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!!

  

   

Why it happened?

When Priya told me that she couldn’t have dinner with me because she was going out with Him for a cocktail party, I won’t lie but I didn’t feel good…Nah it’s not about her but about me. I loved Priya like a sister, a soul mate since the day I met her and I was beyond happy when she got engaged with Him but between all the time I spent with her in talking, eating, drinking, bitching and shopping, I knew that the day she will be married I would be alone once again and now that time was approaching near at the supersonic speed. But never in my dream I wished or thought that something this awful could happen to her at this moment.

Next day I woke up and decided to pamper myself rather than sitting in my apartment feeling miserable and making unsuccessful plans. Hence I quickly ran the hot bath and headed for Juice and felt immediately better after getting chopped and then couldn’t help but stopped by every mirror I passed and admire my new layered look for the entire day. I was actually feeling much better and after so many days have managed to look quite decent.

It was comparatively a pleasant day and bit windy as well so I decided to go for a walk after take away dinner. After walking few blocks I stopped at Marine Drive and sat on the side wall of the Indian Ocean. It was looking heart stopping in the night with all the lights of the city reflecting in the ocean. Water was stretched over the thousands of kilometers in front of me and it was surprisingly very quite. It was site to behold. If you stay in this city and don’t remember sitting by the Ocean in the night, than you haven’t lived a life in the pure Mumbai way. I was here for good few hours so I bought a cup of coffee from a nearby street vendor and as I was about to take a sip of the aromatic coffee, my blackberry buzzed in my pocket.

It was Priya. I didn’t hear from her the entire day.

“Hey” she said in a low voice and in that moment I knew something was wrong.

“Hey what’s wrong sweetheart?”

“Everything is over” she managed to say before bursting into most painful sobs I have ever heard and before I could say another word, I realized that my phone had gone dead. Panicked I called her zillion times but she didn’t pick up. Throwing the coffee cup away, I rose on my feet, rushed towards the main road and dashed in a first cab which pulled by my side.

Fifteen minutes drive to her and Him’s flat seemed like hours. Finally when cab pulled by her building, I thrust money in cab driver’s hand (I didn’t know how much it was) and ran towards her flat. After ringing her door bell several times, door finally clicked open and I saw Priya looking sick standing in front of me. From her swollen eyes I could tell that she didn’t sleep from quite a good measure of time and was crying more than couple of dozen hours.

“What…” Priya flung her arms around me, dragged me inside and then buried her flustered face in my neck and sobbed uncontrollably. I was numb, didn’t know what happen and why. I came back into my senses only when I heard myself sobbing.

“What happen?” I asked in a trembling low voice and Priya told me everything about Him’s girlfriend who met her last night in a cocktail party and how much time Him and that bitch was spending together whenever he is off the work which he practically is never as told to Priya. All of his business trips were not more than fucking lusty trips with that bitch girlfriend of him. Priya and Him had a particularly nasty row last night and he wasn’t a bit sorry about his act of shame rather was trying to defend himself.  

I packed all her stuff and dragged her out of the flat. We waited few minutes outside her building in a total silence and then hailed a cab to my flat.

It’s been a week since then and we stayed in my flat for the entire time. We cried, ate, drink and watched endless movies. Every day Priya ate more than 4000 calories which are allowed as per the post break up rule and I pour as much Vodka as available in my stock for us. In the last week I tried never to bring my own no-job-issue between us rather heard everything she had to say.

Today it’s Christmas and I and Priya are in full mood to let the misery go out of our life and celebrate this gorgeous day. We have made cookies, decorated tree yesterday and today we are going to make mince pie and cake, I mean of course Priya is going to bake but heyyy I will decorate.

P.S: our issues are still unsolved but they can wait. Let the holy spirit of Christmas take toll on us and let the Santa take all the troubles away.  

Merry Christmas! xxx

Signing off:

Two girls with each other in the big city!!

Bullocks schedule !!!

Holy Crap! Bullocks schedule! Zillion Whammy(s)!

