Page 17 of Made in Mumbai

“Wow!” Maya ventured inside the door that Trisha opened. It overlooked the garden of the villa and got amazing light. “Can I get my own chair here, please?”

“Umm… sure.”

Maya had just the right one in mind. The overstuffed armchair that she had moved into her new apartment’s hall only last week. It was her cosy reading and drawing spot. It would be perfect to sit and work here with this view.

“You can leave all your stuff here and we will go up.”

Maya deposited her IT files and gadgets on the desk and bounced behind Trisha. As she had guessed, the sweeping stairs beside Trisha’s office led up to the GK Textiles floor. This floor was another masterpiece. The alley was laid with the old wrought iron balustrade painted white, while the stairs were painted Santorini Blue. The sun shone brilliantly through a translucent canopy.

“Here are all the offices. Your main contact person will be Sahyadri Rao. She is the Head of Design for GK Textiles and oversees Made in Mumbai. All your projects will be finally approved by her.”

They navigated the alley, with offices here looking state of the art even though the outdoors were very chic and moody. The staff here dressed more formally — crisp shirts and trousers the norm as opposed to the polos downstairs. Trisha reached the end of the alley and knocked on the last door.

“Yes?”

“Hi, Sia, got a minute? I have the new Senior Designer with me.”

“Of course, come come.”

Trisha held the door open and Maya breezed in, smiling wide at the sight of the other woman sitting back in her chair, fabric swathes laid out on one side of her desk while the other was cluttered with sketch pens of all colours. A silver Mac lay closed between these two seas of rainbow.

The woman herself though was as sleek as the Mac. Poker straight hair pinned back on the sides, her mouth a soft pink and lashes so long Maya thought she could play waterslide on them.

“Hi,” Maya grinned. She got to her feet, extending her hand with a kind smile — “Hello. Welcome to Made in Mumbai. I got your resume and have heard only good things about you from everybody who interviewed you.”

“Oh, that’s because they don’t know me yet,” Maya gave her a cheeky smile. She laughed.

“We look forward to getting to know you. Are you all settled in?”

“Yes. Just going around seeing the place and meeting everybody.”

“Good, good. The staff here is very busy today. Why don’t we have you meet them at lunch?”

“Sure. No problem, Sahyadri.”

“They call me Sia here.”

“Sia then, thanks.”

“Alright.”

She sat back down, politely dismissing them.

“Was there anything else, Trisha?”

“Is sir available?”

“For what?”

“To meet Maya?”

“You know he doesn’t really mingle. You’ll meet him when you’ll met him,” Sia directed that last bit at her.

“Is he like… the beast of the Beauty and the Beast?” Maya whispered dramatically to Trisha as they walked down the alley.

“No,” Trisha laughed. “Nothing like that. But he just doesn’t talk much. Sia is right. He doesn’t mingle. And he is busy this week. Anyway, let’s go, I’ll let you sit down and settle in…”

“What about upstairs?”

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