Page 16 of Made in Mumbai

“Oh,” she waved him away, curtsying — “Thank you, thank you…”

“Umm… Maya?” Riya tapped her shoulder.

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you have to report to HR? It’s already 10.20.”

“Shit. Sorry, See you later, guys!”

Maya ran, not into the work space but in the opposite direction where the office of their HR sat. She remembered the way, because it was also where a set of gorgeous wide winding stairs began. They curled and swept up into the next floor. Sunshine spilled down from above, and she was 99% sure that the next floor was even more beautiful than this. Even so, she curbed her curiosity and knocked on the HR’s office door.

“Come in.”

“Hi, Trisha. I am so sorry I got late, it’s very unprofessional and that too on my first day but it suddenly rained and I thought walking it up from my flat nearby was easier than convincing a rickshaw to…”

“Slow down, slow down,” the HR laughed. Trisha, was her name. She was a middle-aged woman with the best skin. It literally shone as if she had flicked a light switch on the inside. Her hair was wound up in a roll with a pencil to tuck it tight, while she wore cat eye glasses with a pair of silver chains that ran around her neck. “You can sit and have some water if you want,” she smiled, pushing a glass towards her.

“Oh thank you!” Maya sat down on her visitor’s chair and took a grateful gulp. Her office was regular, nothing fancy. It didn’t even have a window. But Trisha seemed to look happy with the Turkish tiled floor and two little planters.

“Yes, so how have you liked the office so far?”

“I haven’t gotten the chance to explore more than the ground floor. But it’s gorgeous. You know, this is one of the main reasons I decided to work here.”

“It’s a pretty space, I agree. But the work is not as easygoing. I know we spoke about your job profile but you will have to make it your own. We have created a Senior Textile Designer role because our team of designers are not as experienced, and our studio is expanding. Work hours will not always be 10 to 6.”

“I know. I have said goodbye to my social life last night so I am all yours,” Maya shrugged cheekily.

“Well, then, let’s get you your stuff, sign some papers and have you meet everybody. Did you bring all your ID proofs?”

“Oh yes!”

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‘All her stuff’ included a brand new MacBook Air, an iPad Pro and the latest gen Apple Pencil.Wow.She had two out of those three things at home, but free stuff at the office was always welcome. It was like your favourite song playing on the radio. You had it on your phone and yet when the radio played it…Eeee!

“This is your core team. Riya, Simran, and… where is Rustom?” Trisha glanced around the co-working space. One of the cabins opened and out strutted a stout man with red framed nerd glasses. Maya couldn’t even look at his clothes because those red glasses sucked all the attention.

“What?”

“Behave Rustom, you don’t want to look bad in front of your boss on day one.”

“You?” Rustom turned and scoffed at her. Maya beamed. His scoff remained intact, his eyes giving her a once over.

“Rustom…” Trisha warned.

“I have experience as much as her age.”

“You don’t look that old,” Maya returned his once over. And his eyes narrowed. Riya sputtered, as did the other girl — Simran. But Maya held Rustom’s stare. If she was to operate as his senior, she had to establish one boundary. Of respect. The rest was all fun and she was always game for fun.

“Hi,” Maya extended her hand. “My name is Maya Kotak. I aced my M. Des from NID Ahmedabad and worked with Aditya Birla Group as the Fusion Textile Designer. I also worked with designers Arun Tahiliani, Niya Tandon and most recently Farah Gupta. I have won Innovative Dress Materials award for Farah Gupta three years in a row. I live just two lanes away, recently divorced, love salted caramelanything, can work 19 hours straight — it’s a record, you can look it up, and I am 34 years old.”

Not only Rustom, but the whole workspace was staring wide-eyed at her. She grinned, waving a sheepish hand at them all. “Hello.”

“Oh-kay,” Trisha popped out. “Maya, let me show you your office and then we can go up meet the GK Textiles lot.”

They navigated the workspace together. Maya smiled and nodded at as many people as she could. It wasn’t a very big space and there weren’t too many people. Around twenty. She could rote all their names in a day, max.

“Here are all the offices. The designers each have their private cabin to work. But they also have tables outside to collaborate. You will have to do with an office just like theirs because all offices here were made equal…”

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