Page 58 - Love Story of a Commando

be brutal and the romance between the coffee mug and my lips, which
insisted on long soothing sips, were broken down by the annoying ringtone
of my cell phone. I hated the call that moment. It was from Mr Durrani, the
client.
Even before I could say hello, his stiff voice filled the phone. ‘Where
are you? I have been waiting for the past five minutes.’
Five minutes? Really? He sounded like it was the end of the world.
‘I am just coming. I thought you’d arrive by 11 a.m. but it’s just
10:45 and I thought…’ I stopped mid-sentence and realized he had
disconnected the phone already.
I left my half sipped coffee and untouched sandwich and rushed out.
It is not every day that such delicious little delicacies get such a rough
treatment by their sophisticated buyers.
When I finally reached the arrival gates of Terminal 1 it took me no
time to locate the stocky short man with extremely fair complexion. He had
an imperfectly placed paunch which looked rather funny on his stocky
stature. But he was quite muscular, which I guess is characteristic of people
from the mountains. His grey hair was combed neatly and his facial hair
were trimmed. He was dressed in a civil servant attire—a pitch black suit
and a black tie over a white shirt with a small briefcase in his hands. He did
not realize one thing—that the hot and humid Mumbai weather would roast
him in his suit. The beefy, bull-necked official was rolling his eyes while
looking at his wristwatch the whole time.
Nothing remotely similar to my idea of a sleek-looking government
officer gathered over the years through Ajay Devgan movies. Sigh !
‘Hello sir!’ I put my hand out for a handshake.
He narrowed his eyes for a moment and grasped my hand rather
authoritatively.
The way you shake hands with someone speaks a lot about you. For
instance, the palm down handshake, when your palm is turned to face
downwards, projects immediate authority and domination over the other
person. I read in a self-improvement book called Good Grooming and How
It Affects Your Social Relationships. If it is to be believed then it was not
even two seconds and we already had negative vibes between us. What was
he expecting me to do? Salute?
For two minutes straight we shook each other’s hands and broke it
uncomfortably only to observe two more minutes of uncertain silence before
I decided to take control of the situation. After all, what is the use of being
an urban, liberated, free-spirited professional girl if I cannot even deal with
petty handshakes.
‘Welcome to the city, Mr Durrani,’ I said, breaking the
uncomfortable silence.