Nothing went as per the schedule and if it’s not enough than I would love to tell you that I am almost physically challenged now. For starter, I woke up terribly later i.e 10 A.M and then I had to kick, push and literally dragged myself towards the washroom. Having spent good half n hour in changing into my gym gear: royal purple t-shirt, black track pants and incredibly beautiful pink trainers, I finally made my way towards the Gym. I walked seven blocks under the scorching sun (Bullocks!) and then I have done the blunder of the century by getting down to the hard core cardio without stretching (and gap of solid two months) which left me nearly physically challenged, now I couldn’t walk, stand and lie down without saying f**k off, hence I had to grab the cab, threw myself on the back seat and then was helped by my building’s watchman rather a very kind man who helped me to get down from the cab and walked me to my flat. As I let myself inside the apartment I flopped down on the sofa and had to push the thought of actually cooking any breakfast for myself.  

It was just past 2 P.M when some peculiar sound knocked me out of the sleep. Lying there I concentrated on the voice and it didn’t take me long to realize that my stomach was rumbling. I mustered all my strength and scrabbled in the sitting position, grabbing menu from the coffee table, I haul my blackberry out of my track’s pocket and ordered daal-naan and then slowly and steadily made my way to the bathroom and ran the boiling bath which seemed to subside my pain up to a very small yet acknowledgeable extant.

In evening I dragged the spare fake lather chair by the French and only window of my apartment and settled there with a pot of coffee and laptop to start my novel. After spending fairly forty minutes I managed to write only two lines (which I myself not liking much) and then lost concentration as it was just too noisy outside the window, Horns were honking, children were playing and birds must had decided to irritate me with their shrilling and peculiar voices. By the time I thought about shifting me and my laptop to the bed I realized that it was already 7:15 P.M i.e time to call Priya.  

“I would love to but I am sorry I can’t” Priya said when I called her to make dinner plan for the day.

“But why can’t you come?” I asked.

“I and him are going out for a cocktail party of his most prestigious client so far. I am sorry” Him is an investor banker, utterly boring, over educated, extra smart and way too irritating and now friend snatcher as well.

“Ok. Enjoy” I said disheartened. After the horrendous day I wasn’t expecting this. Not the least.

“I am really sorry” Priya said in a small voice.

“It’s fine. I will manage. You go and have fun.” I hung the phone and suddenly feeling of loneliness and sadness engulfed me.

I have no job, I can’t go back to my parents because if I would tell them that I lied to them and was working for a fashion magazine not for some bank, they will kill me. I have only one friend in this city and she too is busy with her fiancé and soon would disappear from the radar as soon as she will get married. I am happy for her but feel sorry for myself. Wiping tears, I rose and walked to the kitchen, made nutella sandwich(s) and once again flopped on the sofa and watched re-run of SATC and don’t exactly remember when I fell asleep.

Signing Off :
Lonely girl in the big city!!

Getting Control!

I can’t believe that it’s been a week since I am out of job. In last seven days I haven’t done a single thing, my apartment is a sigh and I look like some lonely, jilted Bridget Jones moaning over my unemployment if not over a bottle of wine but surely over the huge quantity of bread, eggs, nutella, coffee and Reese’s butter cupcakes.  Having said that I think I am not all that lonely as Priya makes a point to visit my flat every single day to check upon me aka to see if I have shoved a fist full of Vicoden in my gob or simply beat myself up if not to death then at least in coma. Typical of her.  

This morning when I woke up with a usual headache, I decided to pull myself together and out of this misery and take my shattered, wandered and nearly spoiled life in my hands, once again. I fished for writing pad and pen in my night stand drawer which I usually use to make weekly list of groceries and necessities and pined it on my refrigerator door but never get around looking at it even until after two weeks let alone going out to shop for them.

As I flapped open the hard bound cover of the pad, I quickly leaf through the already doodled pages and searched for the fresh page to pen down my yesterday’s schedule on one page and my today’s schedule on next page.

My yesterday’s schedule (which was same for any other day in the past week):

9 A.M: Get up and brush my teethes
9:15 A.M: Make myself some a pot of coffee
9:30 A.M: Drink that coffee for another half-hour back to back
10 A.M: Make myself some breakfast aka Bread-egg
10:15A.M: flopped down on the sofa with my breakfast plate and tuned into old episodes of Friends back to back
2P.M: Order Chinese from a local restaurant just down the block
2:30 P.M: Eat the lunch and put on the first season’s episode CD of SATC and watch episodes’ back to back
8 P.M: Order Chinese from the local restaurant just down the block
8:10 P.M: Have hot shower
8:30 P.M: Eat dinner
8:40 P.M: Watch the recorded episodes of ‘The real housewives of New Jersey’ and polish couple of butter cupcakes
12A.M: Cry myself to sleep- I have no job, what will I do tomorrow?

