The Pet Intern (XLIV)

Just after he completed the list I ran to him, “Hey it’s you right, Elvia. You have it in you, keep it up.”

“Thank you Sir, but seems like you have missed a name. Anusuya Srivatsava”

“hmmm… no dear, no such name”

“Sir but she would have performed well, please”

“Hey, your friend huh? See we have expert methods to select candidates with the right stuff. Anyway better luck next time for her”

I wanted to shout, ‘If you are not going to take her, I am leaving this interns’, but he is no more there to hear me.

Anu wished me luck and called her dad asking him to book her tickets for the return journey. I called mom with a dull tone, “Hello mom”

“You sound somber, what’s wrong, leave it you will have better options”

“Mom, hold it, I got selected”

“Then why are you dull? Are you ill? What about Anu?”

“I am fine, Anu didn’t make it”

“Oh that’s bad, So, where will you stay? Can Anu stay with you there?”

“The company has made arrangements for us to stay in their guest house and the duration of interns is 40 days. We will be paid a minimum of Rs.10,000 and it will increase based on our performance”

“Money is not an issue, you take care of yourself. By the way you have only 3 more weeks of holidays!”

“That’s not an issue. We can use this certificate to supplement our attendance”

“Ok then tell dad he will be happy”

I called dad and repeated all this, he is glad. I wanted Anu to stay. Dad did allow me to take care of her expenses and stay here.

As soon as I cut the call I burst out, “Anu, stay with me, I will take care of the expenses”

“Hey stop it, I am leaving. You will be fine here”

“Please Anu don’t go, stay here, may be we can find some interns for you in some other company”

“I am not interested. I came here only on your compulsion. Anyway even if I stay here I can’t ask for attendance without attending any interns here”

I couldn’t persuade her anymore. She left Bangalore that evening. I am all alone in the guest house. Bhagya, me and another girl have to share the place. Bhagya is my classmate yet, she is not such an intimate friend.

I tried to concentrate on the task ahead. I worked hard. I am constantly been appreciated by our team lead. For some reason I have become a pet to everyone. I stayed in the office as long as possible. I felt cheerful and intriguing being in the office.

At nights, I practically stayed in hell. I couldn’t sleep peacefully. I got beleaguered by my ambivalences.

I tried to avoid Shantanu in the excuse that my mobile is in roaming and I am busy in the office to use the internet. The more I moved away from him, the more hurting I felt.

I made a good number of friends at office. In college we used to call even our immediate seniors as ‘akka’ and ‘anna’, here we called even a decade elder people by their names. They treated me back as equals.

Shantanu called me a couple of times. I spoke in a disinterested manner. He got cues. Shantanu being so understanding didn’t bug me again, but I don’t know why he didn’t understand what I felt about him. May be that’s why he used the term ‘sister’.

This civil war inside me grew severe and severe every night. I concluded that I should start being a good friend and stop avoiding him. But I couldn’t make it practical.

College started. Anu called me, “Hey sweetheart how are you? College started for us?”

“… Hey you know something Shantanu enquired about you”

“Oh well”

“He is taking a lot of care about you”

“Stop it, it’s all just a sham. After all this, ya he is my bestowed brother”

“You still are mad. Whatever, hope you are not messing up things there”

“Hey I am doing great here. My team lead says that I may get more than Rs.20,000 for the interns, means that I am more than twice as better than the minimum expectation”

“Wow that’s great news. Anyway I told you, you will be fine without me”

“If only you are here, I would have done better”

“Hey enough, waiting to see you, it’s just another week”

“Ya, I am missing you”

“Precisely Shantanu”, chuckling.

“Non sense, I am hanging up bye”