The meeting did not turn out the way we thought it would. We thought the customers would jump out of their seats with a pen in hand and demand a place to sign the deal. They had shown a lot of interest and enthusiasm during the presentation and ensuing discussions. But at the end of the show, they requested, very enthusiastically, another meeting to discuss the details. Except for our boss all of us were disappointed. He thought the meeting went exceptionally well. The customer had expressed interest and that was good enough for him. He had a smile on his lips and as we went down the elevator, a whistle started blowing out of it.
The lift journey lasted for ever. The boss' elevated mood further depressed our already depressed feelings. The whistles and hums in that small space racked our tender nerves. To stop this joyful outburst I put forth my disappointment about the meeting. Boss looked at me amused and said "did you expect him to sign on the dotted line by the end of the first meeting itself?" "That's what you said prior to the meeting" I retorted. "Yes, but I said that to keep you guys motivated" boss retorted back. "You should be happy; he asked us to come back right? Show they are interested." "So when will he sign?" asked I naively. "Next meeting definitely" was the response. "You say that to keep me motivated, right?" was my exasperated response. "No, no my dear. I got the vibes today. Next meeting is the one, we go to Leela for dinner after that. Its party time my boy" came the comforting response.
I hated it when the bugger tried to humor me with "dear"s and "my boy"s. Unfortunately, he is my boss and I have to put up with this nonsense. A few minutes later, we were in the car and my dear boss was revving up the engine as though he was at the start line of a race. I had chosen the back seat to keep my distance from him. Also, I did not like to wear the seat belts and so I thought the back seat fit my bill. But when I heard the engine rev up I changed my mind about avoiding seat belt . I had just about enough time to buckle it on; the car literally jumped out of the parking spot and sped towards to the spiral ramp. We hit the ramp at about 40 Kph, I think. I was pushed to the door and was stuck there as we went up the ramp - round and round and round. I prayed hard and promised a visit to Tirupathi if I got out of this car alive. Finally, we reached the ground level alive. Three floor of spiraling hell came to an end with a hard hitting of the brake. Thanks to the seat belt I did not fly our of the wind shield.
I prayed to God again and requested him to put some sense into my boss - "Please let him not drive recklessly through the roads.". But my prayers went unheeded. His trademark style of driving continued. The road was teeming with people and vehicle but our car bull dozed on. It was like one of the scenes from the comics wherein cyclists, hens, dogs and cows jump out of the way as a car zips by with the driver peeping out of the window waving his hands wildly at the people and the animals. I had a good mind to ask him if he thought the accelerator pedal had dual functionality. The first press accelerates the vehicle and the second press brakes it. Someone had to tell this guy that it accelerates more when pressed the second time. But that cannot be me - he does not like to be corrected by his subordinates and so I kept praying. By the time, we covered two kilometres, I had promised visits to most temples in the state of AP. I could not afford further promises and so decided to distract myself.
"Sir, don't you have any music."
"Oh yes! A large music collection. I love music. Do you want to listen to something?" As he was saying this he dove to his left to get out his CD pack. Along with him the car turned sharply to the left. I did not dare to look out but I heard a lot of noise and commotion from that side. Boss straightened, threw back the CD pack and continued driving as though nothing had happened. "Go on, select something" he said. I opened the pack and found the pack had about 10 CDs. All the CDs had ABBA written on top and the numerals 1 to 10 written underneath.
"I love ABBA. Select the CD that you want from the pack." he insisted.
"I don't listen to ABBA." was my response.
He turned around, looked at my face and exclaimed "What!". I am not quite sure what happened to the car in those few second (or minutes or hours, I am not sure which). But we seem to have again left behind a chaotic scene.
"Pick up CD four or five, whichever you like best. Both of them are good." he said.
I had no idea which songs they contained and as such I did not know anything about ABBA. I have always preferred the number five over four and so I picked it up and handed it over. Soon our vehicle was filled with the soothing sound of the ABBAs. I am not sure why I had not listened to them but now they seemed to be the best sounds I have heard in my whole life. I closed my eues and let my body rock to the crazy rhythms of the car as the beautiful music filled my ears and head.
I hated it when the bugger tried to humor me with "dear"s and "my boy"s. Unfortunately, he is my boss and I have to put up with this nonsense. A few minutes later, we were in the car and my dear boss was revving up the engine as though he was at the start line of a race. I had chosen the back seat to keep my distance from him. Also, I did not like to wear the seat belts and so I thought the back seat fit my bill. But when I heard the engine rev up I changed my mind about avoiding seat belt . I had just about enough time to buckle it on; the car literally jumped out of the parking spot and sped towards to the spiral ramp. We hit the ramp at about 40 Kph, I think. I was pushed to the door and was stuck there as we went up the ramp - round and round and round. I prayed hard and promised a visit to Tirupathi if I got out of this car alive. Finally, we reached the ground level alive. Three floor of spiraling hell came to an end with a hard hitting of the brake. Thanks to the seat belt I did not fly our of the wind shield.
I prayed to God again and requested him to put some sense into my boss - "Please let him not drive recklessly through the roads.". But my prayers went unheeded. His trademark style of driving continued. The road was teeming with people and vehicle but our car bull dozed on. It was like one of the scenes from the comics wherein cyclists, hens, dogs and cows jump out of the way as a car zips by with the driver peeping out of the window waving his hands wildly at the people and the animals. I had a good mind to ask him if he thought the accelerator pedal had dual functionality. The first press accelerates the vehicle and the second press brakes it. Someone had to tell this guy that it accelerates more when pressed the second time. But that cannot be me - he does not like to be corrected by his subordinates and so I kept praying. By the time, we covered two kilometres, I had promised visits to most temples in the state of AP. I could not afford further promises and so decided to distract myself.
"Sir, don't you have any music."
"Oh yes! A large music collection. I love music. Do you want to listen to something?" As he was saying this he dove to his left to get out his CD pack. Along with him the car turned sharply to the left. I did not dare to look out but I heard a lot of noise and commotion from that side. Boss straightened, threw back the CD pack and continued driving as though nothing had happened. "Go on, select something" he said. I opened the pack and found the pack had about 10 CDs. All the CDs had ABBA written on top and the numerals 1 to 10 written underneath.
"I love ABBA. Select the CD that you want from the pack." he insisted.
"I don't listen to ABBA." was my response.
He turned around, looked at my face and exclaimed "What!". I am not quite sure what happened to the car in those few second (or minutes or hours, I am not sure which). But we seem to have again left behind a chaotic scene.
"Pick up CD four or five, whichever you like best. Both of them are good." he said.
I had no idea which songs they contained and as such I did not know anything about ABBA. I have always preferred the number five over four and so I picked it up and handed it over. Soon our vehicle was filled with the soothing sound of the ABBAs. I am not sure why I had not listened to them but now they seemed to be the best sounds I have heard in my whole life. I closed my eues and let my body rock to the crazy rhythms of the car as the beautiful music filled my ears and head.
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