Finally got 'the' call !!!

Yesterday was the best day of my life!!!! It was just past 9A.M and I was sleeping blissfully unaware of how beautiful and rainy outside the window was when suddenly my phone buzzed to the life and jolted me out of the sleep. Mumbling and grumbling I got hold of my blackberry from the night stand and jabbed the green button without bothering to open my eyes.

"Hello?”

"Hmmmmm….”

“Am I talking to..er… Aadhya Oberoi?” a posh voice came from the other side.

“Yes!” Okay. So this is not a call from some telemarketing weirdo because no one absolutely no one had ever called me by my full name. That too in such a posh voice. Quickly I scrambled in the sitting position.

“This is Maria Janes calling from Glamour!” and my mouth hung open in a very unattractive way.

“Morning!” was all I could manage to croak.

“Morning” she beamed. “I was wondering can you drop by the Glamour’s office so that we could talk about your salary and most importantly the joining date”?

“Yeah sure! Shall I see you in an hour?”

“Actually I am going to fly out of the city in couple of hours. I shall see you day after tomorrow, Monday that is”.

“Of Course. So Monday it is!”

“Purrrrrrrfect!” she said and the phone went dead. I flipped the phone on the night stand and plopped down on the pillow. I was wondering did I just dream or did it really happen? Was it actually the call? Am I actually employed? When I was going through my wondering process I drifted back to the sleep and then it was only at 11:37 A.M when I finally woke up, rewind the call in my mind and realized that I didn’t dream.

After that call yesterday, I was in my best mood and spent rest of the day in my Pjs and in cleaning the apartment, vacuuming the sofa, stacking the glossies, preparing the grocery list and watching back to back best of Hollywood classics with chardonnay by my side.

Today is yet another beautiful day. It’s still raining outside and clouds are still dark. I am sitting in the wicker chair by the window of my apartment, tucking in my scrumptious Sunday breakfast of French toasts and reading the online New York Times (okay I am not all that smart, I just read fashion column or browse through the travel column to read about all the exotic places which I would probably never visit).    

Signing off:

Girl in the big city!!

                                                                                                                                                                               

Smiling ear to ear !!

                                                        

Clutching my purse close to my chest I entered in the Glamour’s office. The view was magnificent. The lobby was brightly lit, marble floor was shiny enough to let you see your face, the girl behind the reception desk was herself looking like a model and the air-conditioning was on full blast and I actually felt myself shivering.

As I was inching towards the reception desk I was feeling completely screwed. One, my hair was no better, Two, I had completely forgot everything I mugged for the interview. Man alive, this day would mark the end of my career and life.

“Morning!” I nearly whispered to the receptionist who was furiously typing away on her i-phone.

“What?” she looked up and gave me who-the-fuck-are-you gaze.

“I am here for the interview. I have called you like thirty minutes back to inform you that I would be bit late” I said in one breath.

“Oh. Yeah. So that’s you?” she eyed me head to toe. “Late for the interview? Not a good start girl” she grinned. Bitch!

“I am so sorry” I mumble.

“Wait. Let me call and check if they still want to interview you” What? What did she mean by if?

“You may go in” she said while replacing the receiver and before I can ask her for directions she was back to her i-phone.

I hate to disturb this cold bloodied bitch but I had no other option “Can you give the direction?” I asked in slightly higher tone.

"Straight then left, second room” she said without looking at me.

With trembling hands I knocked on the glass door. “Come in” came the voice from the other side.

As I walked inside the room, I saw a girl in her early thirties sitting in the large squishy chair and sipping her Costa. Her hair were brunette and she had got the nicest tan I had ever seen in my life. She was beautiful.

“Morning” she smiled at me and motioned me to sit in the chair across her.

“Morning” I beamed. Ohmygodwillshehireme?

Thirty minutes later, I was outside the editor-in-chief’s and was smiling ear to ear. My interview was awesome. She didn’t ask me anything but just general questions about my experience in Bombay, my past work and had look on my previously done articles. Everything was going fantastic until she asked the question which I feared the most. “Why did you leave your last job?” she asked. AND for once I decided tell the truth. If you have ever switched jobs you knew how big deal it is to tell you new employer about the truth of you last job.

