Heeyo guys 🙂 I’m so sorry for the delayed update. The last update wasn’t so much as connected to the story as it was a gift so this one is a little long to compensate for that! This is to give some background on Mahi and what he has been doing all this time and his real intent on going to Oberoi Mansion when his mother had asked him to.
Link to previous episodes: http://www.tellyupdates.com/?s=find+me
FIND ME: EPISODE 6
MAHI’S PERSPECTIVE
I woke up in the morning to her melodious voice. But something was off. “Mahi, wake up. Being your assistant doesn’t mean I’ll have to wake you up and feed you like a kid!” The irritating rant went on for quite some time, varying in volume as she moved around, probably fixing my breakfast. I opened my eyes to the yellow sun and smiled faintly at the smell of omelets. Yumm! So it was quite a while later that my slow brain registered her fuming face and bouncing shoulder-length hair and my immediate thoughts went back to whatever I remembered of last night. ‘Uh-oh! What did I do now?’ I wondered to myself, watching her cooking furiously as dishes clamored amongst each other on the narrow countertop.
“You need to go down to TH today and look into a few matters. And I think you’ll need to meet Mr. Mishra about the funding again. Too many kids have enrolled in the last few months, and we are even running short on staff! Di was so overworked yesterday that she didn’t even eat properly, and you are also so tired after running around forever! I should do a better job at scheduling your appointments, right?” Her face fell by the end of the speech, and then I had to get up and console her. For some weird reason, I went into flashback for a minute.
It was on one of my sneaky-imposter visits to the Oberoi Mansion when the guys were discussing husband-wife fights and the Way-Too-Shaant Oberoi (Shakti Oberoi) had mentioned something like, “There is only one solution in such cases! When women are angry, there is just one protocol to follow. Immediately back down and say, ‘It’s all my fault. I’m sorry.’ That’s it! You see, women are always right!”
Pulling myself back in the present, I said, “It’s entirely my fault. I’m sorry.” Imagining that this would be the end of our morning fight, I gave her a smile and turned to go to wash up. “What are you sorry for?” she stopped me there with that question while I wondered if it was supposed to go this way. I had to open and shut my mouth a few times before I could form coherent sentences.
“You’re doing fine!” I began after a while, but paused at her flashing angry eyes. “In fact, you’ve been doing an amazing job and you’re the reason why I get most of my work done on time! As for your sister, I’ll look into it and I’ll also meet Shivaay today, don’t worr…”
I didn’t realize my lips had let words from my subconscious spill until the anger in her eyes melted away to replace the typical wide-eyed wonder. “I mean Mishra”, I clarified as soon as I realized my mistake and tried to evade the obvious torrent of questions by pushing her towards the door. “Mona, you know what? You really shouldn’t come here often! What will people say?! If you have any other work or anything to remind me of, just call me, okay? Bye!”
I was almost successful in sending her on her way, but just as we were nearing the door, she held my hand and turned to look straight into my eyes seriously. “You don’t even know what you’ve done wrong?” she asked a tad too quietly and I figured she knew I had been out drinking again last night. So I prepared my apology and took a deep breath and hung my head slightly before speaking, “I’m sorry I didn’t call last night and I know I promised I won’t go out drinking again, but it was just one small glass. And it was way too late to call and check for appointments, so I didn’t call…” my voice trailed off as she looked at me shocked with my confession. ‘Did I just blow hell over myself?’ I thought to myself before bracing myself against her wrath.
“What did you say? You went drinking again?” I did my best impersonation of Rudy’s puppy face and hoped it would be enough to save me today. Apparently it worked and she sighed, “We’ll get back to that one later. But before that, I want to know why you went to the Oberois party without telling me? It’s not safe for you there, you know that right? And what do you think will happen once they figure it out?”
I knew what she was saying was right too and she had my best interests at heart, as always, but I was only human! I still lived in the two-roomed house at Good Luck Chawl, but even the two rooms sometimes seemed too big for one person to live in! The people around me were moving on towards happier, more prosperous lives, thanks to the success of my latest endeavor- The Talent Hub, TH for short.
Thanks to the help and support of a few of my friends, including Mona’s elder sister, Ishana, and the funding by Oberoi Industries which bagged us a few other important sponsors as well, our TH trains the students in special arts besides basic education and gives them opportunities that most of the slum kids never get in their lives. The only thing that bugged me about it was that its inception and establishment was based on a web of lies. I hadn’t exactly tricked anyone into paying for these kids, but while I had been at the Oberoi Mansion under Mom’s commands, I had ordered Mishra to remind Shivaay to look into a few files and authorize some money transfer to begin work on this project. I didn’t have any money riding on Shivaay actually going through the plan and financing my venture and even had a plan B if things went south, but he had surprised me! I still couldn’t believe he approved it for the sake of these children he didn’t even know!
The money and contacts came pouring in with the Oberoi’s tag itself. And that little first-step-victory had led me to go back in there and spend a few seconds or minutes, and sometimes hours with the Oberoi family and pick up bits of updates on each family member, and as a result care about them just a little bit more with each visit. Even Om had come to know of TH from Shivaay and he was scheduled to come down to the site for a special event next week or so. The thing to notice was that only good came out of my visits as long as I kept them short and this was my only reward as I still stuck to the place where life had left me.
But now as Mona accused me of lying to her with her eyes, I gathered up some courage and told her, “Mona, Omkara Singh Oberoi will be coming to TH for the event next week.” This news left her shocked again as she prepared to launch into another speech, “Mahi, you know this will keep hurting you from within, right? The people you keep worrying about, including your own mother and that family of wealth- they don’t even think about you! You don’t even use the profits from your own hard work saying that it doesn’t belong to you! So why do you want to waste your life just doing stuff for others and not thinking about yourself? I can’t watch you being like this! I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even yourself! You get that? So no matter how much publicity this gets us, I’m gonna cancel that, okay?”
“So I shouldn’t let anyone hurt me? Including myself, right?” my solemn voice gave her pause as she studied me for a moment before cautiously nodding. “Mona, thanks for caring so much about me, but I’m not worthy of this. And I don’t know why, but staying away from them hurts me like crazy. There’s too much of what I want in that family and I’m so jealous of them and yet I want to be them. They’re not so bad. Eccentric and crazy, sure! But not bad at all!” I drifted away from her while talking about them and continued, “There’s something magical in that house that binds them despite their differences and mistakes. That Kanji Aankho Wala is so lucky to have brothers like OmRu, they mean the world to him and vice versa! It’s nice that he has them, who loves and cares for him more than anything in the world. Even Mrs. Kanji Aankh is so deserving of him, despite her unending questions and wacko words!”
I felt her touch on my arm and turned to see her face awash with emotions. “Mahi, what have they done that you love them so much?” With my other hand, I scratched the back of my head and replied, “I don’t know. But the Long Hair Guy will come to our TH and you have to take care of all the arrangements accordingly. You’ll do that, right?” I asked in my sweetest boss voice and she sighed in defeat, “Yes! I guess I can’t escape work around you!”
We shared a smile in that brightly lit tiny kitchen and I thought if I should be looking forward to the near future or dreading it.
Do share your views guys, I’d love to read your comments on this one. 🙂