Filter Coffee

Chapter 4

The air was thick with boredom as the meeting went on its own slow pace. Everyone were dozing off and mastering the art of sleeping with their eyes open while their fellow team members were presenting their presentations.

“Would you check her out?” Armaan said, pointing at the girl who was giving the presentation, with his chin.

“For god's sake, you're married.” Varun whispered, reminding his friend for the nth time that he is putting a toe out of line.

“What's wrong with seeing?” Armaan protested as if he was being reasonable.

“That's not seeing. That's ogling Armaan!” Varun whispered a bit too loud enough for the team manager to hear.

“What was that Varun? You have anything to suggest to Pallavi?” The manager asked genuinely. Pallavi was giving the presentation and was interrupted by Paul, their Manager.

“Ummm. As a matter of fact, yes Paul. I'm sure Pallavi means well, but the risk associated with this particular kind of design is too high and as a leading game developer, I can already forecast the impact this will make on the market. The idea is fresh and lively though. I mean, who wouldn't want to play god and manage a little town of happy villagers? The innovation is there, but I'm sure there are others in the market who're doing better with a pet spa or an addictive Burger-maker saga. I'm sorry but this is a bit too far-fetched for me.” Varun said without batting an eyelid.

“Excuse me, but the time-management games rule the gaming world now. They're more challenging and preferable to the other ones. Why'd you think our previous projects like Dali’s Salon and Santa's factory reached high milestones in the market?” Pallavi argued back.

“Yeah but they were also forgotten, weren't they?” Varun questioned.

“What do you mean forgotten? People still play and we're also taking care of regular updates.” Pallavi said. 

“But wouldn't I be accurate if I said that the updates and downloads have reduced drastically? ” Varun questioned dramatically.

“You would be. Yes.” Paul said, with a decisive nod.

“So yeah. There you go.” Varun said, conclusively. 

“Ummm. Well in that case, this is the only idea I have and I don't see any point in continuing this. Thank you everyone for your time.” Pallavi said and sat down with a thump and drunk some water.

“Thanks Pallavi, and Armaan, would you like to go next?” Their manager Paul asked.

“Errrr...”

“What’s it this week?” Paul questioned in a boring tone.

“Paul... Errr.. My neighbour's kid broke my laptop and I wasn't able to prepare the..  ummm... presentation. I promise I'll put up something brilliant next week.”

“Its three weeks since you said that.” Paul said impatiently.

“Errr.. Yes Paul.. ummm.. Sorry Paul.” Armaan stammered.

“If only had you used 10% of your skills of coming up with excuses, instead on project ideas, you could've come up with a million dollar valued game idea Armaan.”  Paul barked and moved on to the next person, while everyone laughed.

“How did you do that?” Armaan whispered frantically to Varun.

“Do what?” Varun whispered back meticulously this time.

“I didn't know you were paying attention to her, let alone find faults with her points man.” Armaan accused.

“Well, errrr unlike you, I was paying attention to what she was saying.” Varun stated as a matter of fact.