 My new Schedule for tomorrow (and hopefully for upcoming days as well)

8A.M: Wake up, brush my teethes and change into gym gears
8:10 A.M: Go to gym
9:30 A.M: Come from gym and eat breakfast
10A.M: Get shower and get dressed in clean PJs and comfy T-shirt
10:30 A.M: Sort out my hair
11 A.M: Brows web and go through newspaper and look for the new job
1P.M: Update FB, Twitter- remain socially active
2P.M: Order Chinese from the local restaurant just down the block
2:30 P.M: Eat lunch
2:45 P.M: Watch recorded episodes of Fabulous Cakes
4:00 P.M: Have a power nap at least for an hour
5:00 P.M: Make myself some tea and set up with my laptop by the French and only window of my apartment and start working on a novel I wanted to write only god knows since when.
7:30 P.M: Call Priya and arrange to meet her for dinner
7:35 P.M: Get dressed
10:00 P.M: come back home, change and watch some good rom-com movie preferable Breakfast at Tiffany’s while munching fistful of stuffed Olives
12:00 A.M: Doze Off!

 PERFECT!

 Signing off:

Girl in control in the big city!!!

I don't need pity!

Next morning when I was awake and still lying in my bed debating whether or not should I climbed out of the bed, as I was failed to figure out one good reason to go in the shower, my debate was interrupted by the loud banging on the front door of the apartment. For a moment I considered to ignore it but with every passing second the banging was getting louder and shriller. Throwing aside the duvet, I dragged myself out of the warm bed and pushed myself towards the door. Usually it takes me only thirty seconds to reach the front door but today it took me ninety seconds.

“Have you died or what?” Priya shrieked as I yanked open the door.

“Lower down your voice. My head is bursting” I walked back towards the kitchen counter as she slammed the door shut before following me inside the apartment.

“Adhaya! Where is your phone? Why is it switched off?? Do you have any idea how many times have I tried to call you and how worried was I when I didn’t get hold of you? You little bimbo!” She tetchily asked me.

“Look I am already stressed and by asking all this questions you are really freaking me out” I said sternly. “My phone is somewhere there shoved in the sofa. It is switched off because I don’t wish to hear all those “poor you” and “don’t be upset” and “everything will be fine” things from you and anyone else. I don’t need your pity!” I added haughtily. There was an awkward silence before Priya opened her moth again.

“Couldn’t you wait in office for me to I arrive? I would have walked you home. AND I do not pity you for your information. I was just being worried for you!” she crocked and suddenly I felt bad for being so rude to her in the first place.

“Don’t worry for me. Damage has been done. I will sort it out…at least I hope to sort it out” I said and before I could knew a single fat tear rolled out on my left cheek. Priya stepped closer to me and dragged me in a hug. “Don’t cry…we will sort it out” she said in a shivering voice. Whenever she tries too hard to not to cry, her voice shivers and her nose turns into strange color of red.

“How? I have ruined it with my hands. I am such an emotional fool. What will I do now? How will I pay the rent? Who will give me another job?” I heard myself saying still locked inside the safest arms on the planet.

“Don’t think about it just now. We have plenty of time to worry about all the things. Right now what all you need is just a good cup of coffee and tons of breakfast. You know you are allowed to eat yourself to death under the crucial circumstances like after being dumped or sudden unemployment” she said innocently and I couldn’t resist letting a little laugh to escape from my trembling lips. “Now you just go and wash your face and I will cook you a good breakfast” Priya walked me to the bathroom and gave me a half hug before turning on her Aldo’s and clattering towards the kitchen.

“Don’t you think it seriously bit too much of the breakfast?” I asked while taking the plate from the table loaded with three egg-white’s omelet, two brown bread slices with Nutella all over them and a portion of garlic bread and settled on the sofa.

“I bet you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday and you must be practically starving by now” Priya placed the pot of coffee and two mugs on the table, flopped on the sofa just next to me and started munching on her toast while letting all the bread crumbs falling on her beautiful UCB green chiffon dress.

