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Thank you so very much!
This is beyond anything I ever expected. Its such a great creative outlet for me
Thank you so very much!
This is beyond anything I ever expected. Its such a great creative outlet for me
Shame & September 1st
She had no idea how to find out what was going on. She took the elevator to the 2nd floor on Zenith Astro, to check out what type of companies were housed in the building
Tax accountants, import export licensing, travel agents and some kind of back room processing for entertainment websites, there was all sorts of businesses and offices
She didn’t know anyone, she entered a couple enquired politely about making a reservation or booking a cruise or applying for a job
Looked like the owners or the managers were too busy to talk with her
She went back to the book shop
The pilferage was starting to add up, she didn’t know how she could service customers and ring them up for payment singlehandedly
Subodh the customer attendant finally called her “Main aapko double de sakti hoon aa sakte ho aap?”
Subodh was in shock
Uncle to mujhe sirf 16,000 dete the,
main aapko 30 de paoongi
“Kal se aa jaaoonga didi
She couldn’t believe how easy that was
She was able to relax a bit today
There was just too much to manage as a small business owner
She cried mid morning over why she had never bothered to learn anything from Dad all these years
Her desire to go to Michigan warred with wanting to prove to her dead father.
She was tired of figuring stuff out, her mother was too distraught to do anything except go to work, come back home take a nap and help with the grandkids Sahil and Aseem
She refused to come sit at the store on Saturday
“Too many memories” she said
Harkeerat would manage the store while Rajesh and her would meet for lunch, or check out early Friday afternoon and go to a movie. They had a fabulous marriage. He was a good man
Now she spent her evenings taking a nap, or watching her grandsons argue or fight.
She loved them a lot but lets face it, kids are noisy and unruly
She craved for the peace and quiet of Bhushan Bagh the home they had named together because she had a tiny garden upfront
Rajesh owed a share to his three brothers and two sisters, but as long as they lived there it was their home
Tushar spoke to Taruni about getting their mother some therapy or counseling or medication
Taruni didn’t want the shame of running away to Michigan when her mother was dealing with grief
She rather wanted to get out quick and for Tushar to deal with however he wanted to
Tushar wanted her buy in. Gaurav refused to offer advice because he found out there was no formal will and so he didn’t know when he was getting anything
“I will be gone Spring semester bhai aap dekh lo, let her be, its too soon to medicate her” Taruni cringed as she voiced her self absorption
“Stop worrying about the shop yaar Ma ko dekh” Tushar scolded
“Your wife is rich dude, I need my money to go to US”
“Tere naam chhod gaye kya?” Tushar mocked
She laughed
“I am hoping”
“Sure… take it all” he shrugged carelessly “Gaurav ko share de de”
“If I had great GRE scores I would be long gone” Taruni felt frequent bouts of self pity
“You should have taken from Dad already tu 4 saal Singapore mein baithi thi” Tushar was brutal
“I didn’t know he would be gone right?”
“Well you are figuring it out… so may be you will”
“Its such a mess… I think someone is trying to buy the building to demolish and build something else”
A shock wave swept thru Tushar’s face
She looked away, she didn’t want to deal with Tushar’s anger about it
That would mean she cannot sell
That would mean she cannot have her money
“Tujhe kisne kaha”
“Ajit Singh, Satnam Builders he has office on the 5th floor, you would assume he recently renovated so who ever is buying would keep it as is, par nahi aaj 3rd floor mein ek stock broking company ke MD is baat ki maine, he said some builder from Bombay or something”
“Sh-t”
“Ajit Singh ko call kiya, he didn’t respond”
“So good right you want to sell too”
She didn’t know what to say…. It had been her dream to sell and take the money and get out. Tushar was right. But why did it feel so devastating and cruel
She imagined the lot after it was gutted… the north corner a heap of bricks and steel wires and lumps of dry concrete
“I want to sell but I don’t want the store destroyed na?”
“Ek hi baat hai” Tushar was choked up
For the first time in 3 months after losing her Dad she felt shame about her choice
It was shortlived though, when she was videochatting with her Singapore friends who were all over the US she wanted to get there NOW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Towers partners cannot pay you any advance until you can get me a guarantee Bhushan Books is willing To negotiate”
“Good faith mein kar sakte hain aap”
“I am sorry Towers doesn’t operate that way. The North corner is the most desirable of that building, it overlooks the lake at a distance. I want that site torn down Mr Singh”
Ajit shifted noisily in his chair, Pradyut Munjal drove a tough bargain he thought
“Aap ko kya guarantee chahiye”
“I want the owner’s wife? To sign on the dotted line”
“Time lagega beta”
“I can wait 3 weeks, we paid you 33% already, I need a decision by September 1st”
“Umm.. who to tight ho jaayega puttar”
“Or we can approach them tell them you sold everything except that junk and have them move out” he was ruthless
“Nahi nahi” Ajit was fearful
“We MADE the deal with you because you said, you can convince the bookstore operation since he was dead”
“Par itni jaldi”
“Close it by September 1st, you still get your additional reward” Pradyut smiled and leaned back on the hotel’s plush couch
Jung dekhne hai Nisha.
