NOVEL:- ‘XYZ’

It was a busy day. The clock revealed that It was 9 o’clock in the morning, a man was sitting on the couch of one of the biggest multinational companies in the country. He was young, had long dark hair, neatly combed; and had brown eyes, he was wearing a formal suit and trouser. Which looked good on him. Even though he had all the features of mature handsome man, he didn’t look much old. And, if one had to guess, then they’d say that he was either still in college or had graduated only a few years ago. He had a brief case with him, and looked like he was waiting for somebody. But there was something different about him. He didn’t look like everybody else who were present there. Either working or waiting. For one he wasn’t looking very vigilant. It looked like he hadn’t slept last night. And, anyone who has or is working at a multinational company would agree that 9 o’clock for them meant that the day had already started hours ago and had almost half finished. He was sitting a lobby which was round in shape and atleast

10 times bigger then his house, he thought. A large counter behind which sat a well dressed receiptionist, named Sonia. Who was 3 feet away from him. Who was either appointed because of her good looks or her ability to pick up phones the minute they rang. It had a bunch of very expensive drawing or art as some would say was hung on the walls. Even though it had no use of it in a company, it looked elegant, he thought. He had never thought about art twice in his life. But it always managed to amaze him. It had many couchs, on which people either waiting (just like him) or talking on phones. And, needless to say the entire area was full of people. No he thought busy people. People in their formal wear, IDs attached to their shirts. In a hurry to go somewhere, or to do something. Why do people work so hard to make money for someone else, he thought.

Just as he removed a bisleri’s bottle from his case and had just put the mouth of the bottle in his own

mouth and took a sip when his thoughts were interrupted. “Mr. A, Mr.Rao is ready for you now” said Sonia smiling. He almost threw up whatever he had drank. This was the moment he had been waiting for his whole life. Suddenly he felt tensed and unprepared. He wasn’t ready for this, and you never will be, he thought as he slowly stood up. when she said smiling again “he’s in the conference hall waiting for you, its that way” He gave her a nervous smile to Sonia as he walked passed her. Every step he took made him feel like he was gonna vomit. And, in seconds he was standing just a few feet away from the glass enterence door of the conference hall. On the other side of the room was his dream. Was his dream gonna come true today?, he thought. They have to say yes, they have to or else its all over he said to himself. Now he was two steps away from the door, from where he could see atleast half a dozen people sitting around a life sized oval glass table, talking to each other. You have to do it, you have to make them say yes to your

proposal, not just for you but for thousands of other people who’s lives you are about to change, for them he said to himself. He always felt better when he was helping others. Now he was inches away, he took a deep breath remembered what his mom had said when he was afraid to do something in life, think of someone who loves you with all their heart and makes you feel like you can achieve anything in this world, and do it for them. He knew exactly who to think about. And, just as he thought of her like magic in a second everything seemed to calm down, he thought, thank you mom and pushed the door open.

He didn’t feel very confident, but the upside was that atleast he wasn’t nervous. Just as he walked in he greeted all six of the officials who ever sitting in front of him. The conference hall didn’t have many features. In fact, it was one of the most simple

looking rooms he had ever been in. Its walls were white. It didn’t have any wall hangings, infact it didn’t have anything other than an oval shaped glass table, a dozen or so chairs, and a bunch of old rich people, he thought. Mr. Rao who was sitting in the middle was old, had greasy half white half black hair. He wasn’t fair and had a weird smile. Two things made it weird. First, because of his teeth which were uneven and second when he smiled one coundnt understand whether he was happy or angry which was very confusing. “Have a seat, Mr. A” he said in a welcoming kind of way. The others were somewhat the same, all men, in the ages of 45-60. All either white haired or half white half black hair like Mr. Rao. “Thank you, sir for taking time and meeting with me, I know you’re a very busy man” said A, pulled a chair and sat. It was very clear to A that Mr. Rao had the authority and everyone else were just following his cue, so A decided to focus on him. “Everyone is busy in this city” he said, “and its not everyday when you get to

see young men like you participating like this for the greater good” said mr. rao grinning. A didn’t know what to say so he continued “just so we’re on the same page, you were contacted by one of our staff employee, right”. “yes” said A “ mr. srinivasan also said that he wanted me to give a presentation on ou….” He was interrupted mid sentence by mr. rao “yes, about that.” he wasn’t grinning anymore, he looked a very serious now. “the project that you are trying to prop…” now it was his turn to interrupt.