“My ex-boss never trusted me enough”. Here I said it. I was afraid that after this she would never hire me but …….

"I’ll have Maria call you in couple of days and talk about the appointment letter” she said and to my horror I went all numb. When I walked out of her cabin and gazed around the swanky office, I couldn’t believe that in few days it will be my office too.

Signing Off:

Girl in the big city!!!

Awful Day!!!

“No no noooooooooooooooooooooooooo……how cou…… this can’t b……..holy fu…..” I couldn’t believe my eyes. How the hell could I let it happen? How the hell I overslept? How the bloody hell I was still under my duvet when I should have been sitting and waiting for my interview in Glamour’s office? Holly shit!

Jumping out of the bed, I ran towards my wardrobe and changed in the first thing I managed to grab. I picked up my bag, throw in all the things which could make me look like at least not lunatic, grabbed my resume from the coffee table and dashed out of the apartment with my shoes in other hand. Rushing down the stairs I forgot to put my shoes on and as I step out of my building, hoping to get a cab without much waiting all I say was “bullocks!”, the concert street under my naked foot was burning. Quickly I put on the shoes and without caring how awful I might have been looking standing in the middle of the buzzing road with my bird-nest hair on the clear and bright day, I screamed for cab again and again. And for once, I got the cab with in ten minutes.

Once in a cab, I hauled my phone and call the Glamour to let the receptionist know that I would be tiny bit late and when she says no issues, finally I took my first breath of this awesomely screwed up day. Finally I combed my hair, wiped my face with wet wipes, put on a bit of make-up, adjusted my dress, popped in few mint pills to kill that horse breath, went through my resume and when once again I reached in my bag for the zillionth time, I realized I forgot to carry my notes. The notes on which I have spent hours in preparing and which actually is a mini encyclopaedia of Glamour…I forgot to bring them with me. Without going through those notes I can’t answer a single question, I can’t get my job and no one absolutely no one on this earth can help me getting through this interview.

I was already horribly late which means I practically had no time to go back to the apartment and search for those notes. What will I do now?

Signing off:
Girl in trouble in a big city!

I am back!

One month. For one fucking month I had been away from my lappy and from this blog but things had been crazy at my end. I am deeply and terribly sorry for my absence. I know you guys want to know what happened with me after that call from Glamour. So I am going to pick up the story exactly from where I left it:

After that call I literally couldn’t sleep that night. Sitting on the couch, I went over and over about all kind of impressive and fancy things in my mind which I was going to say in my interview. I was so engrossed in preparing for the big day that I totally lost the track of the time and when my door bell rang past-midnight, it’s only then I checked time in my blackberry and almost fell from the sofa after realizing that it was nearly 4A.M and Priya hadn’t come back home. Hoping out of the sofa I rushed towards the door silently wishing it was Priya and loudly praying that she was safe and not had been murdered by some psycho killer.  Thank god! It was Priya but to my horror her face was red. Hang on was she blushing?

“Hey where had you been? I was so worried about you.” I lied through my teeth. Worried? Crap! Rather I totally forgot that Priya had gone out on a date with a guy she had never met before (of course digital chat doesn’t count!).

“But you didn’t call to check on me!” she said nonchalantly while kicking out her shoes and dropping her purse on the table before slumping on the sofa.

“How was the date?” ok. So I was going to behave neither I asked her about her whereabouts nor she caught me off guard.

“Oh! It was awesome. He was so gorgeous and amazing.” she blushed. Again.

“You bitch. Tell me everything” I said and she obediently poured out every single detail about her date. It was perfect with dinner at lavish restaurant followed by Champaign, walking on the deserted beach hand in hand, going back to his apartment and getting all cozy and dirty. Priya was glowing and it was after so many days I saw her happy. I was happy for her too, I swear but I flinched at the thought that it was just a kind of date I wanted throughout my life but never crossed path with one genuine guy.

