do you want?”

“Since when did that start mattering?”

“I am asking you,” he said with a hint of annoyance.

“I want bigger things in life, but for now don’t fire him and save me from the guilt of being the reason for destroying someone’s life. Can you do that?”

He nodded.

“What is your plan?” she asked.

“What plan?”

“The entire unit is held up here. Money is being wasted. You are too busy drinking. How long will it go on?”

“Is that why you came?”

“I talked to Diksha Ma’am before coming. I was hoping she might come and manage the situation. But she also sounded angry at you. ‘None of my business’ is what she said and disconnected the phone. You know very well how to alienate people and drive them away, don’t you?”

“What do you know about keeping people?” Siddharth was provoked, “Could you stop your father from dying?”

Karishma was stunned and hurt. “You ARE disgusting!” she snapped and walked away towards the door he had shown her earlier.

—

Siddharth was about to knock on the door of Karishma’s room, when he heard her voice, “Why aren’t you shooting the scenes that don’t involve him?”

“He prefers being on the shoot himself, even if…” It was the director of the movie.

“We don’t have that luxury right now. Shoot the scenes that don’t have him. Shoot others around him. In fact shoot the ones that you can do with his body-double as well.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Depends on the scene. When he comes back, you might want to re-shoot some of those. But for now, wasting time and money does not make sense.”

“When do you think he will be back.”

“I don’t think he can shoot in this trip now. He has lost so much of weight. Even if he were to return to the shoot, I think the continuity will be broken. People don’t lose 8-9 KGs between scenes, do they?”

The director laughed slightly at that and Karishma joined him. Hearing her laugh was odd for Siddharth.

He waited until they had exchanged the parting pleasantries and the director had left her room from the main door. Then he knocked on the door connecting their rooms and entered.

“Lunch?” he asked.

“I will order.”

“We can order it together…”

“Right. Else the media would know that we aren’t having lunch together. Sure.”

“That’s not the point…”

“Of course not. We are so much in love with each other. Anyway. Let’s order it. We need to talk about the shooting.”

Siddharth made the call from her room and ordered lunch.

“You are already managing things, I see,” he said as they eat.

“I spoke with the director, yes. The entire unit was here and nothing was getting done.”

“Thanks.”

“Unless British air suits you better, you should probably come back and recuperate. Your scenes will have to be shot later.”

“You don’t want to stay here for a while?”

“Even if I wanted to, why should it affect your plans?”

“You don’t want to?”

“No.”

“You don’t want to see new places?”

“I want to see the entire world, but not with you or your money.”

“Why did you come here, then?”

“Because Ramesh practically begged me to. Do you want to go back?”

He sighed and nodded.

“I will ask Ramesh to make arrangements as soon as possible.”

—

To be continued

“You look cool,” Siddharth said when she went back to the office later in the day.

“What do you want me to look like? I am tired of reacting to you games.”

“I think you have started enjoying them? You played along rather well. You could have rubbished it all.”

“What do you want to blackmail me for now? I understand the screenplay is complete, the payment for the rights of the book is done. So, you need a new leverage. But what for?”

“Would you like to talk to the press? About the wedding?”

“If I am not threatened, about my mother’s safety, then my answer is ‘No’.”

“Is that why you played along?”

“Yes.”

“Wedding will be this Sunday.”

‘He will lose no time in upsetting my life,’ she thought sadly. But outwardly she spoke with calm, “What do I have to do?”

“Nothing.”

—

“Your father and I had always wished to go back and stay in the village after you were settled. He didn’t live to see the day…”

“Ma. Please don’t be sad.”

“I am not sad. I am very happy and I know he would be too. But I do want to live there, while I can. Your father always missed the place.”

Karishma had never taken the her mother’s idea seriously – that of going back to stay in their native village, but this time she did not resist. Her mother wanted to spend some time in the village after her wedding. It would be good to have her away from Mumbai, safe from Siddharth Sen. Then she can fight her own reluctant battle with him without worrying about her.

“Fine Ma. But how will you stay alone?”

“Villages are not Mumbai or Delhi, dear. You are never alone. So many of your cousins are there…”

“Are you sure, Ma?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about that.”

“When do you plan to go?”

“As soon as you can get me the tickets after your wedding.”

“Fine. But Ma. Don’t tell anything to Siddharth about it.”

“Why not?”

“Just like that.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes Ma,” Karishma faked blushing, “Just a little game. It would be good to see him scared for a bit. And he would be too busy anyway. I doubt you will be able to meet him after the wedding.”

She didn’t want Siddharth to know where her mother would be.

“Fine. As you say.”

—

Karishma had taken off her wedding jewelry and washed her make-up when Siddharth entered the room. Her hair was untied. The dupatta had also been untied from the intricate knots the stylist had put it in as a part of her bridal draping. It was now draped around her neck like she wore her dupattas with salwar-kameez. The part of the cupboard that had a bunch of night-dresses hanging was open.

“I hope there is at least one woman in your life who wouldn’t mind if I borrowed her night-dress. I don’t know where my stuff is. I will sort it out in the morning.”

“I don’t understand,” Siddharth didn’t know what to expect in his room on his wedding night. A blushing bride was probably out of question. But this wasn’t making any sense either.

“The women whom these night dresses belong to. Can I borrow one of them for the night?”

“They are… yours,” he said.

Karishma was surprised, but did not show it, “Ah! Great. Thanks.”

She picked up the first one she could lay her hands on and started walking out of the room.

“Where are you going?”

“The adjoining room is empty and the bed is made, I see. I don’t think you have any guests there. I plan to use it for myself. Good night.”

—

Siddharth did not stop her. He changed, washed and then lied down on his bed. He thought through all that had happened in last few months.

It all started in that fateful moment when he had realized that the writer who made Diksha’s soap watchable every third week was some Karishma Gupta. And he had obsessively watched the episodes written by her again and again. Even in the otherwise ever-stretching, ridiculous story-line, he had detected something that struck a chord. The romance, the father-son relationship, the struggle of managing career and home for women… The story-teller in him had seen the brilliance and he had made up his mind to meet her.

But he had to be careful. Aspirants in the film-industry – writers, actors, directors – all were always hungry for his attention. If he actually went out and sought somebody out, that would be raising her expectation too much. Diksha was in Paris. So, he devised that plan of visiting the office and meeting the entire team of writers. Ritesh’ absence also helped, because he could interact directly with her. And something happened to him when he saw her entering the conference room for the meeting. The other guy with her – what was his name… he didn’t remember… he probably never heard – was literally shaking in fear. She was composed however. Even a bit defiant at being summoned like that. Just how he had imagined the heroine of his upcoming movie to be. He didn’t care about her acting abilities. His production house had introduced many faces who couldn’t act to save their lives when they came. They were taught. Acting could be taught. But that natural fit was rare. The few occasions when he had found the natural fit between the actor and the character, the effect had been fabulous.

He wanted her for his movie. At least that’s what he thought. But all hell broke loose when she refused to act. Siddharth Sen was the person who always refused people. Nobody – NOBODY – refused him. How dare she! He had to show her her place. He had to destroy her and put her in a situation where she was at his mercy. Orchestrating her firing, not letting her get another job and leaving her with no option, but to work with him had been easy for him. He had crushed much more influential and powerful people in past. What was the big deal with this girl?