Will be fun to see this guy lose.
Will he finally win or lose it all. His heart as well as deal?
Decoy
Taruni is having a hard time keeping up with the store. Till not she wanted to sell. But will she rebel when she senses a plot?
Shame & September 1st
She is beginning to form an attachment to the store despite wanting to go away.
Mousetrap
It rained two whole days, getting anywhere became a pain in the a—for Taruni, she managed to go to the shop on a Wednesday while it still drizzled, she turned on all the lights and saw a mouse skitter away. She called Harkeerat and Subodh in complete panic
A mouse in a bookstore means complete destruction.
The whole afternoon was spent in calling exterminators and servicing customers, at this point she didn’t know if she was supposed to ask people to leave their bags by the door, or check their bags when they were paying for stuff
She made up her mind and weakly ordered a mother and daughter to leave the bag by the door. They glared at her and left
She texted Subodh
“How did Papa handle pilferage”
“Ajee who kabhi baithte nahi the cash register mein, who main Harkeerat jee hu m teeno” Subodh explained
She actually didn’t know when Bhushan books was made into a US style walk around store. Originally it was just like most stores in india the owner ran in and brought out the book or supplies, customers waited by the glass waist level show case
When he had bought the back half of the store like 10 years ago, he had created a walk way and turned into a grocery department store
“Subodh mujhe do log chahiye” she texted
Subodh was shocked he argued why two
She explained she wanted 3 including him so one person could be on each row end
Ajit Singh waltzed in around 6 PM
The exterminators were leaving, they couldn’t find the mouse but they laid the traps in many places
“Kya hua puttar”
“Mouse” she said
“Mere paas aadmi hai, bhejoon?”
“Umm.. no” she smiled
“Namaste Uncle how can I help?”
“Kya chal raha hai?” Ajit shifted uneasily,
“Good” she looked curious
“Papa ki saari accounting kar li beta?”
“Umm.. I am working on it”
“Good good” he wandered she watched him go from aisle to aisle
“Inne saare special puraane books hain… wah wah” he smiled as he returned to the cash register
“I know pata nahi Papa ko kitne saal lag gaye” she smiled sadly
“He would tell me where he got them from…” he chuckled
He narrated a couple disjointed stories to her
“Preserve kar lena puttar” he said quietly
“These he bought for sale, I only like engineering subject matter books, bhai dono padhte nahi zyaada” she giggled
“The shop is so big…” Ajit sighed completely changing the topic
“I know”
“Waise aapki baat main 1.13 taq karwa sakta hoon” Ajit blurted
She looked at him in shock
Based on the research she had done it was clearly worth more than 1.50 crores
Atleast 1.75 but definitely greater than 1.5
“U want me to sell?” she hid her anger
“Kaise manage karoge batao? Ur brothers are not interested”
“HOW do u know?”
“Meri baat hui na” Ajit was confident
“Aaapne UNSE baat ki?”
“they are the sons” he said carelessly
“Who theek hai Uncle” “I am in the store now” she smiled hiding her displeasure
“I am saying Ma to job karti hai aapki, aap to brilliant student ho, you should focus on studies”
“We should decide na as a family?”
“Jee jee beta” Ajit was still looking around wondering if he should up the offer
He really didn’t care what her feelings were. This building needed to be sold/gutted and she was in the way
“Waise plan kya hai beta aapka?”
“Abhi pata nahi” she smiled
“Last time bhi wohi kaha aapne” he smiled a bit irritated
“Papa’s shop right? I can do whatever I want”
“Bhai dono to cooperate nahi karenge” “sad… but aap soch lo”
She was very angry
She wondered who gave him the right to reach out to her brothers
Her phone pinged….
Ajit left half heartedly
Pradyut was dangling a big bounty, this girl was unmoved
It was the bank where her Papa had the loan for the shop
The manager told her they had defaulted instalment payment for 6 months and so they might have to begin recovery proceedings or take possession of the shop
(What she did not know was, Pradyut found out who Bhushan books banker was (asked Ajit Singh to quiz Harkeerat Singh, Harkeerat Singh had called Sudhir Grover the accountant to get the names of all banks) and had dug deep to found due to a mix up the instalment truly hadn’t been paid from ICICI and had paid a “friendly” visit to the branch and convinced the manager to call the defaulter Bhushan Books
Nice 😉.
Isko bolte hain pair pe kulhadi marna.
People don’t like to be told what to do.
That uncle should try telling her to keep the shop 😂.
Ajit is going to just inspire rebellion from Taruni. He should stop talking.
While Taruni is chasing the mouse in the store, a cat is chasing her and laying out his own mousetrap.
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