Friday, May 8, 2015

Reflections - A to Z Challenge !!



26 Posts in a month !! The feeling is yet to sink in !!

Yes. I have written 26 posts in 30 days after accepting the AtoZ Challenge. I wanted to take up this challenge last year but let it slip by. Did not want to let it go this year and took it up, in the last moment. I finalized my theme at the list minute and was not very sure about how or what I would write. 

As if the challenge in itself was not daunting enough, I made it more difficult for myself by complicating it. The theme for my challenge was Emotions, where I decided to write about one emotion every day. The complication kicked in when I decided to write a story and express each emotion thru a character in the story. 

The adrenaline rush helped me zip through the first few days. But as days passed by, the amount of time I spent on my blog increased exponentially. More than the actual writing, it was building the story line which was exhausting. I had to be sure of defining every character, getting the story line right to ensure continuity and on top of all this, stick to the emotion beginning with the alphabet for the day !!

The last week of the challenge was even tougher. Making sure the story had a proper ending was one challenge but the biggest challenge was to find emotions that begin with letters X, Y and Z. 

As I look back at all the posts now, I can't help but feel proud of myself. Having written a grand total of 20 posts in 5 years, I have now written 26 posts in the last 30 days. There were no scheduled posts, making sure I blogged on every day. I missed out posting on two days and had to cover up the next day with two posts. 

I have to admit, watching the page views increase everyday gave me the confidence to keep writing. A big thank you to all the bloggers who stopped by my blog and to the generous ones who commented on the posts. It felt great to read comments from people across the globe. 

This challenge would not have been possible without the help of  three people. 

To Abhi, who lent a patient ear every time I discussed about the story and the characters. She was my go to option every time I needed to visualize a character or take the story forward. Her curiosity about how the story would shape up, made sure I put in more effort every time I wrote. She was also generous enough in letting me write at home while she took care of the kid

A big thank you to my friend Cauvery for her constant support, encouragement and feedback. She was the one who introduced me to the world of blogging and made me write my first blog 7 years ago. ;-). She is a brilliant writer and I really wish and hope I can write like her one day. You can read her posts at www.countdownbegun.wordpress.com

My friend and colleague Dinesh, who was the self appointed story consultant during the challenge. We debated every character and more often than not ended up disagreeing with each other. His critical feedback on every post made sure the story stayed on track.  

Finally, a special mention to the entire team at A to Z Challenge for their super effort in pulling this off. Their response to any queries through email was quick and helpful. Thank You !!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Z for Zestful !!

"I have to go back to Australia Karan. After my post graduation, I enrolled for a diploma course in Still Photography. Two months earlier, I have received an offer to work with a group of photographers on a year long documentary.The offer was a dream come true for me." Karan was left speechless on hearing Aditi speak. 

"So, if you are going to ask me about whether we can settle down together, I don't think we can Karan. Atleast not in the next year or two. I have a golden opportunity to learn and I don't think I can let it go." 

"Aditi is it because of what happened between us three years back?", Karan was lost for words, as he tried to convince Aditi. 

"No Karan. This has nothing to do with that. Don't ever think of this as getting back to you. You have to understand how lucky I am to be chosen for this documentary and I cant let this slip thru my hands."

That discussion had happened two years back and Karan still remembered every word of it. A few days after that discussion, Aditi flew back to Australia. Karan and Kumar exchanged pleasantries at the airport as they bid Aditi goodbye. 

The meeting with the Mumbai team was successful and Karan and Rajiv had the initial funding for their idea. In the last two years, their start up had been largely successful and making a name for itself in the market.  Karan and Aditi spoke regularly on the phone but Karan never tried to broach the topic of their being together. 

Now two years later, Karan was sitting in his office, going through the latest article on how their company was fast becoming a name to reckon with in the Indian market. The company was nominated in the Top 10 Emerging Start ups of  the year category and many expected them to be runaway winners. As he was skimming thru the article Karan's phone buzzed. 

"Hi Karan. How are you doing. I have been hearing great things about you and your company. Congratulations."

Karan immediately recognized the voice on the other end of the phone. "Thanks a lot Kumar. The hard work and commitment of our team has paid off.  I have been hearing a lot about you as well. Looks like your consultancy work is in great demand. Have read quite a few reports that you have written."

"You are being generous Karan. On a serious note, I am calling you with a business offer Karan. I was wondering if we can partner with your firm."

After what felt like a small pause, Karan replied, "That would be great Kumar. If you are in town, we can catch up today evening at my office."