There was a big deal with her though. She wasn’t defeated. And then, one fine day, she had defied him. She had disappeared. He had to leave the country the very next day for three months because the actress and other cast members for his movie had been finalized and the shooting had to begin. Most of the shooting was happening in Europe, his own favourite shooting location.

But the first thing he had done after coming back was to track her down. Only after he met her again he came to know that her father had died and she no longer needed the financial incentives film industry could provide over the publishing. But by then she was his obsession. He had to get her back. When she refused to talk to him, his shrewd, scheming mind went at work again. He found out about her employer, knew which carrot to dangle in front of them, found a relevant book he could actually work with and executed his plan smoothly.

He was punishing her. Yes. That’s what he was doing. At least he couldn’t see anything beyond that. He didn’t see how obsessive he had become about her. He did not find it odd that he had stopped seeing other woman since he had brought her back in his life, even the women who threw themselves upon him. He was focused on defeating her. With all his humiliation and mental torture, she was still not defeated. He needed more control on her life.

And another plan had soon been formed and executed. It got executed faster than he had expected. Leaking anything about their past encounters to media and making such a love story out of it was not his plan, when he had taken her to the party with him. But when he saw the early morning newspaper, he decided to take  advantage. He immediately went to see her mother, who had been terrified of his presence. But he had created many stories in his life, and he had acted enough to play a character for short time in real life too. He had calmed her down. He had assured her of his intentions about her daughter. He had been an absolute gentleman next door with her. No starry airs. We all need love and care. And he had found that in her daughter, and she in him. He would keep her happy. Her daughter cared about her. And she was scared that her mother wouldn’t bless this relationship. That’s why she hadn’t spoken about it. But now it was out in the media. He wouldn’t want to be the reason for any tension between mother and daughter. He could not even mistakenly dream of giving them any grief. He was really sorry for the leak. He will find the person responsible and fire him. But if he could get her blessings, his life would be complete. Even if not, she shouldn’t hold Karishma responsible for anything. His heart would break if that happened.

The old woman was charmed. But the real surprise had been Karishma. She had capitulated far too easily. It didn’t make sense. She didn’t fight. She didn’t look defeated either. What was going on?

He realized now that probably she was the one playing games this time. She intended to humiliate him now. She had started it. By walking out on him on their wedding night. The idea angered him. He sprang out of the bed and rushed towards the other room. He had to show her her place. He had to crush her, defeat her.

—

The door was unlocked. He went in. The night lamp was on, but she was not there on the bed. He looked around. The door to the balcony was open. He tip-toed towards it. He could make out her silhouette. And there was some sound… What was it? He switched on the balcony-light. She was startled and turned towards him. The scene before him took him by surprise. Her face was swollen and red from crying. She had fallen silent for a moment due to the scare switching on of the light created, but she was not in control. Despite not wanting to do it in front of him, she sank down and cried piteously.

Siddharth’s anger was replaced by a feeling of wretchedness, he could not understand. He stood rooted to his place for several seconds unable to react in any other way. “You are crying?” he finally said foolishly.

His question angered her. She sprang up from the ground violently. Her reaction was so sudden than Siddharth was startled into taking a step back.

“I am crying. Yes. I am crying,” she was clenching her teeth and fist in anger, “Is that a problem too, Mr. Siddharth Sen? You want to control even my crying?”

“But you never cry. I have never seen you crying. Or defeated,” Siddharth was more consumed by his curiosity than affected by her anger.

“I never cry before you. Nobody should ever cry before a man like you.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Karishma was incredulous, “Why? Did you ask that? That is the answer to your question. If someone cries before you, you do not think of comforting them. You wonder why you could not make them cry earlier. Right? Oh! Wait… Is this what it has all been about? You had wanted to see me cry? That’s what you had been waiting for?”

Siddharth was transfixed. He did not say a word.

“You are worse than disgusting,” Karishma continued, “You are not worthy of being called human. If I had it in me… If I had even slightest of your wonderful qualities in me, I would have made your life living hell. But I am not sure I can stoop to the level that can make a monster like you hurt. You seem very interested in my hurt and my tears. If it satisfies your ego, then you should know this. When you had me fired from my job, when you made be wait days to beg you for a job I should never have lost, when you literally kept me with you like a prisoner and a slave, when you insulted me – I felt all that humiliation. I was not immune to it. There was hardly a night when I did not cry myself to sleep. That’s what you had wanted? Then be satisfied that you had achieved it. Long back. The reason I could not back off or break down was that unlike you, I did not have the luxury to indulge my ego. Unfortunately, I could not even nurture my self-respect, because it was the question of little comforts my father could enjoy in his painful last days. That was my biggest and only concern, not you or your insults. Not even the fact that I could not meet him before his death because you wouldn’t release me from your prison. You made me dance to your tunes again – because I cared for the people who had employed me, who let put a roof over mine and my mother’s head, when you had closed all the doors for me in this industry you own. You are a clever man. Of course, your big, inflated ego already knows it. You had shown them the dreams and the only way to achieve that was for me to sacrifice my ego and self-respect again. And yes – you succeeded once again. In scaring me, in insulting me, in humiliating me. Are you at peace now? You got what you wanted? Why don’t you leave me alone at least now? For God’s sake, LEAVE!”

And he did leave!

—

“Where had you gone?” Siddharth asked anxiously when she came back after dropping her mother to the railway station the next day.

“What happened? You thought I had escaped your torture chamber?”

“I was worried. You weren’t picking up your phone,” he was almost meek. But Karishma wasn’t paying attention to that.

“News for you. Your wife is not going to take it all like a slave. I am not a helpless employee of yours. You might want to find your next muse to torture.”

“You had your lunch?”

“What new game is this now? Stop pretending to be a worried husband,” she walked away and locked herself in the room she had claimed for herself.

—

“Hi Ramesh. Come in. So nice of you to come here. I was getting bored crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s.”

“I have no clue what you are talking about,” Ramesh smiled back. She had asked him to be sent to her room, when a servant informed her about his arrival.

“Just a jargon. I was editing a manuscript.”

“Why would you do that?”

“My ex-employers agreed to let me work from here. This is my first assignment. You look surprised…”

“By now I should be used to getting surprises.”

“Hmm…” Karishma smiled sadly, “There is no surprise really. Me being here is just a continuation of the saga you know very well. Anyway. How did you manage to evade your work in the middle of a working day?”

“I am here on work Ma’am.”

“Ma’am? Come on! Don’t do that to me.”

“I thought its better to err on the conservative side. Anyway – boss wanted me to give these to you personally and come back with your signatures.”

“On what?”

“VISA application. These are your tickets for UK.”

“Huh?”

“For the shoot.”

“No wonder movies need such high budgets to make. Scriptwriters are expected to be on location?”

“Arr… I guess you should know better… This is personal…. Isn’t it?”

“Oh. Take them back then. I am not going.”

Ramesh looked apprehensive.

“Or leave them here,” she added sensing his discomfort, “I will deal with it myself.”