“To be honest I didn’t eat from a night before yesterday when I went out with Vikrant” as I said his name, all the things from that night came flooding back in my mind.

“Hey! What exactly had happened?” She asked gingerly and while shoving one thing and then the other in my mouth from my plate, I told her entire story all over again. And strangely I felt much lighter. Priya had been a great listener, she listened to me without any ‘awwwwwwwwwwws’, ‘ooooooohhhhhs’ and ‘shits’ much to my relief.

“Hmmmm….Don’t worry we will sort it out” Priya threw her hands around my shoulders and by the look of her eyes I knew she meant it. “Coffee?” she said extracting herself from me and leaning on the table to fill the mugs.

“I love you” once again I felt tears in my eyes. I always knew Priya would always be there whenever I need her but today when she was here sitting on my sofa and munching bread with me while listening my unemployment story, I felt maybe my life is not all that bad.

“I love you too babes” she said and passed me my mug.

Signing off:

Unemployed girl in the big city!!

No more tears!

How did it happen? Where things went wrong? What did I do? What will I do now? What will I say to my parents? What will Priya say on my out-of-the-blue-unemployment? Why on the earth I overreacted on this rebound thing when I myself was just playing this dating game for the sake of my job and increased salary? How will I pay the rent now? How will i….. Oh gosh! I am getting mad. In last four hours I have asked these questions zillion times to myself but have failed to figure out even one answer. I have ruined my career and my life.

I am sitting on my sofa still in this way too frilly yellow frock, looking awful and feeling cold. I exactly don’t remember walking out of the Natasha’s office after getting myself fired and reaching home. Did I walk? Hail the cab? Grab the train? I don’t know. I don’t know anything other than the reality and reality is that I am fired and sitting in my studio apartment and now I have no idea what will I do. I didn’t realize how long I have been sitting on the sofa without moving a single muscle until my phone brings me back to life. I fish in my old battered Tommy Hilfiger bag (which I bought in my good old days i.e when I had a job) and haul out my BlackBerry. It’s Vikrant calling. Without allowing myself a moment I hit the red button, switched it off and shove it inside the sofa. I never ever wish to hear from him. Ever again. I can feel hot tears pressing at back of my eyes; initially I try to swallow them back but then think better off and let them drip down in my lap. I want to let myself cry, yell, feel like a shit. Maybe it will teach me how not to ruin my life if I ever get around to built it again and use my brain instead of my daft heart be it in my personal life or professional life. Though as of now both of them are in tatter, spoiled and nearly finished.

After crying for solid twenty minutes, I drag myself towards the bed, en-route remove the hair band and dash it out of the window. Throwing myself on the bed, I pull the duvet over my head and let myself engulf in sadness. I don’t remember how long but I let myself cry until there are no more tears to roll out from my puffy eyes, my throat is soar and all I could manage is to sob , sob until my throat aches some more and my heart beats little more slower. I won't even mind if it stops right now beacuse it's hurting more with every heart beat.

Signing off:

Fired girl in the big city!!

How could it happen??

After that horrendous evening next day I woke up around ten-ish and by now the seven coats of (gorgeous) M.A.C mascara which I applied last night in the office bathroom had melted down on my face, my hair was bird nest and my eyes were all puffy and I WAS LATE. Somehow I dragged myself out of the duvet and pushed myself towards the bathroom, stripping off the cloths; I turn the shower on and let the hot water ran through my exhausted body. My mind was blank but my eyes were filled with disgustingly salty liquid. After last night I didn’t know what to think, whom to talk or even where to put myself after making utter fool out of myself.  Turning the shower off, I stepped out of the bathroom cubicle, padded towards my wardrobe and changed into yellow frilly frock which I bought few months back while strolling on the fashion street but never dared to wear. It was frilly, way too frilly. But today who cares, today I was feeling horrible and now I was looking one.

I reached office at ten past eleven A.M and walked straight to the Natasha’s cabin; let myself count to three before knocking on the slightly ajar door.

“Yeah! Come in” Natasha’s shrill voice came from the other side of the door.

“Hey. Morning” I managed to display a faint smile as I stepped in.

