Comedy of Confusions

7. Krish : All for One's Bread

"One favor Katy" Krish drew a long breath. "Not related to work though" Krish spelled out slowly.

"I need you to get the recipe for my sandwich from Joe"

"Recipe? From Joe?" the voice on the other end was full of surprise.

"Yep. Food here is poison."  There was disgust in his voice.

"You are in INDIA and everyone loves Indian food!" Katy laughed.

"Indian food is poison, Indian food in India is radioactive poison."

"Nooo.. Indian food is soooooo good" Katy made it sound like a song.

"Sure, you can eat all the Indian food you love. For now, show some mercy on my poor gut and get the blasted recipe from Joe." Krish sounded utterly pissed.

"Delhi belly?" Katy continued curiously.

"Every day"

"All of the past 7 days?"  Katy dug in for details.

"Six actually, I did not eat anything the day I started." Krish reported as a matter of fact, as if that one day made a significant difference.

Katy giggled on the other end of the phone line.  "But you are an Indian guy!  I thought you'd hold up better."

"Trust me, if food were a measure, you are more Indian than I will ever be, notwithstanding by brown skin. In fact my brown skin is a liability here. I order food asking them to keep it low on spice, yet they make it all radioactive spicy." Krish cribbed.

"Spice is nice.. Yum! I am getting chicken tikka masala from the Indian takeout tonight. I wish I could travel to India"  Katy sounded like she was already missing Indian food.

"I WISH you could come here instead of me and take care of this mess." Krish had to hurry up  "Got to run now, don't forget the recipe."

"Yep will do it." Katy assured him.

"Thanks Katy. appreciate it". He hung up to someone knocking at his door. "Yes" He answered indifferently.

"I sent you an email earlier about the wireframes." he heard the wild child of a tall, chubby short haired girl. "I did not receive a response."

"Ah..right." Krish took a deep breath and looked away. He did not particularly enjoy his interaction with this particular wild child.  "I am available 8.30-10. Get the team. We will brainstorm"

"8.30? That is half an hour from now." Minax almost panicked.

"Yes " Krish said as if it was the most natural thing. But the wild child of the girl did not move.

"Most people arrive at work only after 9 AM" She spoke carefully.

"How so? Nandini used to be here early." Krish continued, slightly vexed.

"So am I." Minax retorted without missing the beat, making Krish look at her for the first time, briefly, before diving back to his screen. "Mani lives an hour and half away. Priya takes the bus. They both get caught in peak traffic."

"You somehow beat peak traffic" Krish could barely hide his sarcasm.

"I live close by." Minax barely gave him a second to process the information "Will noon work for you?"

"Nope. call with the marketing team might spill over. 2 PM."

"2 PM is lunch.." Minax held her tongue. "2 PM it is." She mumbled and scooted, closing the door behind her as if she was unwilling to extend the conversation more than was absolutely required.