“No. If you want me to…”

“Ramesh. I don’t want you in this cross fire again. Let me fight it out.”

“I don’t know what sense to make of all this. But if I can still be of any help…”

“I know. You have always been nice to me. I can never forget that.”

“I will leave now. You are not signing the application?”

“No. But you must have some tea before leaving.”

“I had come just after my lunch. Not now. Please Karishma.”

“Okay.”

She threw the VISA application and tickets on his bed in the evening, “I am not going anywhere. The director has the script and he has already made a thousand changes to it.”

“The changes were necessary for…”

“Yeah. That’s not the point. I am not going,” she was still curt, but she did notice that he wasn’t being sarcastic or aggressive.

“It’s a good time of the year to go there. You could visit rest of the Europe too if we get the Schenghen VISA…”

“You enjoy that. I have work to do here,” she stormed out of the room.

—

To be continued

“Ramesh?”

“Hi Karishma. Why am I not surprised?”

“Thank God! This is still your number. I did not ask for your number last time we met.”

“Not your fault. You were not planning on calling me. Anyway, you can meet him right away.”

“How do you know…”

“I know everything he does Karishma, even if I don’t understand him. Don’t ask me what is going on.”

“I will come to the hotel right away.”

—

Karishma silently followed Ramesh to Siddharth’s suite. This meeting was not going to happen in the lobby.

Ramesh left them alone after ushering her in. The suite, as expected, was lavishness personified. Although it had a separate room to receive visitors, the meeting was happening in his bedroom.

“Karishma Gupta! What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?” his sarcasm was back.

“What do you want?”

“Oh! I want a lot of things. I’m not sure you can satisfy all my needs.” Karishma cringed at the obvious sexual allusion in the way he said “all my needs”.

“I have no interest in satisfying any of your needs. But what was the meaning of the charade in my office today?”

“What? Oh! That was business as usual. I am sure you know. Making movies based on the books is not a new thing.”

“And you didn’t tell them anything like I recommended the book or that I am writing the screenplay?”

“You have to get a foot in the door.”

Foot in the door indeed! Siddharth Sen would have difficulty getting a foot in the door of a struggling publishing house and would need her name to gain acceptance! But she wasn’t there to fight with him. She came back to her business. “So, you are indeed going to acquire the right for the book at the price you promised?”

“I should if all goes well.”

“And it has nothing to do with me writing the screenplay?”

“It has everything to do with you writing the screenplay?”

“What?”

“I had to tell them you were writing the screenplay. Your MD agreed that you were the best person to write the screenplay as you have edited the book.”

MD would agree to anything he thought Siddharth Sen would like to hear to sell those right.

“Why are you playing these games?”

“You know what Karishma. This publishing house desk seems to be killing the writer in you. Your vocabulary has become very limited. How many times have you uttered the same words ‘playing games’ since we have met? Anyway, I do business. I don’t play games. If a proposed deal doesn’t work out, I move on.”

“After giving high hopes to the owner of a struggling publishing house and then quashing those hopes?”

“Don’t blame me for that. If it happens, it will be your doing. And in fact, now that you are here, let’s end the suspense. Tell me if the deal is on or not.”

He had trapped her again. Of course, he won’t give her time. And once again, she did not have only herself to think of. She could not forget the elated faces of her boss – the chief editor and the MD. And how many times had they thanked her already.

“Can I work from here?”

“No. You work with me. From your old office.”

She hated that smirk.

“My mother is alone. She will shift with me. I won’t stay in your house.”

“You father…”

“..is dead.” Her voice was stony.

Siddharth just nodded; his face was expressionless.

“I will coordinate with Ramesh for the formalities and shifting,” she said curtly and walked out of the room.

There was no smirk on Siddharth Sen’s face. But Karishma assumed that it was there.

—

“What are you wearing for the press event tonight?” Siddharth asked Karishma. They were going to announce the movie she had been working on in a grand party thrown for press, cast and crew.

“Why should I be discussing that with you?” Karishma felt awkward, but tried to speak confidently, “I am not on the cast.”

“You are in the crew.”

“I see. Are you going around discussing the dresses of over hundred crew members for the party? No. I guess its only me who you need to boss around all the time.”

“I have asked a straight forward question,” he was annoyed.

“And I am not answering it.”

“Like hell you are.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you are going to the party with me and all the cameras will capture you too.”

“What?”

“I want to see your dress.”

“I am not going with you.”

“That is not for you to decide.”

Karishma got so annoyed that she threw away the bounded copy of script she was carrying on the ground and cried, “I am not going with you. What will you do?”

She felt his animalistic grip again as he pulled her and pinned her against the nearest wall, “You are going with me. And you do not want to know what I will do if you don’t. Now pick up the script, place it where it should be, call Natasha and ask her to deliver the dress I have selected for you.”

His grip left a mark on her wrists. It was so strong that the blood circulation had almost stopped beyond it. And there was something so dangerous in his eyes and Karishma got scared. What will he do, she tried to reason with herself. But her heart refused to be strong. He could do anything. He could rape her and still get away with it. He could even harm her mother and get away with it. That thought gave her goosebumps. She picked up the phone and called Natasha – the costume designer of the production house. Natasha came with a white saree, ready with the accessories, even shoes in couple of sizes as she wasn’t sure which one would fit her. A tailor had accompanied Natasha to adjust the blouse for Karishma.

—

“Smile, if you do not want nasty headlines in tomorrow’s tabloids,” Siddharth had told her before getting out of his car. She remembered grudgingly walking around by his side trying to smile and being offered a drink. And then… Everything was hazy. Where was she now? She looked around and was flabbergasted to find herself in that outhouse room she so hated. Why wasn’t she at home? She looked around and found that it was already twelve noon. She ran out of the room to find Siddharth walking towards her.

“Someone had spiked your drink,” he explained matter-of-factly, “Doesn’t look like you can hold much.”

“Why am I here? My mother will be worried…”

“She has been informed. Why don’t you go back to the room, freshen up and then we will talk.”

Karishma was feeling very angry, she did not like that he seemed to be control, but her mind was still very foggy, she had a headache and she was unable to think clearly. She went back and decided to freshen up.

“Let me drop you home,” Siddharth was still in the corridor when she came out.

Karishma was surprised. Since when did he become this chivalrous? That too for her.

“Not needed,” she replied curtly.

“I am dropping you home,” he replied. “And it is needed.”

Karishma sighed. She was tired and she spoke out her mind aloud, “I am tired… of you… of fighting you. It doesn’t make sense to me and still I am stuck in it. Why?”

He did not reply. She hadn’t expected him to reply. She followed him silently to his car. He asked her to tell driver the address. Bodyguards followed in a car behind them.

—

“Thank you,” she said when the car stopped in front of her apartment building and got out of the car. She was surprised when Siddharth also got out.

“Where are you doing?”

“To your home.”

“What? Why?”

“You need to learn to be a more polite host,” he replied and walked on with the air of a man who knew where he was going. Did he even know which flat she stayed in? She let him walk ahead and it turned out that he did indeed know. He walked up the stairs, instead of taking the elevator, and rang the bell of her flat. Karishma was looking around sheepishly as the few people who were around at that time did recognize who she was accompanying. Karishma did not meet their eyes to avoid answering any questions and the body guards made sure that the curious onlookers did not come in the way of the super-star.

