The Surprise

It was Friday. Gaurav woke up just as the plane landed. The flight was only for an hour but when it landed at Pune Airport, he felt refreshed. It was for the first time this week that he had slept well. He was confident also for the first time this week about the state of affairs of job as well as his heart.

As he made his way towards the baggage belt, he switched on his phone. He had to resist the temptation to call Sakshi. He would rather give her a surprise, for the look on her face, when she sees him, was too valuable to miss.

While waiting for his luggage near the baggage belt, Gaurav received a call from Prateek which he answered smiling. As he spoke,  the smile vanished.

Thirty minutes later, there was a lone bag rolling along the baggage belt, and a stunned Gaurav standing there without moving.

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Five days prior.

It was almost past noon on Monday and Gaurav sat in his seat staring at his monitor. He knew he was angry. He was just not sure at whom.

Few minutes ago, he was chastised by his manager, Subbu, for being late to office three times in three weeks. He had woken up at 4 AM to board the earliest possible flight from Pune. It was not his fault that some airline could not keep up to their schedule. And it was not his fault that his girlfriend was in Pune and not in Bangalore. Gaurav wanted to explain but Subbu would not listen. Subbu never listened.

‘Because of such behavior I am not able to trust you with any thing but the most trivial work in the project. If you keep behaving this way, you may soon find yourself redundant!’ Subbu felt that coming late to office showed lack of discipline. This was against the company policy, he argued. For the company, it did not matter that he worked fourteen hours a day for almost the entire week. That was not dedication. But coming late once a week was lack of dedication. He had tried to explain this to the HR, going up to the head of the HR department. But all he got back was that ‘Policy is Policy’. HR would not listen to him.

Gaurav wanted to explain to Sakshi, his girlfriend that he could not come to Pune every weekend. Not that he was worried about the expenditure; he could spend any amount for his girlfriend. But travelling every week was making his work life hell. His work was suffering as was his impression on his boss. But he could not explain it to her either and she would not listen. This was a punishment and he had to take it silently.

Nobody listens!!! Gaurav was seething now. A thought occurred and he knew what he had to do. He picked up the phone and called Prateek, his best friend. He had to tell somebody.

‘I am going to write GRE and go to the America. To hell with Subbu, to hell with this company and to hell with Sakshi!’

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Gaurav and Sakshi were in love for as long they knew each other, six year to be precise. They met on the first day of college and it was love at first sight. They were committed to each other and had never had serious trouble in their relationship. Until now, that is.

After college, both had been placed with reputed companies but in different cities. Gaurav was in Bangalore while Sakshi was in Pune. Economy played its role and neither Gaurav nor Sakshi had succeeded in getting another offer from the other city.  They finally surrendered to the fate but vowed to successfully continue their relationship long distance. They also decided that Sakshi should search for a job in Bangalore as it had better opportunities for both of them. But economy remained tough and job remained elusive.

It was a year and half into the long distance relationship and both sides were losing patience. Sakshi was trying her best but it was not easy to be on the toes always preparing for the interview while trying to learn her job in the company. And Gaurav eager to help Sakshi, would overstep with his suggestions sometimes.

One day while they were having dinner, he asked about her preparation one too many times, and something snapped inside for Sakshi. She got up from the table, her dinner half finished and walked away without speaking a word. Gaurav was too embarrassed to finish his dinner. After a lot of apologies and promises, Sakshi calmed down.

It was six months now, but Gaurav repented that he said what he said on the day. He was still paying for it by flying to Pune twice a week. And there was no way he could speak about it without jeopardizing the relationship.

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‘I am going to write GRE and go to America. To hell with Subbu, to hell with this company and to hell with Sakshi! In fact I am not even sure that Sakshi is interested in this relationship anymore. Why should I care about her?’

Prateek listened patiently to Gaurav’s rant. But much later when Gaurav had run out of steam and was in position to listen, Prateek reasoned with him. He convinced Gaurav that all the frustration was due to a simple fact. They were not able to handle the long distance relationship. And the solution too. Just accept this fact that Sakshi might not be able to mobe to Bangalore and look for a jon in Pune.

 ‘Isn’t your company opening a branch in Pune? Why don’t you apply for transfer?’

Gaurav could not deny his logic. He decided to talk to his manager. If he explained his plight to his manager, he might find a way for the transfer.

