The Polki Affair

Episode 2

“Are you alright, dear?” asked Maithili who had rushed over from the shop.

Startled, Saraswati struggled to free herself from the stranger’s strong embrace. As she fidgeted, the man suddenly let go. She stumbled a few steps back before she found her balance.

“I…I…I’m fine, Maithili,” stuttered Saraswati clumsily.

Her heart was now racing but she could not understand why. Her eyes went back up to the stranger at the entrance to the store. His steely gaze never left her face. Saraswati felt uneasy and she looked down.

As she did so, her handbag and its contents came into view. She gasped. Quickly, she went down on her knees and started picking up all the things. Everything had been strewn all over-her makeup, facial tissues, her precious lotus seed prayer beads, notebook, some nuts, her empty water bottle and her half-eaten samosa. Oh no, this is so embarrassing! she thought as she frantically shoved everything back into her bag.

She looked around for her cell phone. Unfortunately, her mobile had fallen into the road and Saraswati could only hopelessly watch as it disintegrated under Mumbai’s heavy traffic. Her smartphone was one of her most prized possessions. It had cost her an arm and a leg. She swallowed a lump in her throat and blinked back tears from her eyes.

Maithili followed her gaze and saw the dismantled cell phone lying on the road. The older lady understood why Saraswati was close to tears now. It had taken such a long time for her to raise the money to buy this phone and now it was destroyed. Quietly, Maithili made her way towards her younger friend and gave her a warm, comforting hug.

“Is there something wrong with your eyesight lady?! Don’t you look at where you are going?!” boomed the deep voice of the disgruntled man who was still standing at the entrance to the shop.

Saraswati abruptly released herself from the embrace. That thunderous voice had instilled great fear in her. She mustered all her courage to look up at the man. His chiselled features, visible behind the light beard covering his face, did little to hide his fury.

“I….I…I’m very sorry sir. I got distracted on my phone and….”

Saraswati’s apology was cut short when he bellowed out, “Stop wasting my time and get lost!”

Taken aback by the venomous words spewing out of his mouth, Saraswati opened her mouth to try and placate him but the man turned away. Maithili signalled for her to just keep quiet.

The other salesman, who had been attending to the angry man earlier, had not moved an inch. As soon as he turned towards him, the salesman called out, “Saraswati, may you please come in and assist Mr…..”

“Rathore…Rudra Rathore,” the man replied, a little calmer now.

Saraswati was shocked! She knew that there was a problem and that is why she had received the call to come immediately. The only time the staff of the shop asked her to attend to customers was when the customers complained about their products and had to vent out their anger. She was well aware that the rest of the staff of this jewellery shop did not like her but this….! How did they expect her to attend to this customer straight after the drama that had just taken place? Especially at that moment, when the stranger was probably more furious at her than whatever complaint had brought him to their shop. Despairingly, she breathed in deeply to calm herself before going in and confronting him.

Rudra, who had been expecting to see someone else come forward to talk to him, was surprised when he saw her coming towards him. He was about to shout at her when Maithili intervened, “She is Saraswati, the manager’s secretary.”

This silenced him but he glared at her in seething rage as he moved aside for her to go through.

When she passed him, Saraswati held her head up high with an outward show of confidence that she knew was false. There were butterflies in her stomach and her heart was beating so fast that she was sure he could hear it from where he was standing.

“Please….May you please follow me sir?” she said as she headed straight to the office she shared with the manager and owner, Mr Singh. She never checked to see if he was following her. Frankly, it would be better if he wasn’t, Saraswati hoped.