Her mother’s eyes shone when she saw them at the door.

“Oh. Please, come in, come in. Karishma. Darling, are you all right? Siddharth told me that you had fallen sick after eating something. What did you eat?”

Karishma felt like her head was spinning. Her mother was so cool as if Siddharth coming to their home was not a big deal at all.

“What’s going on? When have the two of you met earlier?” she asked.

Her mother closed the door behind them and hugged her. “You are crazy dear,” she said, “Why were you scared of sharing it with me? Who can object to someone like him?”

“Scared of sharing what? Object to whom?”

“Come on, now. Siddharth told me everything this morning.”

“What? What have you told her?” she directed her question to Siddharth.

“I’m sorry Karishma. I know you wanted to give it time. But newspapers picked it up after yesterday’s party. And I thought it would upset Mrs. Gupta. So, it was better to come clean before her. So, I spoke to her the first thing in the morning.”

“Spoke about what?” she asked as she picked up the newspaper lying on the table nearby.

“About us getting married!”

Karishma slumped into the chair. She wasn’t sure what had shocked her more. What Siddharth said or what she saw in the newspaper. They had printed a complete love story there. Her working in the TV division, Siddharth having a crush on her, transferring her to work under him, their love story blossoming during that period, them having a lover’s tiff, her fleeing to Delhi, him following her and getting her back… And the photos of them in the previous evening’s party – her in a white saree and him in a black suit – was splashed all over the paper. One of them was of the time when she had fallen sick due to spiked drink and he was carrying her away with the help of his body guards.

“This is not true Ma. It’s rubbish,” she pleaded with her mother.

“I told you, I am not angry. You don’t need to be defensive. I would have preferred, if it wasn’t so public with all the spice media adds. But that is the part and parcel of the industry, right?”

Were those her own words or had Siddharth Sen hypnotized her mother?

“Look Karishma,” Siddharth spoke as if they had been discussing it since ever, “I know you didn’t want this and I had promised to you that things will not get out till you are ready. But someone leaked the stuff. If we try to deny it, more stories will crop up. Unnecessary scandal. It’s best that we just announce our engagement and wedding right away.”

Karishma looked from him to her mother unable to say anything. The more she wanted to get away from this man, the more he tightened his net around her. She felt like shouting at him and asking him to leave her alone. She was about to do that, when a different thought occurred to her. He was a shrewd man. If he wanted to make her life miserable, he would do it one way or the other. The thing about more scandal in media was not a statement, but a threat. If he wasn’t going to leave her alone, she could at least exact a revenge on him. And what better position to do it in than to be his wife. As an outsider, she would always be weak.

She smiled surprising Siddharth, who was getting ready with more ammunition to render her defenses or oppositions ineffective.

“Great! I never thought it would be so easy. As usual, I will let you figure out what to do and when. Right now I need to sleep. I still have a headache.”

She hugged her mother and walked to her room.

Siddharth looked after her. He wasn’t satisfied. Where did that sudden acceptance come from? She was supposed to fight and then get defeated.

—

To be continued

“Where were you?” he demanded. He was sitting on her bed, when she came back after a few hours from their last encounter. Both their eyes were red. His from drinking and hers from crying.

“That’s none of your business!” she had lost her meekness and it drove Siddharth mad.

“You live under my roof…”

“I won’t from now on…”

“Ramesh keeps his job,” his tone was suddenly reconciliatary, which was quite out-of-place in their otherwise fiery exchange.

“So what?” she opened her cupboard to take her clothes out.

“What are you doing?”

“Packing to leave.”

“Don’t you dare…”

“I am doing it and I would prefer some privacy.”

He became physical once again, as he grabbed her.

“You can not leave.”

“You can’t keep me here like a slave.”

“I will show you what I can do,” he dragged her away from the cupboard towards the bed.

“Let me go, Sir,” she cried.

He pushed her violently on the bed and before she could get away, he was on top of her. He covered her mouth and her cries got stifled. He was too strong for her, and despite her best efforts, she could not stop him as he literally tore clothes off her body. Then suddenly, when she had all but given up, he pulled back. He shot an angry glance at her and left.

Karishma cried piteously for several minutes, before she got up to pack and go home. To get a last glimpse of her father’s dead body. She had been away these last few hours making arrangement for her departure. She will not be coming back to these wretched people and this wretched city again. Her father had made his permanent arrangements now. He didn’t need her help, or her insurance cover! Ramesh had already informed her, and Siddharth had confirmed, that he kept his job. She had no reasons to regret leaving.

—

Three months later…

“Ramesh? What are you doing here?” Karishma was surprised to see Ramesh waiting when she came out of her office on a street in Daryaganj after finishing the day’s work.

“Running around publishers’ offices begging them to publish my book.”

“Huh?”

“I’m joking, of course.”

“Right. So, what brings you here?”

“I have come to meet you?”

Karishma responded with a hollow laughter, “You must be a sadist. Last time we were face to face, you had almost lost your much prized job. And you have come to meet me now.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do it, but its my job at stake again. Boss wants to meet you.”

“You are kidding me.”

“I am not. He is in Delhi.”

“Take him to see Qutub Minar, then. It is a good shooting location. What does he want by meeting me?”

“I don’t know. But you have to meet him once, for my sake.”

“I trust you Ramesh. Tell me honestly, what is going on?”

“I wish I knew. With you, his behaviour has always been odd. I can not figure anything out.”

“I don’t want to see his face again, Ramesh. Even if I got a chance to punish him for what he did… I do not want to see him.”

“Just once…”

“I couldn’t talk to my father before he died. All because of that maniac, who was treating me like a slave, a prisoner…”

“Sorry? You father…”

“Yes. The same day. And when I started to pack to come back after, he tried to…”

“I am sorry. I really am…”

“I know. To your credit, you are very humane despite working with…”

“I should leave now…”

“Hey. Let’s have a cup of tea at least…”

“He is waiting for me to come back,” his voice was tense and sad.

“Ramesh. Wait… Would me not going create trouble for you?”

“You know his tantrums well. I will handle, don’t worry…”

“No. Wait. I will come with you. Can’t see you in trouble again because of me.”

“Karishma. I…”

“Let’s go.”

—

“I’m not going to his room, Ramesh. If you have a problem, just ask the reception to call him and I will tell him that…”

“No. You wait in the coffee shop. I will talk to him…”

“I am fine in the lobby.”

“As you wish.”

—

Karishma did not look up from the magazine she had picked up when Siddharth Sen came to the lobby and sat across her on a sofa. His body-guards stood slightly away from them. Despite his large sunglasses, many people in the lobby recognized them. Several eyes turned their way. Some people even moved towards him, but were kept away by his body guards.

“It would be better to have some privacy,” he said.

Karishma did not react.

“How have you been?” he asked.

No reaction still.

“Why aren’t you replying?” he sounded annoyed.

“Have I been summoned for these small talks? In that case, I would like to make a move,” she replied curtly looking him directly in his eyes.

