Chapter 3: First Day in Office

It was 7:00 AM and people were gearing to get into the working mood. Those who were going to Mumbai for working were packing their bags and hurrying to catch the bus. There were not so much frequent busses to Mumbai, so one cannot afford to miss the buss. The frequency of these busses even cuts down in the weekends. So one cannot afford to leave in weekends.

Tejas woke up, rubbing his eyes. His mind was still roaming around the last night’s activities. In his thought, he checked his watch. The time was ticking 8:00 AM. His office would open not before 10:00 AM. He has lot of time to get ready. He opened all the windows to get some air and sunlight to come inside the room and to reduce the dampness of the room. His mind went again to the other window, from where he could see the well. He at once went away from the window. He told himself to forget everything, as he might be hallucinating because of the tiredness from the travel.

He went to the kitchen and started making some tea for himself. He had arranged a small gas and kept some emergency grocery in the house. He always had a doubt on his cooking skills, so didn’t go into cooking meals. But tea is OK. He smiled at this thought and continued making his tea. He took his cup and went out of the house, sipping slowly his own made tea. As soon he went out, his eyes enquired for Rekha.

“The Shop is open, but how come Rekha is not there?” he asked himself. Rekha’s helper was cleaning the shop and making it ready for her madam to come. Suddenly he saw Veera coming to him carrying a covered plate. He was sure that, Rekha has made breakfast for him and sent through Veera and that could be the reason, she might be late for the shop. He felt happy and guilty the sometime. Veera came near him with a big smile on his face.

“Malak has greeted you by sending the breakfast.” Veera said proudly.

Tejas kept looking at Veera surprisingly. Suddenly he smiled at the thought he was thinking.

“Thank him on my behalf and tell him that I appreciate his humbleness” Tejas said politely.

Veera shook his head and started moving.

“I will take these plates by evening” he said without turning and raising his hands.

After couple of minutes, Rekha came to the shop and was greeted by her helper. She rolled her eyes and saw Tejas staring at her. She smiled and entered the shop. Tejas felt awkward and lowered his eyes. It was now 9:00 AM and his office would start in an hour. The village development office was around 15 minutes from his house.

Tejas realized that he has to shave, take bath and eat his breakfast, too much in small time. He quickly ran inside and started getting ready for office. Soon he was out for office. The village office was a small but clean area. People have started gathering there from early morning hours. It was his first day in office and he has to take the charge and start his work.

He was greeted by peon Vijay. He told him that sahib will come any time. He gave Tejas a comfortable place to sit and gave a glass of water. He kept on asking about the person from the peon and every time he had to listen the same answer.  After an hour, he saw a medium built person entering the office, sweating and nervous. He at once went into the cabin. Tejas sat there, looking all these. He stood up, peon at once came near him and said, “He is the big boss here, he is the one you are looking for”. He glanced at his watch; it was 12:00 PM. He asked the peon, “Is this the normal routine for him to come late?”. Vijay at once defended his boss saying, “Sometimes he gets late as he has to come from near village.”.” How come a person take 2 hours to come from a village just 2 KMs away?” Vijay thought.

Finally the officer called him inside his cabin. He started telling all stories to Tejas, some important, some not so important and some totally weird. He told Tejas that, he made a big mistake coming here as this is not a good place to work in odd hours. He told Tejas not to go by the beauty of this place, as there are lot of mysteries buried in this village. He also told Tejas to be aware of a lady called “Rekha”. Tejas was surprised to hear her name. He asked the reason. The officer thought for a while and said, “you will yourself understand the reason?”

He finally took out the transfer and handover papers from a drawer and signed the copies and gave one to Tejas and filed the second one. He raised from his chair shook hands with each other and left the office. Tejas was left alone in the cabin. He went to the other side of the table and sat on the chair. He felt a level of excitement after sitting on the chair. He started laughing on the words, which the officer just said about Rekha, he thought how could such a beautiful lady be dangerous?” He waved out the thought, by a knock on his cabin door; it was Vijay holding a tray with a cup of tea. He came inside and kept the cup on the table.

Tejas didn’t see much of what was happening, as he was engrossed in his own thought of Rekha. He felt a strong attraction growing inside him. He jerked and woke up, he smiled on his silly thought and sipped the tea kept in front of him. Soon after, he heard greetings outside the cabin and went to check. He found Sarpanch sahib in the office. He came out of his cabin and went personally to greet Sarpanch. He invited him to his cabin and told Vijay to bring a cup of good tea along with some snacks.

Sarpanch came to meet Tejas and to share his thoughts for development of the village. Tejas liked the ideas told by Sarpanch and kept a mental note to start working on it. In the whole conversation, Sarpanch was insisting to increase the connectivity between the city and the village, which will attract lot of tourist to visit this small village. Tejas happily noted all the points and started prioritizing them. He also told Sarpanch sahib that he will need his help and guidance in this. Sarpanch happily shook his head and assured the help to him.

Tejas wanted to ask more about Rekha and wanted to clarify those statements which he heard from the officer. He was evaluating the time and place to have these discussions, in this whole process; Vijay came inside the cabin to take back the plates and tea cups.

“This is not the right time and place for me to ask anything about Rekha to Sarpanch” Tejas thought.

It was around 4:00 PM and people have started to wind up their pending works. Some of them started leaving, as they have to catch busses to their respective villages. Sarpanch check his time and asked Tejas to accompany him.

“It’s a good time to clear my doubts” Tejas thought

At the next moment, he and Sarpanch were walking in the narrow streets of the village. Tejas finally asked, “I  hope, you will not feel bad, if I ask you something”

“Certainly not!! Go ahead” Sarpanch replied

“Who is Rekha?” Tejas asked. Hearing this question, Sarpanch’s face turned pale became upset.

Sarpanch waved the question and started walking quickly towards his house. Tejas was standing and felt a wave of surprise inside him.

“Definitely there is something wrong and I have to get in the root of it!” Tejas thought and entered his house.