“Morn…eww….. What do you think where are you? In a park for a picnic?” her eyebrows were woven together and she was looking at me closely with narrow eyes from head to toe and everything in between.

“I don’t know what you are talking about” I said blankly.

“What with this frock, those havains and that hair band? Do you have even a vaguest of idea that we are in office and we are trying to work here? I will be happy if you stop behaving and dressing up like sixteen years old and seriously do some work” She growled, her eyes over her Gandhi spectacles were piercing through my body.

“Work is what I come to talk about” I was trying very hard not to look in her eyes because I knew the moment I would look up I won’t be able to tell even my own name.

“Really? What is it?” her face softened and I could see her invisible fangs going back in her mouth.

“Natasha, I can’t do this blog thing. I know you are thinking that I am not responsible enough to even take my job seriously but trust me it is not true. I tried very hard to get this blog done until the last night when I came across the fact that the guy I was dating for the sake of this job just considers me a rebound. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t meet him again.” I explained everything in one go, successfully avoiding her gaze and even when I was saying those words I could feel lump in my dry throat.

“Who do you think am I?” she shrieked and I could feel anger rising in her voice.

“Sorry!” I croak.

“I knew from the very first day I knew that whoever this guys you were talking about doesn’t even exist. You were making all this nonsense stories. That was the reason why you didn’t hand me down the entries. And now when you had to give me some solid write ups, you have failed to work out and now you are giving me this stupid excuse…” She was shooting me daggers.

“But Nats…..” I tried to defend but she did let me speak. “ You filthy bitch, if you had been so serious about your job, you would have found another man to date with, to save your job but no you are standing here looking like a nightmare, utter shame to this magazine and ranting in front of me” she screeched. What? How could she call me bitch? How could she even think that I was not serious about my job? The job for which I lied to my parents, the job for which I am staying in this big city all alone instead of the fact that I am scared to sleep in the dark and I just can’t cook a decent meal for myself not even for once or I don’t even have enough friends to talk to. She couldn’t be fucking serious.

“Natasha you are taking it completely in a wrong directing. I love my job and I am damn serious about it” I howled.

“I wish, I just wish the later could be true but whatever…. I can’t let the people like you stay in this magazine given when we are seriously thinking about restructuring and taking this magazine to the whole new and much higher level!” she said in a dangerously calm voice.

“Wha…What… What do you mean by that?” I certainly would have heard it wrong. It couldn’t happen.

“Adhaya! You have been a big disappointment to me and to this magazine. I can’t let things run like this in here. I am sorry but you have to go. You are fired.” She said.

“What?”

“Go and gather your stuff and then you are free to walk out”

“Natasha you can’t do it”

“It’s done. Goodbye!”

Signing off:

Once again girl in the tears in the big city!!

I am hurt!

When I left the office at Tuesday evening, it was still raining outside. Stepping out on the pavement I yank opened my aqua-blue umbrella which was hiding somewhere deep down in my hand bag. When you live in the city like Mumbai you can’t step out of your house without handy umbrella because you never know when the scorching sun will be shoved back by the grey clouds and when the harmful UV rays would be replaced by horrendous thunderstorm.

Nevertheless, after waiting for good twenty minutes and waving my hands frantically in the middle of the road for several times I finally managed to hail the cab at almost the double rent. By the time driver pulled the cab outside the Hard Rock Café I was 200 INR down. Bloody mugger! As I climbed out of the cab I saw Vikrant walking towards the café entrance.

“Oui!” I waved as he stopped and turned to face me. He was looking heart-stopping gorgeous in blue Levi’s and black shirt. How on earth he always managed to look this amazing. Gosh! I couldn’t remember when was the last time when I looked stunning, let alone effortlessly stunning. HA!

“Hey!” he gave me quick peck on the cheeks. Well, I didn’t think it was a quick peck because he lingered on my left cheek a bit longer. He smelt David Off. Together we ventured inside the café and housed on the table at the extreme right just few meters away from the live performance area.

“Sorry. I couldn’t come to pick you up!” he said.

“It’s all right. Nothing big. Trust me.” I waved my hand nonchalantly. “I am sure whatever occupied you must had been very important”.

“No. Not really.” Was it only I who think or did he really flinch? After ordering beer for himself and orange juice for me, he asked me about my day and I told him how humanly Natasha talked to me today much to my surprise.