“You came away without telling me.”

“I am not explaining. Good Bye!” she got up to leave.

“Wait!” his voice was forceful and she did stop, “I have come to mend things.”

Karishma sat down and sighed. “Explain to me something Mr. Sen. Do you have any confusions about my identity? I am just a simple girl with a simple life. I am not an heiress. I am not an aspiring actress. I have no stature in the society or film industry. Why do you want to play any games with me? Broken or mended, why would any relationship with me matter to you? I am a nobody. A nobody, who didn’t take you to the court for attempted ra..” she chewed her words as she realized they were in a public place, “What can you gain by playing with my life? If you are doing it even for fun, do it with somebody who is at least an equal to you. Even for an ego-maniac, a sadist that you are, what fun can destroying a nobody’s life provide to you?”

Siddharth did not flare up as she had expected him to. He just stared at her with inscrutable expressions on his face.

“I think we are done here,” Karishma said after giving him a moment to react and then left. Siddharth also went back to his suite. He did not say or do anything, but his long strides told Ramesh that he was angry and agitated. Ramesh decided to use an old trick from his book.

“Boss.”

“Yes?”

“Anita is here.” she was his favourite escort in Delhi.

“Who asked her to come?” he demanded.

“I… I did… I thought…”

“Don’t do it again. Send her back.”

“R.. Right Boss.”

—

The narrow street to her office was jam-packed, a sight she had never seen before. She was already late. She did not stop to ask the reason or overhear the murmurs and just made her way to the office, assuming that the crowd was made up of onlookers of some road-rage fight. Then she spotted the car and the body-guards. And she realized that the body-guards were standing at the gate of her office, stopping crazy teenagers from entering the building.

She made her way to the gate, but was stopped by a bodyguard.

“Nobody is allowed to go in. He will come out and give autographs later,” he said curtly.

“I work here. I am not a fan of your boss,” she snapped.

“You id card, please.”

“I have never shown my id card to anyone in this office. Stop being a jerk and let me go.”

“No…” before he could complete, he was interrupted by his companion, who had been busy with another group of swooning fans till then.

“Let her go,” he murmured.

“You sure?”

“Yes!”

—

“Karishma!” her boss practically jumped at her when she entered the office, “You are good at keeping secrets, aren’t you?”

“What secrets?”

“Aww! The innocent girl. You never told us that you were doing screenplay for Siddharth Sen and that you had recommended adoption of one of our books.”

“I…”

“But it was a great surprise. MD is so elated. It seems Siddharth Sen has made a very good offer for the film rights of the book. We and the author will be rich. But of course, you will be richer. Working for Sen Motion Pictures. And not on a boring daily soap. The next block buster… Wow!”

Karishma walked to her desk without replying. More games? What did he want? And why did everyone around her have to become a part of his games as well. How would all these people feel when they would come to know that all of this is just Siddharth Sen’s way of getting back at her. And for what? Nobody knew. Why can’t he leave her alone?

—

To be continued

It had been two more days of wait before she was ushered into his office again.

“Ms. Karishma Gupta,” Siddharth faked such warm enthusiasm that Karishma cringed, “Please sit down.”

“Thank you, Sir,” she took a chair and sat on the edge.

“What a coincidence. My assistant was just telling me about this writer, who used to work for us in the Films division. Had once tried to pass off somebody else’s work as his own. When we caught him, he had the balls to tell us that he doesn’t care. He will get a job elsewhere. Now, we don’t want such people in the industry, do we? Your association has just banned him. Fair thing, don’t you think so?”

Karishma gulped. Was that a hint asking her to stop sending around her resumes? Not that she was getting any responses anyway.

“Don’t you think so?” Siddharth repeated his question, when she did not answer.

“Yes Sir,” her voice quivered.

“Of course. I knew you were intelligent. So, what were we to discuss?”

“My job, Sir.”

“Ah! Yes. I am so sorry. I completely forgot about it. May be we could discuss this tomorrow.”

“Sir. Nobody has been hired to replace me yet. If I could just get that job back…”

“I’m sorry Karishma. That is not possible. We’ll have to think of something else. Why are you in such a hurry?”

She had to try hard to not react to all the humiliation. But she managed to do it and replied without choking on her words, “My insurance will run out in a month, Sir. I need it for my father’s treatment.”

“Right, right… And its a pretty expensive treatment, isn’t it.”

Obviously he remembered, but he was enjoying torturing her.

“Yes Sir,” she replied meekly.

“Hmm… We must do something then. You father should not suffer. That would be very sad. Here is the thing. I need someone to manage my office at home. Be an admin cum assistant to me, you know. Only I work from there, so I don’t hire a full team of staff. My housekeeper is looking after it right now. But she doesn’t quite understand the professional settings. Would you like to take it up?”

Karishma sounded unsure.

“I know. This is not a position that will usually earn you the same salary as a daily soap writer. But let’s say we will maintain your salary. And your insurance, of course. You will be on the payroll for the same company.”

Karishma sighed. If a demotion was what was needed to keep her insurance and salary, so be it.

“Yes Sir. I would take it up.”

“That’s great. But yeah – I forgot to add a little detail.”

“Sir?” Karishma was apprehensive again. He was hell-bent upon making her life difficult!

“You will have to stay in servant quarters.” The way he said “servant quarters” made her flush with insult. He was showing her her position. Servant!! “It is – you see – not a 9-to-5 job,” he continued, “It is a 24/7 job. I work from there all the time. So, I may need you anytime.” ‘I may need you anytime’ was again said in way that made it sound like he was he was hiring a mistress. “And there are no promised holidays or vacations. You will have to get my approval if you need one.”

What was it? A slavery contract? She could go back to Delhi. Getting a job in a publishing house there won’t be difficult. Even her old employer would take her back. But… Papa’s treatment! Her hands were tied. And her tongue was tied too for a few moments.

“Yes?” Siddharth urged her to answer.

“Can… I… tell you tomorrow, Sir?”

“Of course, you can. But if my assistant has found someone else to do the job by then…”

The ego-maniac. Karishma had no clue what she was getting into. But… But there was no other way… And surely Siddharth Sen can not afford a scandal. If it does turn out to be something totally unacceptable, she could just leave.

“I accept it, Sir. When should I start?”

“Right away. Why don’t you wait outside. My assistant will help you with the formalities and also arrange to take you to your new workplace.”

“Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir,” Karishma mumbled and went out the office without waiting to see the smirk on Siddharth’s face.

—

“I hope you are comfortable,” Karishma was startled by sudden appearance of Siddharth as she was settling her stuff in.

“Y.. Yes Sir.”

“My assistant thought it was better for you to stay in the outhouse. My office is downstairs; so you will be easily accessible to me all the time.”

The writer in her always analyzed his choice of words. Ramesh was the name of his assistant. And he never referred to him by his name. It was always ‘my assistant’. And then the ‘easily accessible’ phrase. What was she? Some file? Some object that he wanted to be ‘easily accessible’.