“it is not a project, its an organisation wh…”

“be that as it may, we cannot fund such a large pro..” he looked at A, he was looking right at him. “I mean organisation when there will be zero profit acquirement.” Said rao with a straight face. “but I don’t understand if..” said A confusingly looking at mr.rao, “you did invite me to give you a presentation on the organisation, so you can fund it right?” he said now looking at everybody. He didn’t understand what exactly was going on. “well, you

were at first, but then it came to our attention that we cant associate with an organisation that cannot produce us no profit perhaps you should try some other options” said mr. rao sterly “well then why was I called here today if you’re rejecting it before you can even hear what I have to say” said A annoyingly. “I understand there was a mistake, we didn’t know first that your organization will take this much financial backing and you are still in college, how do you expect us to….” said mr.rao picking a piece of paper from the files in front of him and then putting it down “Im in my senior year and lets be honest, age is not a problem here. look I know it’s a lot, but its for charity. Besides it has been a huge success in my college, everybody seems to love the idea.” said A, he was feeling angry and helpless at the same time. “I do understand that, but you have to understand too that theres only so much one give for charity, I understand but your success at college doesn’t matter from our point of view. With this is kind of money the goal is to take it

on the international level” said mr rao apologetically. “but you… I don’t.. how can..” I assume this is how you feel when you realize your dreams are about to get crushed and you cant do anything about it. He was feeling as if he was gonna throw up. There was a 50-50 chance before this meeting. But now the chances were zero. He didn’t know what to do. Anything. Something. “I understand it must be tough for you, what is the name of your organisation anyway?” asked mr. rao I hope that it could calm him down a bit, he could feel his restlessness. “help.”said A. “Wha.. go quick.. call someone..” said mr. rao to one of his colleagues. Everybody in the room almost jumped from their seats. They were scared “No. No. Its help. HELP. The name of the organisation” Everybody in the room was looking at him. “Oh.. okay” said mr. rao looking relived. “Tell me more about it” said mr rao. He looked at him and then at others. He knew this was a waste of time. And that they woundnt budge, since they loved they’re money more than

anything. But still he said “its an organisation where we are not concerned by someones gender, religion, race or anything that differentiates our human race in any way. We just wanna help people. Anyone who needs help.”

“It’s a great notion but how do you plan to do that?” asked the man sitting on right side of the far end corner. Everybody in the room looked at him. But his eyes were fixed at A. he was waiting for him to speak. It was strange since everybody had kept their mouth shut until now. But no one said a word, Mr. rao was looking at A too. Everybody in the room looked like they were curious and then it struck him. Maybe he can convince them to it afterall. “we help people” he said as he stood up. He went to the centre of room. Everyone was looking at him, listening intently. “In any way they want. Because believe it or not everyone in this world is struggling in some way or the other. We reach out to people everywhere. Old people need help reading or

crossing roads. Middle aged people need help to do their errands. And teenagers, they need help with everything.” almost everyone started grinning. Ofcourse they all had kids. They must have gone through all the teenage-parent stuff. Handling them, protecting them, restricting them, complaining about them, boasting about them and make sure they don’t kill them or vice versa. “everyone needs help. Most of them just need someone to hear them out. Tell their sad story or a brave story” he waited for a second and then started again. “ You cannot even believe how much you can help someone and in many ways. Like we did. My friends and I in college. When we began we were a very small number. But today we are bigger than you think. We put flyers all over the place. We advertised. We talked about it. It seems people actually do wanna help but they don’t know how or neglect it. And everytime we help someone we tell them to do the same with others.” Everyone was listening intently. So he went on. “Ofcourse the

bigger plan is to take it to nationally and then internationally. We want to send this message everywhere. With your help…” and he looked Mr. rao, he was listening but he made no positive sign. “we plan to advertise at every local radio station and television. So that to make everyone aware of the organization. And, now since it’s the era of smart phones and internet. We can launch an application which will be just like any other social networking site. But here people can tell their stories. If people can blab about what they eating, drinking or wearing then why not boast about something that is relevant to humans. They can tell their stories. Interract with other people and by doing that they can inspire people to the same. ” Just as he ended his great speech he looked at everyone, they were looking at each other, impressed! At that exact moment two things were increasing rapidly, his confidence and his heart beats. This was it. This was his last chance. Before anybody could say anything. “ Its success rate is

