Vicious City of Valiant Dreams: 4 — The Morning Ritual

Greetings everyone. I know its been a bit too long since the last chapter. I am sorry to keep you waiting but it couldn’t be avoided. I am a PhD student and sometimes it requires my undivided attention. But I finally got to finish this chapter. We are finally going to dive deeper into this world and I hope you will like it.

If you haven’t checked out the previous chapters, please do so by following the links below.

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Karan sprinted past the reception area of the company building — toward the big, black, glass door with “Staff Only” written on it in huge, block-letters. He didn’t want to go through his Morning Ritual today; not when he was already ten minutes late. “Hold the door please,”

“Hold the door please,” He shouted.

The girl ahead of him, who had just opened the security door, probably didn’t hear him. The door closed behind her. Karan jerked his head backward in frustration. The security door had an electronic lock which only opened by placing the employee ID-card on top of it. Karan did not have one. He was supposed to get his ID-card the day he joined but according to his boss, “the management of the company was gone to hell”, which loosely translated to- He might get his ID-card within a week or maybe a month. It wasn’t supposed to be a big problem though as his boss had instructed him to inform the security guard about his case and show him the joining letter- the guard would let him in through his master card. That was the way other newcomers used to get in.

But Karan had already burned down that door for him.

On his first day of his job he got into an argument with that very same guard and now the guard was making him pay for disrespecting him; and he was making him pay for it everyday-everyday Karan had to plead, he had to beg the guard to let him in. And everyday the guard will present some unique excuses to why he can not do that. Some days, if Karan’s luck willed it so, some other employee would come with his card and let Karan enter along with him. But most mornings of his last week were spent begging the guard with all his self respect on the floor and then, only then the guard would let him in, and that too with the warning that it was the last time he was allowing him. That was his Morning Ritual. Now he had to go through it all over again.

When he got close to the door he saw the guard sitting next to it on his chair talking to someone on his phone. His face looked a bit stressed which would definitely cheer up once he sets his gaze on Karan, Karen thought. Karen imagined he might be the only source of entertainment in his rather dull job of sitting in front of a door the whole day. Karen’s prediction about the guard’s expression was wrong; he didn’t cheer up looking at Karen. Instead he gave him an annoyed look as he continued talking on the phone in a language karan didn’t understand. Karan thought it was his part to get annoyed, not the guards’.

Every morning Karan regretted the way he acted that morning when that guard stopped him for the first time. The guard wasn’t essentially mean, he was just doing his job, the fact Karan realized after two or three rituals. Each passing day he realized, a bit by bit, how disrespectful he had been to the guard, how delusional and ignorant he had been his whole life. But that wasn’t enough. It’s been a whole week. Along with a genuine remorse for his bad behavior Karan had begun to realize that maybe the guard wasn’t trying to teach him a lesson but rather he was a petty man by nature. In any case, today, he had accepted that it is the part of his penance for his arrogance and insolence. He was ready for his Morning Ritual.

Before he could start pleading or even utter a word, the guard took out his master card and tapped on the lock beside him all the while continuing to talk on the phone. Karan couldn’t believe what just happened. He almost cried with happiness and gratitude. “Thank you!” He said twice to the guard with a heavy throat as he rushed past the door.

Karen paced toward the elevator. He noticed that the girl who had entered before him was waiting for the lift too. He couldn’t help but notice her long curly hair tied with a band in a high ponytail. Had it been any other day, Karan would have confronted her about whether she heard him earlier and willfully ignored. He wasn’t used to not being heard. But just seconds ago he was humbled by a guard. “Why ruin such a good start of the day?” He thought. The door of the lift opened and the girl entered. As she began to turn, Karan realized she was younger than he first thought, probably the same age as his. It was her dress- usually girls of that age group wore Jeans and a T-shirt. It wasn’t a stereotype either. Karan had observed over a week that it was customary. Only a few ladies who were working on higher ranks wore something more elegant. Maybe She was one of them, he wondered.

The girl turned and Karan saw her face, she was pretty-he thought. Despite the lack of ostentatious glamour in her clothes; an ankle length, grey suit with a velvet fabric dupatta (a long scarf like a piece of cloth women wore around their neck or shoulders in India) or any attempt to look beautiful, the girl indeed looked very beautiful.