What as happening to her? Within a week, her simple and straight-forward life had turned upside down. And right now she was pretty much at the mercy of this psychopathic man. She had always thought that such things did not happen in modern times. Apparently she was wrong. She had to get out of this mess. Finding another job in the same industry was not going to happen with Siddharth Sen being after her life. He might even get her banned by the association, as he had threatened indirectly. Going back to publishing industry was not going to earn her enough. She may have to go out of her comfort zone. Probably pick up a job at one of the call-centers. She had always looked down upon those jobs. Mindless – she had always called them. But desperate times call for desperate measures. A call-center job could not be worse than the situation she was in right now. Standing in the comfortable outhouse owned by the Siddharth Sen – and yet fearing when the ground below her feet would disappear.

“There are a bunch of scripts lying on my desk downstairs. All submitted by new writers. I need you to read through them and hand over the ones you think are good. I need it done by the nine in the morning.”

Relief and anxiety hit Karishma together. At last she won’t be mopping the floors of his office. Going through the script was a job she would be comfortable with. But did he say he needed it done by nine in the morning. She quickly looked at the huge clock on the wall. It was already half past ten at night.

“How many are there?”

“15-20 – I don’t know. Go check for yourself.”

After the day spent in waiting for him, bearing his humiliation, then shifting her stuff (as he won’t allow her even a day to do it later), she had to spend the night going through the scripts. Wonderful! He does intend to make is a 24/7 job, she rued. But at least, her health insurance was safe! Ramesh had told her that she hadn’t been officially fired from her last job. They had just ‘transferred’ her to a new position. So, there were no complications there.

—

Karishma was woken up by some noise right outside the office door. She realized that she had fallen asleep on the desk itself. She looked around and rushed into the attached bathroom to wash her face. She came out just as Siddharth was entering through the door. He looked at her curiously, but didn’t say anything. She also ignored the awkwardness of coming out of his bathroom, hastened towards the computer and fired a printout. He kept watching her silently, as she took the printout to him.

“This is a short assessment of each of those scripts…”

“I hadn’t asked for it.”

“I have sorted them in the order of quality – as far as I could judge. Three that I thought were good are in the separate pile.”

“I hadn’t asked for the report.”

“I just thought… it would be good to explain my assessment.”

“You look disoriented.”

“I… I had fallen asleep.”

“Come back in an hour.”

“Yes Sir.” Karishma was relieved. She needed time to freshen up.

—

“Where is my schedule for the day?” Siddharth barked as soon as she came back.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Who will know then?”

What all was she supposed to do here, she wondered. Didn’t he already have an assistant?

“I will call Ramesh and find out from him.”

“You are supposed to do it before I come.”

She just nodded and went to call Ramesh up.

“Why is he asking you for the schedule?” Ramesh was surprised.

“I have no clue, Ramesh. What’s going on?”

He sighed, “Never mind. I am sending you the e-mail. But I don’t know what is he doing there. All his meetings are here.”

—

“Shift the auditions and look tests here and cancel other meetings,” Siddharth said when she informed him of his schedule.

“There are some 50+ girls coming for auditions, Sir. Shifting at the last moment…”

“If they are not any smarter than you, if they don’t know what opportunity they have got, and if they are not willing to take that opportunity, that’s not my problem.”

Karishma had to bite her lips to stop herself from retorting. Ramesh was also annoyed when she told him about changes in the plans. But he had worked too long with Siddharth to question his decisions or moods. He roped in couple of more people and between them and Karishma, they managed to call all the girls and inform them about the change of venue. Karishma felt that most of them were excited by an invitation to come to his home. Ramesh with his practised patience canceled or rescheduled other meetings. Then he also came to Siddharth’s home and worked with the security to ensure smooth entry to the participants.

“What on earth is going on?” Diksha came to the outhouse office and was surprised at the commotion there.

“Auditions for the movie, Ma’am,” one of the staff informed her.

“Auditions? Here? Since when? Karishma?” she suddenly noticed her employee, “What are you doing here?”

“She is helping me run this office,” Siddharth came to the spot and saved Karishma from some embarrassing explanations.

“What the hell, Bro? You are poaching from your own company?”

“Let’s discuss this later, Diksha. You have just come back. You must be tired. Why don’t you go and take rest.”

“I think I need to go to the office and figure out what else have you turned upside down in my absence. And Karishma, we need to talk…”

“There is no need to talk,” Siddharth spoke in such fierce tone that it silenced even Diksha.

“All right. We’ll talk then,” she pointed towards Siddharth and herself, “And I am not staying here..” She left in a huff..
—

“I don’t understand you Karishma? You declined an offer to act with him and then you took up this job? Why would anyone do that?” Ramesh asked her. It had been a month of bearing Siddharth’s tantrums and she interacted a lot with Ramesh. They had developed good camaraderie.

“He is a jerk, isn’t he? Why do you work with him?” Karishma’s tone was so sharp that it startled Ramesh. But he responded calmly, “Several reasons. Pay is good. Over time, I have come to understand how to work with him. So, it isn’t that bad. And if you want to be in this industry, you don’t antagonize Siddharth Sen.”

“Right!”

“Right? So, which of these is your reason?”

“None. I have already antagonized him and this is my punishment, not choice.”

“How did you manage to antagonize him? Sure – you are no stranger to the industry?”

“I couldn’t have imagined in my worst nightmare that refusing to act would be such a blow to his ego.”

“He is so mad at you because you refused to act?”

“You sound surprised. I thought you have known him for so long…”

“I have seen him crush his rivals, the way his father would never have dreamt of doing. I have seen him… sorry to say… but exploit the girls desperate to act. But trying to crush someone who is…” Ramesh stopped as he realized he didn’t have a good word in mind. But Karishma completed it for him, “who is a nobody.”

“Well. Yeah. That is too odd even for him.”

“I also never imagined that someone of his stature… But I guess pettiness has nothing to do with your stature… It’s in you…”

“What’s your plan, then?”

Her face clouded at that.

“My plan? I am… probably waiting… for my father to die…” she choked.

“Hey… Karishma… Stop crying. What is it?”

“I am not in love with this industry Ramesh. I would love to go back to my desk in a publishing house. But I can’t manage to lose insurance cover for even a day. My father is fatally ill and is undergoing expensive treatment. I am scared of stepping out of Boss’ sight even for another job interview. What if I don’t get that job and he carries out his threat of firing me again. To make sure my father is being treated, I can’t take even a day off to go see him in Delhi. Because I am at the mercy of the great Siddharth Sen. I…”

She lost all strength and leaned on him. Ramesh hugged her lightly to comfort her.

“Ramesh!!” They separated startled on hearing Siddharth shout, “Leave now!”

“Boss…” Ramesh was tongue-tied. What was his boss thinking and whatever he thought, why should he get angry?

“You are fired!” Siddharth declared menacingly and walked away.

Karishma glanced quickly at a flabbergasted Ramesh and ran after Siddharth.

“You can’t do that!” she grumbled.

“Yeah? Since when did it become your call what I can or can not do?”

“If he goes, I go too,” she said not knowing if it was a threat at all.

“I see. Someone is not bothered about her father…”

“My father would never want to be treated at the cost of an honest man losing his job…”

“Sure. And I am so worried about you leaving, right?” Siddharth was sarcastic.