“Enough about me. How was your day?” I asked as our order arrived.

“It was ok. It could be bad but somehow I managed to keep it ok” he flinched again. What was it? What was the problem with this drop-dead handsome hunk?

“Sorry. I didn’t really understand how it could bad! Is everything all right?” I asked gingerly.

“Yeah! It’s just my ex. She stopped by my flat today and we had this huge fight and she really did put me off. That was the reason I text you that I couldn’t come because she was there the whole day, fighting, arguing and strangely defending herself” he tutted and rest of his words fell faintly on my ears after the word ex, his ex. Crap!  

“ummm…”I squawked.

“Anyway, I was so looking forward to meet you. Meeting you always made me feel so relaxed” he smiled and I couldn’t know how to react. I was still trying to process what he just said about his ex.

“What exactly happened between you and….your ex?” I silently patted myself for being so brave to get the words out without stammering. What was wrong with me? Why was I feeling so sad?

“Oh! I didn’t realize you are still thinking about her. Well I usually don’t go in details about my past relations but since you ask…… Well she cheated on me with her best friend’s fiancé in my apartment, in my room when I was away in Thailand for an assignment” he said and I sat there, letting this information sink in.

Somehow I managed to gulp down my orange juice and before he could order the main course I had to pretend I was unwell and literally ran from the café without giving him chance to utter a single word. I couldn’t sit there and look at him!

Sitting in the cab I couldn’t help but let tears rolled out from my eyes. I mean I knew I was only on the second date with this guy whom I didn’t know until one month back  but just the thought that I was the bloody rebound thing for him sent the shiver down my spine. Off course even I was dating him just for the sake of my job and there was just nothing between me and him but I didn’t know why but I couldn’t believe that the entire time when we met or talked, he was just talking or meeting to me to take his mind off, I was simply nobody to him.

I can’t do this. I can’t meet or talk to him again no matter what. Tomorrow first thing in the morning, I will tell Natasha that I can’t do this blog thing. Damn! I don’t know why on earth I am feeling hurt when there was nothing serious between us. And why am I even crying? ‘For fuck sake stop being a weeper and get control of yourself’ I am yelling at me but it seems that my mind has choose not to listen to me and my heart has choose to keep going back to every detail of this awful evening again and again and again.

Signing off:
Girl in tears in the big city!!!

I am beyond happy!

I was right! I was just so damn right. After that good night sleep, next day I woke up around seven-ish which meant that I had two solid hours to write my first write up before I could go through my regular rituals of getting ready for the office.

As soon as I sprang out of the bed, i brew myself a pot of coffee, walked back to the room, opened the only french window in the apartment and sat by it with my laptop on the floor.  I re-ran the entire date in my mind and wrote about it in as much fancy manner as I could, though I tempted to add few raunchy details-which-didn’t-happen but the first rule of being a good writer is never write what never happened unless you are writing a fiction but here I was writing about my life, my romantic life, so I couldn’t lie. It was against the rule.

After successfully writing good enough write-up I managed to reach office just in time and now I am pretending to do the research work for “How to know that your man is cheating on you?” article for the next month’s issue on my computer while actually trying to find directions to Hard Rock Café. Earlier Vikrant was supposed to pick me up from the office but this morning when I was standing in front of Natasha while she was reading my write-up my phone vibrated in my hand and I managed to peep in my inbox only to found that Vikrant couldn’t come to pick me up and i have to reach there on my own. It was bit too upsetting as I was in no mood to roam around the city in this awful rain but I didn’t have any other option. Did I? Observing my gaze on my blackberry Natasha cleared her throat to bring my wandered mind back to her office.

“This is good” she said in a voice which was completely against her opinion.

“Thanks. I am glad you liked it.” I was beyond happy because as far as I could remember this was the first time when she actually said something good about my work. Though I know how much troubled she must had felt while getting those words out.

“Nevertheless, where is another one?” she looked straight in to my eyes.

“You said you need them by Wednesday morning which is tomorrow. The second one will be on your table, first thing in the morning.” I beamed.

“Ok. Go back to work.” She said.

