02. Rose and Thorn - Sandhya
Subha bit her teeth and tried to control her anger.
But Baskar did not care about that.
“What are you waiting for? I am going to start my dictation, take the notepad…” he ordered…
“Before I do this for you, I want to know how I can trust you…”
“Trust???? I don’t want you to trust me, either do what I say or get lost from here…”
“That’s exactly what I doubt… You can ask me to get out after I complete your task… This is your office and no one will support me… So how can I trust that you will talk to me after I complete the work?”
Baskar looked at her for a second….
“Ok, tell me what you want to say now… I will give you five minutes… That’s the best I can do…”
“That’s perfect….”
“Great! Your time starts now….”
“As you know Jaya ma’am is running the orphanage on her own… There are more than fifty children. It is not easy to care for them… “
“Then ask her to close the home….” Interrupted Baskar.
“But then please think about the kids… They are very small…. Where will they go?
“I don’t care! Let them go wherever they want to go… I don’t like this concept of home, orphanage etc… People commit mistakes and then escape from the consequences just because we have places like those…”
“You are correct in a way… But please think about the kids, what mistake did they do??? If you pressurize for the money, then no one can save them…”
“I told you I don’t care…!”
“Then please give some time atleast…. Please don’t file the police complaint now…”
“Time??? How much time? one day??? One week? One month or say one year???”
Subha couldn’t reply immediately…
Baskar was quite for a few seconds…
“Do you know how much money she owes me?”
“No…. No….. Sir….” Stammered Subha.
“I guessed so! If you are into something you should know all the facts… But I know I can’t expect it from girls like you…”
“But sir they are poor kids…. Please give them some time….”
“Your five minutes is up…. Let’s start with my dictation now…”
“But…..”
“No buts…. I will give you my reply after you finish my task… Now take the notepad…”
Subha bit her lips and took the notepad and pencil.
Baskar didn’t even ask her to sit down... He just started dictating the letter.
After a few minutes, when he was done with the dictation, Baskar turned to Sarathy and said,
“Sarathy, help her to get it done… We need to send the quote today by all means…”
“Ok sir” said Sarathy and took Subha with him.
Sarathy showed the PC to Subha. As she started typing,
“You came here at the wrong time my child….” said Sarathy with a soothing smile.
“No sir, I don’t think so” replied Subha continuing with her work.
“Really?”
“Yes… I guess in a normal day, he would have asked me to leave immediately. Now he atleast listened to what I had to say…”
“That is true but still I wouldn’t say he listened… It’s possible he pretended to do so to get his work done…. He thinks about nothing but himself and his work…”
“May be that’s why he owns this company….”
“Right and I work for him…”
Subha smiled and continued to type…
“You are an intelligent girl…. The steno we had was also a nice girl. He bullied her and left her with no choice but to quit…”
“I see…”
“Yes, a poor girl…. She used to cry every time she came out of his room… he always found fault with her… For that case he does that with everyone… huh….”
“It’s tough working here, then….”
“Yes, very tough!”
“I am happy I am not stuck somewhere like this… I am done with the letter sir… Can we take the print out?”
“Yes sure.”
Sarathy knocked Baskar’s door and waited till he heard the roaring ‘come in…’
Subha also followed Sarathy into Baskar’s office.
“Sir, here’s the letter. If you could validate and sign it, I will send it right away…”
Baskar took the letter and verified it carefully.
“Looks fine Sarathy! Send it now…”
Sarathy got the letter and left the room. Subha stood their quietly…
Few seconds passed and Baskar didn’t say anything…
She gathered courage and in a soft voice said,
“Excuse me sir, you said you will reply after I am done with the letter….”
Baskar looked at her keenly…