“I am so happy for you” I hugged her and we giggled like teenagers.

“By the way what have you been up to? Why are you awake at this ungodly hour?” she asked while wandering her eyes over my lappy.

“You won’t believe what happened today” and I told her about the call.

“I can’t believe it. Oh girl! You are awesome. You are gonna kick their ass off. Let me tell you once you’ll be there they will beg you to take this position!” she flunked her arms on my shoulders and enveloped me in one big hug.

Once Priya changed into her tank-top and old track pants, I made her sit down on the bed and tell her about all the things I had prepared for the interview and after listening everything she said “fuck them all”. Switching off the lappy and (safely) putting away all the notes I had made for the interview, we plopped down on the bed and before dozing off I asked Priya one last question.

“Do you think I’ll get it?”

“No one deserves it more than you. You fit in there. I can see you in that swanky office, living your dream” she said and we blissfully dozed off.

Signing off:

Knackered but happiest girls in the big city!!

That one phone call !!

Hurrah!!!!

I got that call, that one call I have been dying to get and now it seems like (I) have been waiting for this for the eternity. Last night when I was slumped on my sofa, typing away the third chapters of my (to-be best seller but yet untitled) novel on my laptop while watching Friends on the T.V, my blackberry vibrated on the coffee table. First I tried to avoid looking at it as I didn’t want any disturbance in my creative flow but when it didn’t stop vibrating I shifted a bit on the sofa and got hold of it.

For initial two minutes I just kept listening to the woman on the other side of the phone while my mouth was hung open unattractively and making me suck all the oxygen from the room into my lungs.

“Hello, are u still there? Listening to me?” the woman on the other side of the phone asked me when I didn’t utter a word.

“ umm…yes..Of course I am here. Yes I have heard everything you said” I said in a small voice.

“Ok. So can I expect you here day after tomorrow at …er… 10 A.M?” she asked in a highly professional voice.

“Yes. I would love to come. I’ll be there at sharp 10 o’clock” I said.

“That’s great. I will message you the address then. Have a good night” she said and in two straight seconds I heard click from the other side. I put my phone back on the table, wriggled out myself from the fake woolen throw, put the laptop on the sofa and walked to the window.

Did it happen? Really? Did that girl actually said that she was calling from Glamour? Did she really ask me to come for an interview at Glamour’s office? Was I hallucinating? NO! Of course not. My phone did vibrate for the real. Didn’t it? I did pick the call and talked to someone, someone in real. Didn’t I? It can’t be a dream.

‘Ok. Calm down. Have a glass of water, sit down and think about it’ I instructed myself. Hell with the water, I walked back towards the sofa and flop down on it. Staring at my blackberry I thought about the day when I came across this opening of assistant copy editor in Glamour and applied for it but I was confident that there was no way I was gonna get in there. But today I got the call. That means…that means……..ohmygod…that means I have a chance to have that position in Glamour for real. I could be It girl only if I could get through this interview.

I quickly pressed ctrl+s on my word document and closed the half written chapter of my book. Quickly I opened the Glamour website and dived into even the minute details on the website.

Good Night? What did she think that I was gonna sleep after this most critical call of my life? No! She was wrong. I am going to prepare for it so hard that once I will be there they’ll beg me to join their magazine. HA!

 Signing off:

Girl over moon in the big city!!

Silly Me!!!

After that strange night at Marine Drive, next morning I woke up with an empty heart, ailing tummy and a heavy head in a messy flat. I and Priya spent the entire day in cleaning up my apartment and throwing away the take away boxes and empty vodka bottles. By 5 in the evening we were bored to death despite of hours of mindless T.V watching.   It had to end. We can’t live up our entire lives in a rented apartment, eating take always, slumping on the sofa watching T.V, without any job or boyfriend and cribbing about our imperfect lives.

So that evening when Priya was out on her first blind date after her break up with Him, I decided to put an end to all the reasons of endless cribbing and settled on the purple vintage chair which I bought few months back from a local market with my laptop and a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows (to make myself comfortable at my new job).