astonishing. We have already launched it in our college. Its not ready yet. Its just a prototype. But it does the work. We had our computer science engineers from the college code it for us. On its first day 756 students downloaded the application in our college. After a week the number had reached to more then 5,000 users. And today we have more then 20,000 users from various colleges. It’s a huge success, everyone seems to love the ‘awesome’ button. And by doing this you’re not only helping people but it can be beneficiary for your business to.” The room was so quiet now, he could now hear his own heart beats. “ You’re a multi national company whose main object is to attain profit. But just think, when it becomes public. You and you’re company are gonna seem so noble, that even in this rough times, when the country seems to have no economical stability, you people invested purely to help people. Im sure I don’t have to explain you how the stock market works. Not only will you get positive points from the people but also the

publicity and the goodwill. That’s how you will get the returns. I mean, wasnt that the reason why you invited me here in the first place. Together we can achieve this. Together we can make this happen.” It was classic convincing line. ‘Together we can do this. If we stay together, no one can stop us’. Convincing someone about doing something they don’t wanna do is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Everybody knows that, but what do you do when something so important depends on that?

“That was really impressive Mr. A” said Mr. rao after a couple of seconds passed. “It is really something. You are doing a very noble job at this age. And I know that this will be a huge success one day” he said, looked at everyone and stood up. “Just not today.” His heart leapt. Like someone had just punched him in his gut. He was now walking towards him. He was just a few feet away when ‘A’ With a lump in his throat said “ So you’re not…”

“Yes, we are not funding this project. Im sorry but as I said earlier we already have made our decision.” He felt angry and sad at the same time. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to break something or hit someone. Probably one of these old selfish people. Who don’t give a fuck about anyone. But what good would that do he thought. Now mr. rao was a few inches away from him. “ Im sorry, it was nice meeting you. Maybe after a few years I can help you.” He said calmly and turned the other way towards the door. And just as he was gonna push the door open and left. And everyone followed him out of the room. And in a few seconds the hall was emphty. So was his life he thought. Emphty. A few years ago he had everything. He was happy, really happy and Today, he had nothing. Absolutely nothing he thought.He was just about to leave when.

“ That was some speech! And by the way you forgot your brief case.”

“What the…” He jumped. Who’s voice was that. Was he day dreaming. He took quick look around the hall. Someone was still sitting on one of the chairs. He was so busy in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize he was not alone in the hall. The man looked relatively young than others, he was fair and he looked tired. He was sitting on the far end. He didn’t know his name and he didn’t care. He just wanted to get out of here as soon as he could.

“I thought everyone left, im sorry I was just leaving.” he said. He recovered quickly, walked right where he had left his case and took it.

“You’re doing a very noble thing here, you know” the man said again. Ofcourse he knew he was doing a good thing. “I know.” he said and started walking towards the door. “What are you in a hurry?” The man asked He just wanted to be alone. “No.. I just really need to be somewhere.” He said calmly and was just gonna walk out when. “Do you mind if I ask you something? How did you get an idea for

something like this?” the man asked, “I mean, this whole thing. Did you initiate it? A person can get inspiration for such a significant thought only when that person knows the true value of someones aid. Someone who has been there.?” curiously. “Does it matter?” He said annoyingly. He wasn’t enjoying answering all these questions. Nobody would. Nobody cared whos idea it was. It was never gonna happen anyway. But he was still wanted to know, “Its never gonna happen thanks to your company and Don’t you have any work to do and why do you wanna know anyway?” He was inches away from the door. “Just curious.” He said. Now grinning, then waited for a moment and asked “Did you?” He wasn’t concerned about answering his questions. He just wanted answer to his questions. He looked intelligent and had an authoritative tone of voice when he talked. But he didn’t care whoever he was.

“No. I didn’t. I am not the one to initiate this whole thing.” He said boldly.

Now he was standing next to the door. He waited for a moment and then turned to look at the man. He was just about to ask something. He understood.

“It was a friend, a very good friend actually.” He said calmly.

“I bet.” The man said. now grinning. The grin never seemed to wipe out of his face.

“It must be very noble of you to help your friend.” The man said calmly. Still grinning.

He looked at him. Shocked and surprised. How did he know? This was totally freaking him out. He decided he didn’t wanna stay there any longer. He pulled the door open, turned, He was still grinning. Gave him a stern look. And, left.