T.Venkatesh Prasad stared incredulously at the note in his hand. “I’ve sent down the rope, grab it!” Whatever could it mean????
The next minute, the telephone rang and he received the good news of his appointment in a reputed IT company. “Senior Manager!” Jolly good! And what a plum pay package too! T.V.Prasad could not help marveling at his good luck! Just when he thought his luck had run out! He reflected back gingerly on his struggle-filled days. He had always been a bright student. Bright and hardworking. But always unlucky. He would invariably fall sick on exam days and lose the top position. Everyone expected him to top IIT after school, but he couldn’t even manage to get admission in a decent Engineering college. His parents could not afford a private college; they had to get his sisters married. He did his graduation and then joined MBA. Here again, his IIM dream was shattered, owing to his failure in the interview round. “They must have rejected me because of my looks”, he smiled to himself. Short, stocky and dark, with below-average looks, Prasad was no woman’s dream man! He still retained his sense of humor though!
He suddenly thought of Parvati, his better half- how happy she would be to hear the good news. After all she had struggled along with him, running the household in his meager pay without complaining. Now he would fulfill all their dreams, Prasad thought joyfully, as he reached for the phone to call his wife, still wondering what the mysterious note meant!
Meanwhile, far away, in a posh residence in Mumbai, Shalini was talking to a man over the telephone. “The job is done. He has received the note, and the news of his appointment.”
Shalini smiled with satisfaction as she put down the receiver. She felt happy now.
Reminicising, she thought of the day around a month back when she had gone to visit Raj at his office. Raj, her husband was the owner and chairman of a reputed IT firm. With his deadly combination of sharp brains, good education and sheer hard work, he had achieved big success in a short time. Shalini was content to be a homemaker, bringing up their only son, Varun. Although not working, she was intelligent and actively aware of the latest going-ons on her husband’s company, and sometimes gave her suggestions, which her husband valued.
Coming back to that day in the office, she was returning back when she saw a man waiting at the reception. She passed him by, but something about him caught her attention. She gave him another discreet look- short, stocky, dark, he seemed familiar somehow. She shrugged off the feeling and walked on.
It was three days later while leafing through her old school photographs that realization dawned upon her. Of course! It was Venky! How could she forget him? She chided herself on her short memory for faces. But it was so long ago… But what was Venky doing in Raj’s office?
Next day she called up Meera, Raj’s personal assistant and a good friend of hers, and asked her to confirm if the man who had visited the office on Monday afternoon was indeed Venky.
”Yes Mam”, Meera confirmed, “The man’s name is T.Venkatesh Prasad. He had come to run an errand for his boss. He works in IT Solutions, a small company, as a technical staff member.
“What!”, Shalini was shocked, to say the least. Of all her classmates, Venky was the one everyone expected to climb the corporate ladder the fastest. ”He was such an intelligent chap! Wonder what went wrong?” She remembered their friendship at school. Venky was the joker of the class, and also the genius. His terrific sense of humor had her spellbound, and she often asked him how he could think of such funny things to say. They were good friends, sharing their notes, to lunch, to laughs together. ”You’re the only girl who talks to me, Shalini”, he would joke, I can’t afford to lose you!” She remembered vividly the day of the farewell party, when they had given each other autographs. Everyone had been emotional and had written lovey-dovey sweet nothings to each other. But later when she had read her diary, scrawled in Venky’s neat handwriting was the note- “Do climb ladders of success, but throw down a rope for me!” She had laughed it off then, but by some subtle irony, the same had become true after almost twenty years! Whatever the reason for her friend Venky not being able to succeed in life , she had thrown down the rope for him. She knew he was smart enough to catch it, and climb it, to reach the very top!
Yes, she would meet him, she thought, as she lay down on her comfortable bed, but it would be an ‘accidental’ meeting in her husband’s office. He would never come to know hat she had managed all this for him. It was fate’s ironic way of righting the balance, she supposed!
“Hmm, I’ll be looking forward to meeting Venky’s wife and kids”, was the last thought in Shalini’s mind as she drifted off to sleep.