"That would be wonderful. Will be there by 7 in the evening. See you then", Kumar made a note of the meeting in his calendar. 

Kumar was sitting in Karan's office shuffling through the magazines on the table. The consultant in him was busy assessing the office ambiance and the surroundings. The office felt like a happening place and Kumar felt the place had a feel good factor. His thoughts were interrupted by the receptionist's voice.

"Excuse me sir, you are here for?"

"I am here to meet Mr. Karan."

"Mr. Karan? which department Sir?", the receptionist was sure she never heard that name before. 

Kumar sounded amused. "I want to meet your MD Mr. Karan." It was then he suddenly realized.

"I am sorry, I am here to meet Mr. Karthik Narayan, your Managing Director."

"Sure sir", said the receptionist and guided Kumar to the MD's cabin.

"Hey Kumar, pleased to see you.", Karan shook hands with Kumar.

"You have a great office Karan, Congratulations on your success, you deserve every bit of it." , Kumar was lavish in his  praise and he meant every word of what he said.

"Thanks Kumar. Thank You so much.", Karan said as they settled into the lounge. "Rajiv is travelling abroad for some business meeting. He would have loved to join us for this meeting", said Karan.

"Oh okay. By the way, how is Aditi doing", asked Kumar, sipping the refreshing coffee.

"She is doing good. Her documentary was well appreciated and she is about to start her next one. She said she might travel to India as part of the documentary."

"That's nice to hear. What about your amma and appa and where is Akshaya now, its been a long time since I met them", asked Kumar.

"Akshu is doing her MS in the US. Amma and Appa are currently visiting her on a three month vacation."

After the niceties were done, both of them got down to discuss their partnership. It was an hour long discussion and at the end of it Karan and Kumar decided they would be business partners as well.

The finer details of the partnership would be worked out by the respective teams and the draft agreement would be ready in a few days.

By the time both of them stepped out of office, it was almost ten in the night. From being the best of friends to strangers and then back together as business partners, their association had come a full circle.

As they walked to the car parking, they felt zestful. 


Linking this post to the  A to Z Challenge

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Y for Yearned !!

Karan tried reaching out to Rajiv on the phone and when there was no response from him, he decided to go to his place. 

It was early morning. He was very sure he could get to meet Rajiv and he was proved right. As soon as he rang the bell, Rajiv opened the door. 

"Hi Rajiv. Got some time to talk?", Rajiv was surprised to see Karan at his door. 

"Yeah sure. Give me 5 minutes I will be ready."

As Karan waited on his bike, Rajiv came down and both of them drove to the tea point which they used to frequent previously. 

"Let me get straight to the point Rajiv. Mr. Mridul called me yesterday regarding your conversation with him. I was curious to know why did you want to talk to the MD personally.", Karan did not want to beat around the bush. 

"I am not surprised he called you Karan. In fact I knew he would call you with this information. I wanted to talk to their MD and convey my inability to continue with the team."

"Rajiv, I have been asking you the same question again and again. I still feel we can settle our differences and get this on track. I am sure you must have noticed how positive the Mumbai team is about our business idea.". 

"I am not really sure if we can go back to that Karan. Any business or for that matter any partnership is built on trust. We have already failed each other once . I am not sure if we can take the big step forward when we don't have trust in ourselves.", Rajiv wanted to be straightforward. 

"I don't think we have gone to the extent of breaking each other's trust Rajiv. If that was the case, I am sure both of us would not be sitting here now and discussing this and I am also sure every partnership has its own share of ups and downs before it succeeds." 

"All that sounds good in theory Karan. But imagine the same incident happening two months into our business when we have committed ourselves to it. That would be catastrophic for both of us.", Rajiv replied.

"I am sure we will learn from our experience Rajiv", Karan felt the discussion was going in the right direction. 

"Let me think over this Karan. I am still not convinced about this", Rajiv sounded cautious. 

"I have an idea Rajiv. Let me know if you like it. Let us take this step by step.  As the first step, I feel we should talk to the Mumbai team and tell them we are ready for the final presentation. Both of us shall be part of the call."

Karan continued as Rajiv nodded his approval. " If the Mumbai team are ready to take our idea to the next stage, let us then get into the nuances of our partnership and how we can avoid a repeat of such incidents."

Rajiv seemed to be okay with the idea of taking it one step at a time. After all, the final presentation would also give him a chance to showcase his contribution to the team. 