When I tear away my eyes from the laptop, I noticed it was 8 p.m. in the wall clock. I had been writing for 3 bloody hours and didn’t notice once. To be very very honest I don’t know what have I exactly written! I myself felt tempted to read it just to know what the hell I was thinking when I was taping away on the keyboard but I remember reading somewhere that every writer should leave the piece of writing to settle on its own before reading it again. Hence I decided to do the same and snapped my lappy shut.

I wasn’t hungry so I decided to take a walk, a proper walk. I fished in my handbag for an i-pod and pop in the ear plugs while walking out of the apartment. I took the keys along with me as Priya was not going to be home any time soon. Without thinking I started walking in the cool evening breeze of Mumbai. It’s always like this, grilling hot in day and cool in evening. After walking few blocks god knows what went into me and I decided to take a walk to the Marine Drive. Ok. I am lying here. What I really thought was to go there and see if I could bump into that stranger once again. I know I know I am sounding total crazy but it’s who I am, a crazy girl.

No one. There was absolutely no one by the sea except few street vendors and noisy ocean waves. How stupid I was to think that I had a chance to bump into a guy, whom I never saw before last night probably won’t see ever again and didn’t even know his name.  Silly me!

And after taking in the view of the slightly unsettled sea for good ten minutes, I walked back home. Sometimes living in a big city on your own drives you crazy and always keeps you on a look out for someone with whom you can talk your heart out.

 Signing off:

Crazy girl in the big city

I have no idea who was he?

Amazing! This year we had a best Christmas ever. Two single girls, one sofa, plenty of food, tones of vodka and first season of SATC, life couldn’t get better. At exact eight o’clock I and Priya laid all the food on the coffee table, I haul out the carton of Absolute from under the bed, she put the CD of SATC in the player, we slumped back on my sofa in living room in our cotton PJs and let the party began.   

If I am not wrong than it was around 12:30 A.M when we had decided to grab the cab and go to Marine Drive for a late night stroll. So without wasting anytime, we grabbed out sweatshirts and left my flat. Though it was quite late by now but we managed to find the cab without much fuss and in no time we were standing on Marine Drive and surprisingly we were not alone. There were hell lots of people out there by the sea, dancing and celebrating Christmas.

We decided to sit on the wall few yards away from the crowd. We were talking about our future strategies of getting our life back on the track when I felt someone towering on us.  Before I could turn around to question this stranger, I found him flopping by my side and I clutched Priya’s hand tightly. I had heard several times that this city is not so safe anymore but this was the first time when I felt actually scared.

“So” he said in a posh voice while his eyes were fixed on the silent waves in the sea.

“Hmm ?” I looked at him suspiciously. He was all six feet long, pale white skin, very striking jaw line, stunning bone structure and chocolate brown eyes.  Under the moon light he was looking ridiculously beautiful. As he turned to look at me I realized he was drunk but very much conscious.

“What two beautiful girls are doing here sitting alone at this time of night? What could it be?” he asked before taking a sip from Kingfisher beer cane in his hand.

“Sorry but I reckon it’s none of your business” I heard myself saying while my pulses were running wild.

“Yeah! Whatever” he shrugged before leaning towards me and whispering in my hair “It’s not safe here”. I felt my feet gone cold, who was he? Some psycho killer? I had no bloody idea and all I was doing is staring him with wide eyes while he was staring back at me with those mesmerizing pair of eyes. Before I could open my mouth to say something, he jumped on his feet and walked away and before I can blink my eyes he was lost in the crowd. Without wasting any time I and Priya stood up and hail the cab for my apartment.

In last five days all we had done is cleaning out my apartment so that we can make some space for Priya and her luggage. While I had done extensive research about job openings, Priya had registered herself on various dating websites. After that night in Marine Drive, we decided to have a quite New Year at home with Pizza, Hot chocolate and “The Notebook” minus any late night stroll.

I have to accept here that after that night I hadn’t had a moment when I didn’t really think about that stranger.  Who was he?

Signing Off:

Two single girls in a big city!!