Once Upon a University Campus

What is cooking?

"What in the world is he doing here, at this hour"  Annika could not believe her eyes. Mr Outsider standing right outside the university main gate. Now that he had spotted her, there was no going back. She walked across the road to greet him.

"Good Morning Mr Oberoi ? "

"Good Morning Ms Trivedi, shall we start?"

Annika was puzzled.

"You wanted to start your day early? Didn't you? So let's start", he repeated

Annika still continued to gape at him.

"Why do you look so surprised Ms Trivedi. I am not as Zaalim as you think. When I need things to get done, I go all in. I do not know any other way. Right now I need you to work on the report and will do anything to make sure we are ready by Tuesday. So why waste time on your commute when we both know that getting a ride is not that easy and walking all the way is a needless waste of time. Shall we go now?"

"But Mr Oberoi, you ended up wasting time waiting here. You could have dropped me a message earlier that way you would not have had to wait" Annika's thoughts were a bowl of noodles

"Time and place cannot keep me away from work, I am a consummate workaholic Ms Trivedi. As long as I have my phone, I still manage to get a lot accomplished. But I need to point out to you that right now you are wasting my time with your unceasing questions" as he got into his car.

Annika walked over to the passenger side. A pleasant fragrance hit her as soon as she sat in the car. She was not sure if it was Mr Outsider's perfume or one of those air fresheners people left in their cars. Again she could not help noticing the sparkly clean interiors. Again she became acutely aware of her body, her hair, her smell, her barely functioning Chandni, her soon to fall apart backpack stuffed choke full with books and notes, her inexpensive clothes. The contrast between herself and everything around her was too striking to ignore.

"Mohan is not around today?" she wanted to distract herself from all the thoughts that made her feel insignificant and out of place in the plush interiors of that expensive car.

"Mohan.. I did not want to disturb him so early on a weekend. Besides these are the routes I know well enough to drive myself. If it were to be a trip to the ministry or say Noida or Gurgaon, I would have been forced to get him. The thing is, if I can, I prefer do things by myself. If not,  I go behind the right people.  Like in this case too, I am an MBA, so I could not have drilled down the report the way a PhD like you would, I am hoping. So I reached out to my Professor who is one of the best in the line and he put me in touch with Prof Phatak. A word of recommendation from the best goes out only to the best people. That is why I have faith in your team while my colleagues have none." Mr Outsider seemed to be in a chatty mood, eyes fixed on the road and hands firmly gripping the wheel.

Annika had a eureka moment.

"Ah! A word of recommendation from his Prof Phatak is what explains this drastic change in his behavior towards me. Oh good lord! That also means he has serious high expectations from me. Daksh who disappears in the name of lunch break, I doubt is going to be of much help. But I should definitely run my finding over with Prof Phatak before Tuesday, just to meet this gigantic expectation, now that there is no way to exceed it." Her throat suddenly went dry.

"Does that mean, you think work defines a person?" Annika blurted out not really knowing why she was asking him at all, after all, what he thought was none of her business.

"To think of it theoretically, people are much more than what they do for a living and their work. But in my practical world, this is all I have known and this is all I know. I do understand that judging a person just by the eight or so hours they spend on work is harsh. Some people might like their work, some love it, some hate it and many just do it. So judging people that way is not really fair. But I do not know a life beyond my work and I am comfortable with people who are like me, the kind who do not have a problem being defined by their work."