What? Is that it? Is she alright? I mean she didn’t bark or humiliated me which is the part of her usual day. Is she in some kind of trouble? Is she in pain? Did she break-up with her hot-shot PR boyfriend? Whatever, I am glad that she didn’t spoil my day or my mood. Now for the rest of the day I didn’t have to see her face and I am beyond happy about this as well. Now I can go through the rest of the day, relaxing, twitting, facebooking and er….yes doing that research work as well before going out on the date. This day is fab.

 Signing Off:

Girl at ease in the big city!!!

I need some good night sleep!

It’s 10 P.M and I am sitting on my bed in my old mauve raw-silk pajamas with my legs stretched out in front of me, laptop carefully placed over my knees, Domino’s take away on my side, Notting Hill playing on T.V and blank mind. It’s been three hours and I have tried every single thing to relax my mind and hammer out few thousand words for those two bloody blog entries but nothing is happening, nothing is coming to my mind. When I came home after office earlier this evening, I threw my stuff on the sofa and walked straight to the bathroom, kicked out my shoes and jumped for the hot-water bath, then I made myself some coffee, slumped back on the sofa, placed the laptop on the table in front of me, switched it on and before it could show sparkling gold Louboutins wallpaper on the screen, I slept.

It was five past nine when the shrill voice of my blackberry brought me back to the life. Without looking at the screen I flipped open the phone. It was Vikrant. VIKRANT!!

“Hey” I scrabbled in sitting position.

“Hi. I hope I am not disturbing you.” He said in his usual husky voice.

“No. No. Not at all. I was ..er…just sleeping.” When the hell I slept?

“Sleeping? At 9 on the Monday night? Is everything fine?” He asked.

“Yeah! Everything is fab” shit! “I was just bit exhausted so thought of catching up on some sleep” I retort. No. Noooooooo. How could I sleep when I was supposed to work?

“Oh. I got it.” He chuckled.

“So. What this call is all about?” I asked gingerly trying very hard not to sound rude. I mean I was little pissed because of my sleep-at-the-very-wrong-hour-of-the-very-wrong-day thing or may be after last Sunday when Priya canceled my date without telling me, I wasn’t expecting him to call.

“umm…..i was wondering if we could meet up tomorrow and grab some coffee? Of course after your office!” He agog. “Actually, My shoot for tomorrow has cancelled and I have plenty of time so I thought if we could meet up!”

What? After that day I wasn’t even sure that he would ever call me but here he didn’t only call but was asking me out. Again.

“Yes! We can meet. Definitely we can.” I sang.

“Ok. I will pick you up at 7 p.m from your office.”

“Deal.” I hung up and immediately dialed Domino’s.

 Now I have a date which means I can use it very well for my second blog post but what about the first? I am so damn sure that on our first coffee date Vikrant did most of the talking and it was all about his work. There was nothing romantic or erotic we talked so what the hell am I suppose to write for my first blog post? I don’t think anyone on the earth would want to know that how fabulously painful it could be to fly from one country to another country on a very short notice. Well, you know I think that I am stressing too much about this blog thing, may be if I give myself a comfortable and relaxed night tonight then I reckon I could write anything tomorrow with fresh mind. May be tomorrow when I woke up after good night sleep, I could write oodles for this blog. Yes, this is it. I am not going to stress anymore and now I am gonna close my lappy and going to watch Notting Hill and will leaf through latest issue of Vogue before I lull myself into good night sleep.

Signing off:

Girl in old pjs in big city!!!

Why she hates me?

“In my cabin. NOW!” Natasha shrieked from the other side of the phone. I just didn’t understand why she had to be such a bitch all the time, especially on Monday mornings when it was already so tough to concentrate on work after forty-eight hours long weekends. I didn’t remember when was the last time when she asked me to come in her office nicely and discussed about my highly prestigious column over a cup of coffee. Ok. I might not write about political scandals or unravels some sensational support-person’s affairs but I did write about relationships, fashion and other lifestyle issues which were not an ounce less important for a common human being on this earth. Whatever! I was sure she must have had thought about some or the other thing to yell at me like maniac only to made my already miserable life, zillion times more miserable.

