Afternoons with Arati

Afternoon 1

I never expected my life would take such a turn. At least not on that Wednesday afternoon on which I walked into the finance department of Alpine Software Tech. to collect my cheque for the last month's consulting retainer. They paid handsomely and a smile emerged on my face as I looked at the five figure cheque. As I opened the door with one hand, a whiff of fragrance hit my soul and almost tore it into two. I stood there, still, yet to come to terms with what hit me when I saw Arati for the first time. 

"Excuse me," she said as an intense smile emerged on her face. I was too moved to make a move. My heart raced as I began to contemplate my next move. Words wouldn't come out of my mouth. The fragrance from her hair that she had let loose engulfed me as I felt momentarily enslaved by her eyes. Those were the best two seconds of my life, I thought. Just then, the door opened again and we had to move. 

"I'm sorry," I said and made way for her. She thanked me with a nod and left. The way her green dupatta carefully hung over her shoulder was quite an indicator of the way she carried herself. Her walking away from me, was the most disappointing thing I had experienced in quite some time. Just then, the door opened again, and Swarna, assistant finance manager walked out and said, "Arati!"

She turned around, as her dupatta swayed again and she walked back toward Swarna. I felt a nerve slit inside me as she walked toward me. The weaponized mellifluousness in her voice was going to tear my soul into two in the next one minute. 

"Collect your cheque before leaving!" she said to her. 

"Oh, sure. Thanks for letting me know," said Arati.

"Oh, and the other day you said you were looking for a writer for your editing jobs, right? Meet Deepak. He's our magazine editor and does all our content work. He might be the person you're looking for," said Swarna and turned toward me. 

"Hi," I said as I welcomed the blessing in the disguise of Swarna. 

"Hi," said Arati as Swarna left the scene. 

"Shall we walk?" she said as  I felt her fragrance on my soul again. 

"Sure," I said and we began to walk together. 

"I'm Arati," she said and shook her hand with me. Her thin fingers touched my rough hands and it soothed me. Her hands were moist, and cold. I could smell her perfume now. She had put on something mild. I couldn't tell which one, but it seemed fairly expensive. She had worn very classy earrings which didn't hang too low, but glittered. Strands of her thick long hair covered her head and face from the sides. A fine bindi graced her forehead and a mole sat on her cheek, much like a beauty spot on her moon-like face. 

"I'm Deepak," I said as we kept walking, toward the parking lot. 

"So, I consult here for their internal processes, especially HR and I've been looking for someone who can help me structure the prose in their employee handbook and the other manuals that we're planning to come up with. Would you be interested in working with me?" she said. 

"Sure, but would you like to see my work first, before offering me?" I asked hesitantly. 

"Oh I've read the magazine. I know you write well," she said. 

"Oh, thank you. But I just organize and edit," I said. 

"Not really. I know that no one here is capable of using some of the words," she said. 

I took that as a compliment and didn't want to say anything. Especially, I didn't want to reveal to her that I was the Managing Director's ghost writer in the first meeting itself.