THE NEIGHBOURHOOD ROMANCE

Chapter 3

Chapter – 3

            Pakhi woke up late and saw there were ten missed calls on her cell phone. Two from her prince charming Samrat, three from her office and five from Tina. She quickly got ready and left for her regular working day. She was so damn late that she didn’t have the time to answer the missed calls. Samrat was very understanding; the perfect man for her, Tina was her best friend so she could get back to them later. So she concentrated on reaching her office quickly.

She arrived in her office at 10:30am. The ten years old drama company Romantic Veil was founded by Krishna Bose, who himself was a dreamer. The company was slowly gaining a large number of viewers and supporters. From the day Pakhi’s first play was enacted, Romantic Veil became more famous among the youngsters. And now when each and every show of Pakhi’s drama went a big hit, she became her boss’s favourite. More and more new performers were joining the drama club. But the passionate romantic writer had never ever performed on stage herself. She guided the performers, made them practice every day to bring out the best, yet she herself had a stage fright. Krishna always said, “One day my child you will be on that stage. And when you will perform, you will understand that those dialogues of yours have a much deeper meaning than what you write.  And when you will utter those dialogues on stage with the same feeling as you write them, my dear that will be the day when you would have fallen in love!” And Pakhi smiled and said, “Well, falling in love has been my dream from childhood. But me, on stage? That day, boss, will never come.” “Never say never, my child.” Krishna assured in a poetic style.

The office of Romantic Veil was a two storey white and yellow building, with a big sign on the gate that had their Drama club’s name written in red with a black background. It was designed by Krishna’s wife Sruti who was also the stage designer of Romantic Veil. A security guard sitting at the entrance saluted her. The ground floor had three offices, one storeroom, and a recording studio. One office belonged to her and her team mates. One was Krishna’s that also had a desk for his secretary Vikram, and another office was occupied by Sruti and her designing team. The first floor had a very small auditorium that is used sometimes as rehearsal hall, two green rooms to keep materials needed for the drama, and an audition room, and a small cafe was on the terrace.

Before going to her office she always paid a visit to Krishna. As she entered his office Vikram informed that Krishna was in the audition room. Pakhi walked into the audition room and saw her boss taking auditions for the new drama. She sat beside him and said, “So any luck?”

“Well, till now I have got the other characters but I think for the leads we have to ask our member actors.”

“Hmm. That’s ok. It will save the rehearsal time.”

“That reminds me, what about the new script you and your team are working on?”

“Boss, you have to change your habit of asking for my script every time before the deadline!” Krishna smiled and said, “What to do Pakhi? I can’t wait to read your stories.” “Is it you or your sweet daughter?” Pakhi asked grinning. Krishna chuckled, “can’t deny that. My daughter is your biggest fan after all.” Their small talk was interrupted by Raghav who popped his head from the door, “Umm Boss sorry to disturb but we need Pakhi in the office.” Pakhi left with a quick bye to her boss.

            Pakhi’s office was decorated by her team. So pictures of their favourite writers, actors and actresses admired one wall. Another wall had a big picture of their entire team of Romantic Veil. A big round table was situated in the middle of the room. Three computers lined up in front of the window.  And a cupboard full of books was situated in one corner. Generally the atmosphere of her office was always filled with new ideas, romantic music, Gourav’s PJs, Ira’s flirtatious comments towards Raghav, poems and definitely Bollywood dialogues. But today everything seemed very dull and boring. Astha, who was generally a very calm girl was pacing and biting her nails. Ira was the ever bubbly member of the team, but was reading a novel very quietly. Gourav was searching something in the cupboard; faced her as she entered. Raghav was standing beside her. Pakhi frowned, “What’s going on? I saw Boss in a very happy mood, so I am sure there is no bad news for us then why are you all looking so pale today?”