I mean look at last week, I had this fabulous date with Vikrant and amazing evening with Priya but then next day she came up with this Sod The Men thing and made me cancel my second date with Vikrant for which I was heart-stoppingly happy till Saturday morning and had secretly thought about all the possible reasons that I could have given Priya and sneak out in the evening without letting her know that I was going out with Vikrant. But everything crashed upside down when Vikrant called me in the evening and Priya picked up the phone when I was away in bathroom giving myself very relaxing manicure and  without even asking or telling me she told him that I was busy and couldn’t make it tonight and even hijacked my phone so I couldn’t call him back.

“Give me my phone Priya! Just let me call him once” I mustered my calmest tone but inside I was burning and wanted to scream at the top of my lungs WHAT THE HELL YOU THINK YOU HAVE DONE.

“HA! Forget it kiddo” she said and stomped to the kitchen to made us Maggie, leaving me standing in the hallway like five year old kid who had been just told that you can’t get an ice-cream because you haven’t done your homework properly.  Urghhhhh…. I wanted to kill me. It was the first time when I was asked out on second date, not that I threw myself in it and Priya ruined everything. It all happened coz of her fiancé; I just wanted to throttle him with cotton balls for ruing my life/career indirectly.

“Adhaya! I have been waiting for you from last fifteen minutes. Have you died or what?” Natasha yelled from her cabin. Pushing back all the dreadful thoughts of Saturday, I jumped on my feet and marched up towards her cabin.

“Hey! Natasha. How are you?” I asked casually.

“Oh. I am amazing” she beamed one of that who-the-hell-you-think-you-are-to-ask-me-about-my-well-being smile. “I wonder what’s up with you?” she asked.

“I am good. Everything is great” I smiled.

“Really? Then why haven’t you updated me on your blog research?” she asked.

“Oh. I am working on it” I said gingerly.

“Really?” she raised her eyebrows as if she didn’t believe a single word I said. “So you are saying you have already found a man?”.

“Yes! In fact I had been on a date as well. Last Thursday.” I could feel confidence building up inside me.

“That’s……That’s news for me and I guess miracle for you.” She said haughtily. Was she even serious? Did she really think that I was horrible enough to found myself a man? Bitch!

“Whatever!” I muttered.

“Sorry did I hear something?” she drifted her eyes from her amazingly pure white Mac to me.

“No. Absolutely nothing.” I said.

“That’s where the problem is. I am hearing nothing from your side. No progress on this new project” she said with highly disappointing expression on her face.  “By Wednesday I want to see two blog entries from you about your dates. 500 words each. First thing in the morning.” she said with a stone face. Trust me I didn’t know how she could talk without moving her lips.

“But I had only one date till now!” I screeched.

“You can go now” she said without looking at me.

“But……”

“Leave” she said in slightly high tone but was still tapping away on her Mac. I decided to made an exit before she could shout out loud “Get the hell out of here you moron”.

Signing off:

Girl in the big city!!

Announcement...!!!!

               The Versatile Blogger Award

It’s a huge surprise that my blog has won “The Versatile Blogger” award. Massive thanks goes to 'F' at http://girlswholovetoread.com as she has been amazingly kind for considering me good enough for this award.

 The rules of this award are; Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award, Share seven things about yourself. Send it to fifteen other bloggers you appreciate and let them know you have awarded it to them.

Seven things you should know about me: ·

• I am management graduate and have left the job in one of leading newspaper in the country just a day before my joining.·
• I drink unhealthy amount of coffee ·
• I love winters·
• I am obsessive about chick-lit novels and Hollywood chick flicks!·
• I have written a chick-lit novel and so far have received one rejection letter. ·
• I don’t remember when I last saw a film and didn’t cry ·
• I love my two little angels: Viksha & Mayra- my nieces.

The "Versatile Bloggers" whom i would like to pass on the award are:

http://chicklitcentraltheblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.com/

http://book-chic.blogspot.com/

http://www.alimcnamara.co.uk/

http://annapescardot.blogspot.com/

http://confessionsofacallcentergal.blogspot.com/

http://emmasilverunpublished.blogspot.com/

http://loonachicklit.wordpress.com/

http://reabookreview.blogspot.com/

http://fatgirlsandfairycakes.blogspot.com/

http://sarahcallejo.blogspot.com/

http://www.chicklitclub.com/

http://chicklitreviews.com/

http://www.novelicious.com/book-websites/