"And just to let you know, I had a talk with Kumar yesterday. We caught up after a long time and I think we have managed to start the process of trying to bury our past issues." Karan did not want to let Rajiv know about it through anybody else. 

"Oh okay. Its been a long time I met with Kumar. He seems to be pretty busy these days.", Rajiv's reply was more like a question, but Karan did not bother to reply. 

"Let me call up Mr. Mridul and tell him the latest development. Let us ask him to schedule a call with Mr. Sudheer later in the evening so that we can update him on the same.", Karan listened as Rajiv outlined their plan for the day. 

"We will also have to call a meeting with our team and start preparing for the final presentation. Lets make sure we showcase our best in the final presentation.", Karan said it with an air of his rediscovered confidence. 

Later that evening, Karan and Rajiv were sitting in the restaurant along with their entire team. The call with Mr. Sudheer was positive and they now had a date set for their final presentation in Mumbai. 

"Make sure you put your best efforts. I am sure my team will be happy to work with you." was Sudheer's final comment during the call. 

As Karan drove back home, he was elated. The meeting with the team went well. Everybody in the team sounded very excited and were ready for the challenge. Karan started to feel good about the whole day. 

The moment he had always yearned for was finally coming true. 

As Karan zipped through the night roads, it started to rain. 


Liking this post to the  A to Z Challenge

Click here for the last part Z for Zestful


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

X for X-rayed !!

After they finished dinner, Karan offered to drop Aditi back at the hotel. 

"Aditi, can we talk for sometime before I drop you back at your hotel. I will try to not take too much time of yours.", Karan asked as they drove back to the hotel.

"Not now Karan. I feel stressed out after all the discussions. I don't think I am in a mood to have any sort of conversation now. Can we talk sometime later, may be tomorrow.", Aditi guessed what Karan wanted to talk about and she did not want to do the talking now. She wanted to have that discussion with a fresh and objective mind. 

"Sure. Whatever you say Adi.", Karan said in a low tone.

Aditi noticed he had used her pet name and smiled to herself. 

After dropping her at the hotel, Karan made a call to Rajiv. He was still not sure about why Rajiv had wanted to talk to the MD personally and he wanted to confront him directly. His thoughts were broken by Rajiv's voice.

"Hey Karan, can I call you back tomorrow. I am in the midst of something very important. Will give you a call tomorrow morning. Bye." before Karan could react Rajiv disconnected the call.

As soon as the call was disconnected, Karan received a text message from Rajiv. "Text me if there is something important."

Karan was sure Rajiv knew why he was calling him. He felt he was avoiding him intentionally.

Karan was upset with himself. For the second time in the last few minutes, his intentions were clear to the people he was talking to - first with Aditi and now with Rajiv. It was as if his thoughts were exposed. 

He felt X-rayed. 



Linking this post to the  A to Z Challenge

Read the next part here Y for Yearned

W for Weary !!

As Karan approached the table, he could see Aditi and Kumar deep in conversation. That both of them stopped their conversation as soon as he reached the table did not make him feel any better.

Settling down in his seat, he looked at Aditi and mouthed the words,"what next". He was not really sure what they were supposed to be discussing, especially with Kumar around.

"Aditi, I never realised you and Kumar were friends earlier.", Karan's sarcastic question broke the silence. Kumar looked at Karan and then Aditi and went back to fiddling with his phone.

"Kumar and I met when we were in school. Kumar's grandparents stayed next door and he used to visit them for two months every year. That is how we met each other." Aditi answered as if she had anticipated that question.

"Oh, and I have never heard you mention him in our four years of college." Karan continued being sarcastic.

"Yeah I did not mention it because I and Kumar were not in touch during my graduation days. Little did i foresee you and Kumar ending up as friends and then all three ending up here in this situation", Aditi relpied. 

"Kumar knew about you only after we broke up. I was in a very bad state and Kumar was the one who helped me get back to being normal. During that phase, Kumar insisted on wanting to meet you but I resisted him from that." Aditi looked at Kumar who was still fiddling with his phone. 

"After about three months after joining his MBA, Kumar and I were discussing his college life and that was when he told me about his friend Karan and how they seemed to be kicking off well. Though I did not give it much thought initially, that name sounded familiar and then I realised. But yet again I resisted from telling Kumar."

"You should have told me then itself Aditi.", Kumar spoke, still looking down at his phone. 

He then lifted his head, settled his gaze on Karan and continued, "You should have told me it was the same guy who ditched you. I would have settled scores on your behalf. Instead you chose to hide it from me and it took me another year and half to realise his true colors." Kumar sounded more hurt than angry.