“Once I leave Mr. Siddharth Sen, I have no reasons to be discreet. Media would love to gobble up controversial stories about you. How you treat your employees would be for everyone to know. A lawsuit or two won’t hurt either…”

All his sophisticated sarcasm went away. He pulled her harshly and pinned her against a wall. With an animalistic anger and threat in his demeanour, he growled, “Don’t you dare threaten me. You have no idea what I can do.”

His physical attack on her visibly shook her and she could not utter a word as he walked away. She went back to where she had left Ramesh. But he was no longer there. Just then her mobile rang. The call was from her home.

—

To be continued

As if all the annoyance she was already feeling was not enough, she had to wait for over an hour before Siddharth finally met her.

“What’s your problem, Karishma?” he asked as soon as she entered his office.

“Why are you asking me that? I don’t have a problem. Your casting team seems to have one though. They think you have recommended me for the look test…”

“They are right.”

Karishma took a deep breath to control her irritation. She tried to speak calmly, “You probably don’t remember me. I am not an actress; I am a writer…”

“I know who you are. I don’t waste time on people I don’t want to meet…”

“Excuse me?”

“I asked them to call you for look test. Let’s do it right away…”

“Hang on. When have you seen me act?”

“I haven’t and I don’t care. I can teach you enough acting…”

“Sir. With due respect, I have no aspirations to act.”

Siddharth laughed condescendingly, “I can understand. You are too shocked right now. And probably nervous. Come back tomorrow.”

Karishma lost her temper at that. “This is heights of presumption. I am not coming back and you don’t understand a thing. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Can I leave now?”

Siddharth looked at her curiously, “Yes, you can. But you will come back.”

Karishma did not reply and stormed out of his office.

—

“Where are you Karishma? How come not in the office?” Mou called her the next morning.

“I… I am at the CCD.”

“What’s wrong? Your voice is…”

“Can you come here for a few minutes Mou? Please.”

“Yeah sure. You stay there. I won’t take more than five minutes.”

—

“Fired? You are fired? Why? When?” Mou was aghast when Karishma told her why she wasn’t in the office.

“HR manager asked me to come early to the office today. And he just said… supposedly for performance reason.”

“Performance reason? Who decided that? Diksha Ma’am is not here. Ritesh Sir is not here.”

“I asked him that too. But he won’t offer any explanation. I begged him to let me talk to Ritesh Sir. To wait for his return. But nothing worked… He escorted me as I collected my stuff and went out of the building. What is going on?”

“I can not imagine… Performance reason? Seriously? Your episodes are getting the highest TRPs. What the hell is going on… Hey. What happened yesterday at Sid Sir’s office?”

Karishma got tears in her eyes as she recalled the last evening. She told Mou about her encounter with Siddharth in brief.

“He got you fired because you refused to take a look test?” Mou asked.

“I don’t know Mou. I can not imagine somebody of his stature stooping to this level. I mean… I am a nobody. Why should he even bother?”

“He is known to be egoistic.”

“I… I tried my best to be polite. What should I do? Mou – the worst thing is the way they have done it. Performance reasons? How will I even get another job. And you know about Papa’s health… Health insurance is gone. Even if I get a contract job or something, where will I…”

“Hey. Look – I know it is unfair. But if Sid Sir is behind this, you could try apologizing to him…”

“You think that will help?”

“Worth a try. If you don’t mind…”

“I don’t mind anything right now. I need my job and that insurance…”

“Then do it.”

—

Karishma tried taking an appointment with Siddharth on phone. But his assistant won’t give her one.

“I suggest you come here and wait for him. If he has time between meetings and shoots, he would probably meet you. There is no way I can fit an appointment in the calendar for you.”

She waited in his office from morning till evening for next three days. She had been given one month’s salary and her health cover was also available in that period. But she needed to do something about it before that period ran out. The expensive treatment her father was going through would not be possible without the health insurance. That was the reason she had taken up a full-time job writing for a daily soap, rather than trying some more interesting work which won’t give the same security of income and benefits.

Finally on the fourth day, she was called in his office.

“Ah! Who do I see here? Ms. Karishma Gupta? I thought you weren’t coming back.”

His taunt was not lost on her. But humiliation is not what worried her the most at that moment.

“Sir. I…”

“Yea Ma’am? How can I help you?”

“I am really sorry if I hurt you with my behavior the other day…”

“Hurt me? You think you have the power to hurt me? Heights of presumption, I must say…”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way… It’s just… Probably I wasn’t polite. I’m really sorry for that. What you had offered was… obviously… an extra-ordinary opportunity…”

“It’s gone now.”

“I know… I just… Sir. My father is seriously ill and is undergoing treatment. I need my job and health insurance to cover the bills. I apologize to you for my misbehaviour. But please don’t make my father suffer because of that. Please give me my job back. I will do anything…”

“I’m afraid that is gone too.”

Karishma bit her lips to prevent herself from crying as well as shouting in anger, “Sir. I am ready for any punishment. But this job…”

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow and we can discuss your options.”

“Y… Yes Sir. What time should I come?”

“Looks like you are already very busy…”

“N… No Sir. I will come here and wait for you.”

“Great. Now, excuse me.”

—

To be continued

Author’s Note: This is not a fan fiction. Characters are different, but you should be able to spot the inspiration from GHSP and MB-EIEJ. 🙂

—

“It can not be a coincidence,” Siddharth Sen spoke out aloud while watching last week’s recorded episodes of his production house’s serial, “Does Ritesh get creative every third week?” An idea struck him and he saw the credits of all the episodes for the week. Then he took out some more DVDs from a cupboard and checked the credits for the episodes on them too. Then he called Diksha, his sister.

“Yes Bro! Hold your complaints about the serial, okay? I’m pretty sure our ratings are going to skyrocket this week,” she said even before he had the chance to say hello.

“Ritesh doesn’t write all our episodes?” he asked her.

“He is the story and script writer.”

“That’s not the answer. I see another name being credited in each episode and it keeps changing every week.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Why do we do that? That’s the reason the story keeps going here and there.”

“Bro. We are producing twenty-two minutes of content, five days a week. Do you think it is possible for a mortal human to write all that content given our deadlines? We do not have the luxury you have in making films. One person just can not do it. But Ritesh supervises everyone who is writing, gives the overall direction to the story and personally approves the story and screenplay.”

“How many people, sub-writers should I say, does he employ?”

“Three.”

“And they take turns in writing the story for a week each?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. Bye.”

“You are not going to say anything to Ritesh, are you?” Diksha was worried.

“Of course not. This is your project. You know I won’t interfere.”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t mean I condone creating the sub-standard content that we are creating with the serial.”

“Not again, Bro.”

“Right. Bye.”

Siddharth sighed after disconnecting the call. He had inherited Sen Motion Pictures from their father Goutam Sen and had carried on the legacy left by their father very well. They produced movies – mass-market romance and action as well as those catering to the now emerging “multiplex market”. Siddharth himself had emerged as a super-star in the industry acting in his own production house’s as well as other movies. Even at 38, his popularity was not going down. And then Diksha had come up with the idea of making TV serials. He hadn’t been comfortable with the idea, but her logic could not be defied. TV was big, risk was shared with the channel. Unlike the super-hit or super-flop economics of movies, producing serials meant continuous, assured income.