By evening, Gaurav felt happy. His manager had promised him that he would look for information about openings in the Pune location and find out about the transfer.

.

After dinner, Gaurav was still working. Michael, one of his seniors in the team, walked to his desk and asked if he cared to have a smoke?

‘I don’t smoke, sorry’ Gaurav replied with a smile.

 ‘Then you can give me company. It’s for your benefit, I can assure you’, said Michael.

Gaurav and Michael walked out to the stairway.

‘I overheard you talking to Subbu today morning. I sit close to his desk, you know’, Michael started.

Gaurav was embarrassed. Michael knew about Sakshi and all the trouble she was giving him. But Michael had other things on his mind.

‘Do you think Subbu would genuinely try to find you a position in Pune?’, asked Michael but did not wait for Gaurav’s answer.

‘If you think so then you have lot to learn about this company’, he smiled wryly.

‘Do you know Kumar Mani?’, Michael continued. ‘He is the one who is setting up a team in Pune. He is a senior VP and worked here for a long time. Now he has moved to Pune. But I heard he is having trouble getting people. If I were you, I would contact him directly.’

Michael smiled once again. There was something sad about it. ‘This company does this to people who stay here for long. You cannot trust anybody any more. You will learn soon. And, nobody should know we spoke.’ With that, Michael walked away. He never spoke to Gaurav again, that week or later.

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Tuesday afternoon, Gaurav had just spoken to Subbu. His perception about Michael had changed from being sad pessimistic loser to being an Oracle, a prophet. Subbu had acted as Michael had predicted. First he had refused to acknowledge that there were any vacancies in Pune. When Gaurav had asked specifically about Kumar Mani’s team, Subbu had changed his tactics. Now he spoke that even if there were vacancies, the company policy forbade any internal transfers. He had dismissed Gaurav with a sarcastic note that he should concentrate on work and all his problems would go away.

Gaurav came back to his seat. He felt sick of the politics and the cheap tricks. He walked out for fresh air and tried calling Sakshi. She did not answer the phone the first time. Five minutes later when he called back, she answered, but only long enough to say that she was in a meeting and would call back. Gaurav knew she was lying. Gaurav knew Sakshi long enough to know that; her voice was nervous! Why was she lying? What was she hiding? At that moment Gaurav came to a decision. He would contact Kumar Mani himself. He would get to Pune at whatever cost. That night Gaurav went back home early, prepared his resume and emailed it to Kumar Mani along with a request to consider him for any open positions.

It was late in the night when Gaurav had finished. Sakshi had not called back yet.

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Wednesday morning came with good news. Kumar Mani had replied, and wanted to speak with Gaurav. It was afternoon when they spoke for half an hour. First fifteen minutes Kumar Mani asked simple technical questions and Gaurav felt he must have answered them satisfactorily, because for next 15 minutes Kumar spoke about his new project and how it would be interesting. Gaurav was not interested in any of that. All he wanted was to relocate to Pune. In the end, Kumar recommended to talk to Surabhi, the HR manager and get back to him.

Gaurav immediately sent an email to Surabhi expressing his interest in moving to Pune. He requested her to suggest a time for a meeting so that he could explain his reasons. He did not get a response that day.

That night as he lay on his bed, he wanted to speak to Sakshi. This was a big decision and she should know. But he felt stubborn. She had not called back since yesterday. He decided not to call.

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Thursday early morning, Surabhi herself walked to his desk and asked him to follow her to a meeting room. In the meeting room, for first five minutes she allowed him to explain why he wanted the move. Gaurav poured his heart out. He was now very desperate to move and genuinely feeling that if he did not go, his relationship with Sakshi would end. She was already cold shouldering him over the phone; it was not long before it would collapse.

But Surabhi seemed unmoved. She was staring at the paper which she had brought with her and started speaking, ‘Let me be frank, Gaurav. I can completely empathize with your situation and would want to help you in any way I can. But here, my hands are tied. Your current project is very important for the company and your work is critical for its success. I spoke to your manager and he says that your contribution has been fantastic, although you are only 2 years old in the company and that if you leave, we risk delaying this project by 6 months at least. I know we have a policy for inter-location transfer, but considering the importance of your work, we cannot allow it.’

She finally looked at Gaurav. Gaurav could not believe his ears. He was performing fantastically? And that he was critical for the project?

