‘I’m busy most of the time with your work, sir. I can’t keep an eye out all the time.’
Ghanekar sir was silent for a while.
‘Did you get a note today?’
She showed him the note. The boss, known to keep his cool, was shaken.
The note said,
Are you going to wake up only when the hand moves from the steering wheel to your shoulders?
The boss lost control and a sob escaped his lips. He rested his head on the steering wheel.
It was an understandable reaction. It wasn’t out of place. He hadn’t touched her even once. It was obvious that reading the note would affect him.
Vandana felt a deep sympathy for the boss. She put her hand on his shoulder and said,
‘Sir, please don’t cry.’
She didn’t realize that Shiva was still sitting in the back of the car. He was there to carry the files back to the boss’s house.
‘Shiva, get down and come to Sir’s house after an hour or two. I’ll take him home now.’
Shiva got down.
But he did not go home. He stood by the side of the road. The reason being that he was looking at someone who was staring intently at Vandana.
Shiva stood there while the man on the road watched her.
Vandana tried consoling her boss for a long time. Kulkarni knows what happened next.
Don’t deny it, Kulkarni.
You were there, walking down the road. Tell me, did you not see them?
In your words, ‘They were hugging each other.’
Don’t exaggeratedly plug your ears in mock horror, Kulkarni. Tell me the truth. Were those not your words?
Vandana got a note the very next day…
Wise women know the difference between tears of sorrow and a crocodile’s tears.
Vandana did not take those words to heart.
She had encountered something much more terrifying the previous evening.
The person staring at her from the footpath was none other than Mr Samant. Vandana did not come out of her cabin that day. The boss, too, did not call her. She continued to sit in her cabin after office hours. Finally, Ghanekar sir came into her cabin and said,
‘I would like to apologize.’
‘What for?’
‘For my behaviour yesterday. I could not hold back my tears.’
‘It’s not your fault. Anyone in your place would have reacted similarly.’
‘I agree, I was shattered when I read the note. But why are you crying?’
Vandana didn’t answer. She had been holding herself back the whole day, but now she lost control. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing. The boss patted her shoulders and tried to pacify her.
Between sobs, Vandana told her story.
‘It’s over now.’
‘Why, what happened?’
‘Mr Samant saw us in the car last evening.’
‘Oh, is that all?’
‘No. That’s not all. It is a disaster.’
She started to cry again.
‘Tell me properly. I can’t understand anything. We’ll find a way if you tell me clearly.’
‘There’s no way now.’
‘But what exactly happened?’
Vandana excused herself and went to the washroom to splash water on her face.
‘Tell me now.’
‘Had you come home, we could have avoided the disaster.’
‘Please explain clearly.’
‘You were sitting in the car with your head resting on the steering wheel. I never realized when I put my hand on your shoulder. I had no feelings other than sympathy. Is it possible to have any other emotion at that point in time?’
‘No. Not at all. Who says so?’
‘Shiva was there in the car. I asked him to get down and come later. I asked you to come home. You declined the offer. I got down and walked home to see Mr Samant arrive after me.’
‘Then?’
‘He had seen me from the footpath, patting your shoulder. He said it was his misfortune to have witnessed that.’
‘What does he mean?’
‘He says he has seen us together.’
‘What about it?’
‘Well, it may seem innocuous to us. But to an observer it might seem very intimate.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘He bombarded me with questions.’
‘What did he ask?’
‘The first question was who you were. I told him you were my boss.’
‘Then?’
‘He asked me whether I get dropped every day. I didn’t know how to answer that. I said, “He was to come home, that’s why I was with him.”’
‘Immediately, he asked, “Why did you stop on the way?”’
‘What did you say then?’
‘I told a lie.’
‘What lie?’
‘I said you had a pain in your chest while driving, so you stopped the car.’
‘Wow! That was good thinking.’
‘What good thinking? It created further problems. He asked me why I’d asked the person sitting in the back to get down when my boss had a pain in the chest. His questions continued, and he came to his own conclusions. He mocked me for being made your PA. He hasn’t spoken to me since last evening.’
Vandana stopped. Ghanekar sir didn’t say anything. He knew the situation was complex.
‘Why did you lie about my chest pain?’
‘What else could I have said? If I had told him you were crying, there would have been more questions. He was already angry because I was in the car with you.’
‘That’s true. Seeing his wife travelling in someone else’s car can make a man jealous.’
‘But we haven’t committed any crime, sir.’
‘That is true. But then the comparisons start. Many thoughts bubble up.’
‘Like what, sir?’
‘I’m sure you earn more than him.’
‘Yes, that’s true. A few hundred more. But I’m working to run the household, am I not?’
‘That is fine. But a man can never accept such things. His ego gets hurt. There must be good-looking girls in his office, and he knows how people behave with them. He’ll imagine how everyone in the office must look at you. There’s a deep-rooted anger which is waiting to erupt. And one more thing… Anyway … let it be. You have to run your house. Go and ask for his forgiveness.’
‘I haven’t done anything that needs to be forgiven.’
‘But there is no other way.’
‘My self-respect won’t allow it. I have not made a mistake. Why should I ask for forgiveness? He’ll taunt me all my life. I won’t do that.’
‘Then resign from work.’
‘Why?’
‘For the
