Missed Call - City friction

Story Board - Series 1 Series 2

Series 3

To Anurag's dismay it was Sharmilee.

- “Hi” - Sharmilee stood like a time killer.

- “Hi”, Anurag just didn’t know what to do; he thought of saying ‘Bye’ as the next word. He was running against time. To him, spending even a minute with this lady was like wasting million dollar propositions and finally slogging his growth path.

- “Don’t you ask friends to step in your house? Is this Delhi style?”

After-all in a foreign state it was too difficult for Anurag to absorb any wrong comment about Delhi.
- “Come in.”

In no time Sharmilee stepped in and placed herself on the most comfortable single couch in the room.

- “Hey, why are you standing like a punished student? Close the door and sit.” – She said in one go.
Anurag, thought what is she upto? No courtesy to ask if he is busy... topping it commanding him to close the door. His irritation was reflected as hesitance.

- “Are you afraid? You can keep the door open, I have no issues.Since you are new in the city, just came to check if everything is fine?” - Openness was pouring from her carefree gesture.
Even before the ragging catches him more, Anurag closed the door trying to act smart.

Sharmilee smiled to pat on the courage. Quickly she resumed in a query mode.

- "So lets get introduced."

Though Anurag was least interested to tick this , he had no choice. He comfortably leaned back to the long and broad couch and expected the story to continue on its pace. Getting introduced forcefully and unprepared was something he was not used to.

- "This is my city and you are guest. So you get your turn first." - This was second twist for Anurag in the evening. He thought it would go the other way. Hospitality can be so overloading at times.

- “Well what exactly do you want to know?”

- “Heard you are an engineer and also a MBA?”

- “Any doubt? Do you want to check my certificates?” - The nerves were not behaving synchronously and hence he reacted more that acting.

- “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to salute you! Didn’t you ever get bored studying so long?”

- “No” - Anurag spoke in a controlled tone.

- “That’s the reason you still look like a punished student. Your habits are still so fresh."

- “I don’t understand what you want to say?”

- “Nothing big. I felt you are still afraid to speak to a lady in your apartment behind closed door. I thought maybe you are not grown up.”

It was pinching Anurag’s ego. He looked eye to eye with her to pass on the message.

Sharmilee was clever enough to jump to the next context.

- “Relax! You plan to work now?”

Good thought. Anurag didn’t waste the opportunity and boldly said – “Yes, I have some important tasks to be completed.”

- “Don’t you get tired?”

This was a question which Anurag would have loved to say ‘Yes’, but that would mean encouraging this lady to speak more …He said – “Can’t help! That’s how it is.” – Anurag could not frame it any better.

- “Well I don’t have any work tonight. I have two options for you – share some tasks of yours with me or chat with me for a while and your brain would function better. Choice is yours.”

Anurag wondered who on earth had asked for such options. In a second thought he took a chance to throw a complicated case study to challenge the over enthusiastic city beauty.

-“Puff is a new brand of liquor to be launched over a glossy dinner party. The signature item is going to get served to meet the limits of cities corporate appetite to drink. There is a possibility of waste. We are ideating to optimizing it. Now I need to find a careful way to manage. Am working on it.”

Arunag posed that this is the biggest problem on earth and he is the smartest one working.

Sharmilee was mesmerized to hear the narration. Anurag thought he had the dart hit the board to diffuse the exuberance that was overflowing.

- “Hey, do you get my problem?” Anurag asked. She nodded and then reacted.

- “My God! You are so tensed for such a simple problem?”

It was a tough throw for Anurag to balance. She opened up once more –

- “The name Puff is cute. Powder puff is the only one that I know of – soft and colorful. But why did you name hard drink so soft?”

- “Sharmilee, this is not my son, I didn’t name it. I am just supposed to market it.”

- “Be careful while you name your son.”

- “Hey, come back to problem?”

- “You know, just forget that you have a problem. By the by how does your Puff look like?”

Anurag was zapped for a while, but shortly resumed and picked up the laptop and moved towards Sharmilee. Somewhere on the walls his shadow merged on hers. Neither of them noticed.

Look Fwd >> Series 4

Shakers and Movers

He lightly placed the laptop on her lap and kneels down by her to click the video clipping. A strange feeling was engulfing him - to be with a young lady in a semi dark room and sizzling movie ahead.