Kumar continued speaking even as Aditi and Karan stared at him. His silence was now being replaced by a steady flow of words. "The first year of MBA was a breeze because of him. He was a great friend and time flew when we were together. We managed to be in the same group for every project and that made our academic projects exciting. Sharing the same interests such as sports and business made sure we spent endless hours discussing and debating."

Karan looked at Kumar as he continued reminiscing their college days. He felt like speaking but let Kumar continue.

"As time passed by, Karan and me even discussed plans to set up our own business. I am sure you remember it", Kumar stared directly at Karan.

Karan just stared in reply to Kumar's question. 

"I was very sure our friendship would expand way beyond the two years of academics. Little did I realise that I was dealing with a person who wouldn't mind changing his colors to adapt to the situation."

"I never ever tried to do that Kumar." It was Karan's turn to speak out. 

Aditi just stared at both of them, not wanting to interfere or take sides. 

"You did Karan and I am not surprised you are denying it now. I wouldn't have expected anything else from you."

"Stop it Kumar. I have had enough of your rant. You should have bothered to ask me or talk to me directly before you made your conclusions."

"What did you want me to talk to you about Karan. About how you managed to mislead me during the entire college elections. All the time I was under the impression that you wanted me to be the head of the Student Council. Even though I was not even remotely interested, I agreed to it because you wanted me to contest." 

Aditi knew about the Council election and the aftermath of the election. Kumar had told her the entire story. She recollected how he was furious with Karan because of the election.  

"And I wanted you to be the President of the Student council. I never for once wanted to back stab you  Kumar. What happened that day was something which I did not plan and did not expect would happen.", Karan said. 

"How very interesting Karan. We planned for the whole of two weeks about how we would go about the elections. We were very sure about winning them and then suddenly the night before the election you come to me with a proposal which sounded absurd. You said you wanted to contest for President. You wanted to replace me in the last minute."

"Yes Kumar and that was because the other group said they would support us only if I was contesting. I tried to convince them that there was no difference between you or me becoming the President. But they were adamant and they said they would not support us if you contested. I dont know what made them change their minds in the last moment."

"Imagine how it would have felt Karan. For two weeks, we spoke to everybody and projected me as the candidate for the election. And when the election were just a night away, you wanted to stand in my place. You were sure we would win it and you wanted to snatch it at the last minute."

"It was not about snatching your opportunity Kumar. It was about doing what was right at that moment of time. It was about winning that election and we had no other option but to project myself."

"Yeah and it was also about cheating your own friend. It was about damaging the trust of somebody who trusted you blindly." Kumar shot back. "You could have told me Karan, but instead you decided to not discuss it anymore. You said it was a waste of time discussing it anymore. You made me feel so little that day Karan."

"I tried to pacify and explain the reasons but you were overcome by anger and blamed me for a lot of things. I tried to ignore whatever you spoke. But you crossed the line when you went very personal and accused me of being selfish and using others for my own goals.", Karan gulped down a glass of cold water as he finished speaking. 

"You had reasons for everything you did Karan. You had reasons to replace me as the president nominee in the last minute, you had a reason to ditch Aditi for your career sake."

"That is personal and I don't like you commenting on it Kumar." Karan was angered by Kumar commenting on his relationship.

"It is personal to me as well Karan and that is why I commented. I was witness to what Aditi went through because of you. I shared her pain and watched her suffer all because of you." Kumar's voice had a hint of sadness as he recalled those days. 

"I and Aditi have already been through all this Kumar and i don't think it is right for you to discuss this in front of Aditi.", Karan replied curtly. 

"You have not been doing any better have you Kumar. Your attempts to get back at me through Rajiv seems to be working well, isn't it? ". It was Karan's turn to question. "Rajiv was along with me in my business plan until you came around and corrupted his mind. Why did you have to resort to such cheap tricks Kumar?"

"Oh, looks like somebody is hurt.", Kumar's voice was sarcastic. "How did it feel to be ditched by somebody whom you trusted all along Karan. Did it hurt you?"

"Enough of it guys. Can you stop behaving like kids. For once, can both of you behave like adults and sort your differences out, instead of taking turns to accuse each other.", Aditi was exasperated. "I wanted you guys to  move on in life." After Aditi's outburst, there was an eerie silence at the table. 

The food was served but none of them had any appetite. The discussions sapped their energy and left the three of them weary.



Linking this post to the A to Z Challenge

Read the next part here X for X-rayed