He noticed the lift door closing between them and he shouted again, “wait, hold the door!” He knew the girl heard him, both times, as he saw her holding up the middle finger of her right hand as she disappeared behind the lift’s door. Karan was totally amazed by what had just happened. He used to behave like that in his teenage years but here in the company, he thought this was the place for adults. Did the guard just outside pull a prank on him with this girl? He stood there waiting for the lift to come back, ‘I can’t believe I’m gonna be late on Monday morning.’

“Hey Karan, Is that you?” Karan heard a husky voice behind him. ‘What kind of question is that?’ he wondered. He didn’t need to turn to find out who it was. “Good morning, Amit,” Karan replied politely as he turned to face him.

“What are you doing down here?” Amit asked.

“I am a bit late.” Karan replied with embarrassed.

“It’s not a good time for a newcomer like you to be late.”

“I would have made it in time if it wasn’t for this stupid girl.”

“Oooh! A girl you say. Must have been a tiresome night,” Amit teased him by misinterpreting his comment.

Karan gave him a brief confused look before he figured out what he ment, “Nooo…, no, no, no. Some girl just shut the lift door on me while giving me a finger. I guess I am taking the stairs.” Karan shook his head and blew a puff of air through his mouth wondering about what Amit was insinuating. It’s been some time since Karan had that kind of encounter with a girl. Along with the money, he felt like he had lost all his charm too.

“To a pretty face like you? Maybe she wasn’t that stupid then.” Amit paused to appreciate his own joke. Karan gave him an approving smile.

“Do people usually behave this way? or did I overextend in asking to hold the door?” Karan sounded the back of his head I knew fully well that his behavior toward the guard on his first day was exactly the same. “Hypocrite!”

“None of the above,” Amit smiled. “Maybe it was her time of the month, you know it makes them crazy.” He paused again expecting a laugh from Karan. Karan had no response for that comment. “Or maybe..,” continued Amit, realizing it was sexist, and not even a good joke. “She could have gotten the notice. That would explain the bad mood. Come with me, we will take the VIP lift,” said Amit and started walking away.

‘VIP lift!’ Karan followed without question. He wondered about what he meant by ‘gotten the notice’, but then he realized he didn’t give a shit about some arrogant girl, he had his own shit to worry about. “What did you mean by ‘not a good time’? “ asked Karan as he followed Amit.

“Ohh! nothing,” said Amit as he stopped in front of the fancy wall decorated with some vibrant colors. Karan always though it was some kind of abstract painting. He didn’t even realize it was the door of another lift until Amit pressed the button on the wall. It looked a lot fancier from the inside too. They entered and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

“Is this related to the ‘notice’ you just mentioned?” Karan asked. Apparently, he did give a shit.

“What notice?” Amit asked. “You ask too many questions. Newcomers shouldn’t be doing that either.”

There was a silent pause. “I know I am not supposed to ask questions but…” Karan broke the silence and got interrupted in between.

“That’s right, you are not supposed to ask questions, you just keep your head down and do what you’re asked to do, that’s the only way you will survive here.” Amit spoke softly but cogently, staring deep into Karan’s eyes. It left Karan a bit surprised. Amit seemed like a nice guy to him. “This company is going through its worst times,” said Amit.

“So, there were good times too!?” Karen wondered jokingly

Before he could get any response from Amit, the lift door opened on the fourth floor where they both worked. Karan saw his boss was standing right in front of him.

“You are the new guy, right? Do you know what time it is? What are you doing in the VIP lift? “ Karan’s Boss fired up questions one after another without waiting for any answers. His loud voice made it pretty clear that he was not happy with him being late or.. Maybe it was using the VIP lift.

“I…., I’m sorry, Mr. Agnihotri,” Karan stuttered with nervousness in front of a big bellied man who was his boss.

“Hey Vishal,” A loud husky voice came from behind Karan. “How was your weekend?”

Mr. Agnihotri’s gaze shifted from Karan to Amit and his frowned, angry face suddenly turned into a huge, welcoming smile, “Heyyyy Amit, and how was yours?”

They shook hands like they were school pals. They weren’t. “Hey, I’m sorry about the boy, It’s not his fault. He was helping me with something.” Karan stood there with an expression of awe, he didn’t hope to be rescued by Amit. He almost thought he had offended him with his comment.

“No need to be sorry about it man.” Mr. Agnihotri shook his head sideways, smiling from ear to ear. They started talking about something, totally forgetting about Karan. He took the hint and made his way toward his cabin.

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Originally published at https://simily.co.