Chapter 2 - Part 1

“Drink fast... drink fast” Rohan panicked more with each languid sip that Subodh took from his
Glass of cutting chai.

“Why man? What’s the fucking hurry?” Subodh snapped back at Rohan irritated by his edginess.

“The meeting dude!” Excitement flowed out from every cell of Rohan’s face as he uttered the word ‘meeting’.

“Big deal” Subodh took another sip of his tea and a deep drag of smoke from his cigarette. This was his only moment of relief during the work hours. A cutting chai and a cigarette. It was his exit to sovereignty. Where, for a brief span of time, he controlled his life. He owned every bit of it. Outside the walls of glass which enslaved him to numbers, this break was his only rendezvous with freedom everyday. The cloud of smoke that he exhaled into the air around was a meek but proud denotation of the rebellion that he raised in the break. With each sip of the tea, he gulped down the lump of unrecognised regret that choked him through the day. By the end of the break, he walked back to his office, striding like a valiant king who had been captured by his enemies. But Rohan was messing it up for him today.

Rohan, who usually was at ease during these sessions, was quite twitchy today. Being of Subodh’s age, yet a step lower than him in the corporate heirarchy, Rohan was eagerly looking for a chance to bridge the gap between him and Subodh. He secretly despised Subodh for his success, but at the same time had immense respect for him and his achievements. For him, it was a matter of gratification to be Subodh’s henchman in office. This covetousness that he nurtured within him for Subodh, didn’t somehow stimulate him to defeat Rohan. Instead, it filled him up with intense aspiration to be like him. And this very aspiration, at times, made him more enthusiastic about certain professional matters than Rohan himself. Like this meeting.

One morning they found a mail in their Inboxes asking them to keep all the details about the organisation’s economic capabilities reviewed and assimilated. It did not specify a particular reason for this. It said that these details would be required in a meeting that was to be held on Tuesday in the coming week. A meeting which had no mentioned objective, but would be attended by all top-notch executives of the organisation. Subodh and Rohan had worked out every requisite detail throughout the week for the ocassion. With Subodh slow seeping disinterest in organisation’s affairs, Rohan unknowingly got pepped up about the entire affair and had ended up attaining more than required, easing the pressure on Subodh. This tally of his efforts had charged him up to eagerly be an affiliate of this unstipulated congregation. Whereas Subodh remained indifferent to it, lacking the enthusiasm that used to be a peculiar element of his professional persona earlier.

“Chal” Subodh said sluggishly tossing the butt of his cigarette aside and keeping the empty glass on the tea stall’s counter.

“Did you hear anything about what meeting is it?” Rohan asked earnestly.

“Should we care?” Subodh smirked.

Rohan concealed his disappointment beneath a fake faint smile. Rohan disapproved of Subodh’s growing disinterest in professional matters in last few months. Something sharp pricked him deep within whenever Subodh disregarded the serious issues which were put forth him. Over the time Rohan had seen pour his soul unto the tasks that were assigned to him. And now, when Rohan had learnt to separate himself from his soul and feed it to his assignments, Subodh had begun to distance himself from them. Rohan’s unrealised idol was disintegrating into ashes before his own eyes. And he had to powerlessly look at this desolation. He wanted to stretch out his hand and stop it. Cease it there. Build Subodh back. But the moment he looked at Subodh, he found his eyes empty of the affinity that used to rest in them earlier. They were lost in a search of something very distant. At a remoteness which he couldn’t gauze. Or he didn’t want to as he knew he would lose himself in the vacuum that remained clogged in Subodh’s eyes.

He walked behind Subodh. Following his pace uncomfortably.

***

When Subodh reached the conference room with Rohan, the meeting was about to commence.

“Fuck, we’re late...” Rohan whispered in Subodh’s ear. Suboh unwillingly responded to his concern with a sluggish nod.

They walked towards the two empty chairs on one side of the conference table which were reserved for them. Subodh looked around as he pulled his chair. The room was filled with bodies clad in dark suits and pastel shirts. The stench of their constrained ambitions reached his nose. Gucci and Armanis that they had sprayed on themselves weren’t able to dissolve that stench in themselves. Their eyes talked of treachery to each other. Their words resonated with a sound of ravenousness that was enveloped in pitiful brutality. None of their smiles were real. Subodh felt his feet tremble when a few of them looked at him and smiled. Like a bunch of unfulfilled hovering evil souls that had settled down on in the room and were inviting him to shun his live form and join their haunted quest. A strong feeling of unbelonging swelled up inside Subodh.
Subodh placed himself on the chair domineering the discomfort that was sweltering inside him.

“So gentlemen...” Boss began with a clichédly. “We are here to discuss the capability of our bank. ”

***