“And TV serials connect with an audience, even your mass-market movies do not connect to!” she had an argument beyond economics. It was decided that she would run the show there and he had to leave it at that. He had a weakness for her. Fourteen years younger to him, she was already a sharp woman of business. But for him, she was a kid sister. Despite sticking to his word about not interfering with her project, he did keep an eye on her all the time. It was not possible to watch the episodes as they aired. But he made it a point to record them and watch them later. He hated the content. He never watched any other serials. But there was a pattern he could not miss. Every third week the screenplay and dialogs were better. They showed a touch of realism otherwise completely absent. The characters became tolerable and the writing showed a glimmer of brilliance – something that wasn’t destroyed even by the constraints of writing for a daily soap. Earlier he used to complain about the inconsistency of the characters, but Diksha knew her business. She wasn’t worried about his snob-stand.

“My audience is happy and is lapping it up. It is already number 3 across all channels on the TRP chart. And we will be number 1 soon,” she would say.

He still continued to watch and whine – to himself when she wouldn’t listen. Until he noticed the pattern that every third week, he actually liked something about the show. Soon he had pin-pointed it to the screenplay and dialogs. After going through the credits that day and talking to Diksha about the multiple writer, he knew what, rather who, made the serial watchable every third week.

—

“Madame Karishma Gupta. Is you screenplay ready? We need to send it to the channel for approval.”

“Give me two more hours Mou…”

“Ms. Perfectionist. I am sorry. I can’t. I know you have a version finalized and you are working on making it better. But babes – we don’t have time for that. No. Really. But I assure you – someday you will write for a movie of Sen Motion Pictures and then you will have all the freedom to perfect your art.”

“Right. I will write for Sen Motion Pictures – why not? You have the connections you will use for me, won’t you?” Karishma smiled as she mailed her the last version of her screenplay. The improvements she was working on will go as a fan fiction on her anonymous blog as usual.

“Some day Babes. Some day, I would be acting – what I am made for. And not running around doing administrative work. And I will be paired opposite one and only one – Siddharth ‘Sid’ Sen. Wait and watch.”

“Of course, I am waiting. How else will I get my big writing break, if not by writing for your debut movie.”

Karishma and Mou shared a friendly laughter and Mou went back to her work. But she was back within next five minutes.

“Oh God! Dear perfectionist. What would it take for you to keep your desk also perfect, and clean, for a change?”

“What happened?”

“Sky has fallen. Sid Sir is coming to the office.”

“So? He must be coming to meet Diksha Ma’am.”

“Diksha Ma’am is in Paris. Her assistant is going helter-skelter ever since the call has come.”

“So, are you I see.”

“Of course, I am. Apparently he wants to see the office, meet the staff…”

“Oh God!” Sudhakar, another writer on the team sitting in the cubicle next to Karishma’s, exclaimed, “I have heard that he always complains about the story and screenplay. What if…”

“Chill Sudhakar,” Karishma spoke calmly, “Ritesh Sir is not here either. He won’t bother meeting us. And Mou – Calm down. What do you want us to do? Clean up our desks, right? Consider it done. I’m sure he is not going to check the coffee machines in the office.” Everyone laughed at that. The coffee machine had not been working for at least a week.

“Yes. Yes. It’s my fault, isn’t it, if the office budget allowed purchase of this pathetic brand only. And if the service calls are not being answered…”

“Relax Mou. We are only pulling your legs. Go out. Receive him. Nothing will happen… If anything, he might find the heroine for his next venture as soon as he looks at you.”

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Hope what you are saying is true.”

Karishma shook her head smiling as Mou went away still looking quite worked up.

But Mou was back again after ten minutes, “He wants to meet the writers.”

“No!” exclaimed Karishma and Sudhakar in chorus.

“Yes!” Mou mimicked their tone, “Come with me quickly.”

“But Ritesh Sir is not here.”

“He knows that.”

“Even George hasn’t come in today,” Karishma mentioned the third member of the team.

“Yes. That leaves just the two of you. Save our jobs please.”

“Shut up, Mou,” Karishma ridiculed Mou’s idea that it had anything to do with their jobs or the future of the serial, but she was also quite nervous about the idea of meeting Siddharth Sen – the Siddharth Sen – that too in absence of Ritesh as well as Diksha.

—

“He has left? Already?” Mou was flustered.

Sudhakar and Karishma nodded, both looking quite confused.

“What did he talk to you guys?” Mou asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“He basically asked things that we write in the first page of our resumes. Where we have studied and worked, where we live, and funnily enough about our families,” Sudhakar offered the explanation.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it!” Karishma said, looking annoyed with all the fuss, “These rich, bosses are like that. Doesn’t Diksha Ma’am get fits once in a while, screaming crazily and asking for random things? Like sister, like brother I guess. He unnecessarily upset the entire office. Let’s go and do our work. Cleaning the desk, my foot!”

—

The afternoon was crazier for Karishma.She received a call asking her to come for a look test that night.

“Look test? Look there is some confusion. I am not an actress. And I have not applied anywhere.”

“But Ma’am I have all your details here. And…”

“Where are you calling from?”

“Sen Motion Pictures…”

“Right. I am an employee in the TV division. But I am a writer, not an actress. There is some confusion. Now, please let me concentrate on my work and you call the right people.”

But her phone rang again after ten minutes. It was the boss of the woman who had called earlier asking if she can come the next day.

“I am not coming ever. Look – I already told you. I have not given any auditions. There is some confusion. You are probably looking for some other Karishma Gupta.”

“Ma’am. You have a very good chance of getting this role. You have Sid Sir’s recommendation.”

“Sid Sir’s recommendation? I have never met him. Well – I mean…” she hesitated for a moment as she recalled that morning’s meeting. But surely that had nothing to do with her acting, “Okay. I met him very briefly this morning. But it had nothing to do with acting. He is a busy man, isn’t he? He must have confused my name with someone else. Now, please excuse me and concentrate on finding the right person.”

“Karishmaaaaa….” It was Mou back to her desk fifteen minutes later.

“What the hell is wrong with the world today? Will anyone let me work? I need to read the story Mou…”

“No time darling. Sid Sir’s office had called. You have to meet him in forty-five minutes.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“This is getting crazier.”

“Crazier? So something crazy has already happened? What’s going on babes?”

“I will tell you once I know. Right now I am out of my mind. How the hell am I supposed to reach the other end of the city in forty-five minutes?”

“Take a train.”

“I hate trains. Why do you think I am paying so much to stay close to office?”

“It won’t be crowded at this hour. You can take a taxi while coming back. But please reach there in time. I shouldn’t get blamed for not telling you in time.”

“God! Now you are going to go all bureaucratic on me.”

“What to do with people who are favourite with bosses?”

“I am favourite with nobody. Anyway – I will go and end this madness.”

“What is the madness?”

“Somebody seems to think that I should become an actress.”

“What… Karishma…”

But Karishma had picked up her purse and had run out before a baffled Mou could ask her anything.

—

(To be continued)