‘But Surabhi,’ Gaurav started. ‘If my manager feels I am performing so great, he should tell so in my appraisal. I can show you the records, his comments are all negative including a warning that if I don’t improve he would have to put me in under-performer list. And that was only 1 month ago.’ Gaurav could hardly speak any further. He was seething with anger.

Surabhi looked up and smiled, ‘See, Sometimes manager have to give bad rating even for good performers for various reasons. You know we try to fit everybody in a bell curve. Also sometimes, giving bad rating to a fresher motivates him to perform even better. I am sure you have a bright future ahead of you here.’

She could see that Gaurav was not convinced. ‘I will look into your rating. I will see what I can do. But I cannot approve your transfer. I am sorry!’

Gaurav felt betrayed. He knew that he would not be allowed to move. And even if he stayed here, Subbu would make sure to make his life hell. Subbu kept his grudges. Gaurav walked out of office and it was half an hour before he cooled down. Then the conversation with Kumar Mani came back to him. ‘Talk to Surabhi and get back to me whatever happens.’ Kumar had predicted the outcome with prescience. Gaurav smiled.

Gaurav called Kumar and told him whatever had happened. Gaurav tried very hard to control his anger. But Kumar sensed the situation. He was cool.

‘I can talk to Surabhi and convince her about your transfer. You don’t have to worry about that. I have sufficient pull in the company. But I want to make two things clear; first, if I were to get you here, you cannot go back to Bangalore office any time soon. So, you should be very sure that you want to move to Pune.

Secondly, I want a promise from you that you will stay in this project for atleast 2 years. This project is very important for me and I can be a very vengeful person’, Kumar laughed.

‘So think about it. If you say yes, you will have to move immediately. So think thoroughly.’

As Gaurav disconnected the call, he had never felt so unsure about himself. His resolve about not calling Saskhi melted without a trace, and he called Sakshi. It was busy.

He tried many times during the next hour. It was still busy. He called up Prateek.

‘I should have told you this earlier…’ Prateek was speaking, ‘Sakshi has been behaving strangely past one month or so. She is on phone many times, and Priya is secretive about Sakshi too.’

Priya was Prateek’s girlfriend and Sakshi’s roommate.

‘This week, Sakshi disappeared for 2 days, 2 working days! I don’t know where she went. And Priya just smiled when I asked the question. And yesterday while we were having dinner at their place, Sakshi got a call. When Sakshi returned after the call, Priya and Sakshi exchanged some weird looks, I felt something was fishy. So I checked Sakshi’s phone while she was not looking and the last call was from ‘Robert’. And then there were some SMSs about meeting.. That’s all I could find out, but I am not used to snooping into other people’s mobile..”

‘Robert? Of all the people, Robert? ‘ Gaurav could not believe it. Robert was their classmate who had Who had a crush on Sakshi for a long time and had been a pest who just could not get the hint that Sakshi was not interested.

‘Yes.. Robert … I am worried, Gaurav. I am really worried. The girls are hiding something!‘, concluded Prateek.

At that moment Gaurav knew what he had to do. He emailed his acceptance to Kumar. Sakshi did call. She had seen the missed calls. But Gaurav was interested to know who she was talking to. Sakshi would not answer; she was indignant that Gaurav had become so possesive. So the day ended. Nobody slept well that night.

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Things moved like clockwork the next day. By the time he reached office, there was a letter on his desk with approval for his transfer from Surabhi’s boss. Before noon, his tickets for the late evening flight reached him. Gaurav had just enough time to say Good Byes to his friends in the company.

He was genuinely happy for the first time this week. And he would be happy for next few hours.

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‘Hey Prateek, you cannot even guess where I am…’, Gaurav sounded exhilarated.

Prateek was impatient and was talking in hushed voice. ‘Shut up and listen, this is urgent. Do you remember I told you how Sakshi was talking on the phone for a long time to Robert and how they were planning to meet? Well, it turns out, she was giving interviews. And She had been to Bangalore to accept her offer this week. Robert is the HR from the new company. She packed her bags and left for Bangalore  2 hours ago!’

When Prateek arrived at the airport an hour later, Gaurav was in a security room unable to walk or talk and staring incomprehensively into oblivion.

In Bangalore, realizing that her 'Surprise' had backfired, it was two days before Sakshi could speak to anyone without crying.