I reach my desk and quickly wrap up. I pick up my handbag and head for the toilet—always a good idea to go before getting into Delhi traffic.

‘Wait up!’ Ragini calls out as I’m about to enter the toilet.

She jogs up to me … Her breasts nearly pop out of her kurta as she does so and I’m not the only one who notices. The tech team’s desks are near the toilet and one of the tech boys seems frozen on the spot—he stares at Ragini’s breasts. Unfortunately for him, Ragini sees him staring.

‘Why Manish, should I tear my fucking kurta off and make it easier for you? Would you like to grab them too or is staring enough?’ Ragini asks sarcastically

Manish goes red in the face, throws Ragini a rather hateful look and sits down on his chair.

‘Let’s just go,’ I whisper to Ragini.

She glares at me and then looks at Manish and the other tech boys pointedly.

‘Nah Polly, don’t you worry about these tech-heads. You give them one chance and they’ll morph your face over a naked body and have your tits bouncing on their monitors,’ Ragini says very loudly so the entire tech team can hear her.

I feel sorry for them. While Manish is a notorious office creep, some of the tech boys are actually quite nice.

‘You shouldn’t have said that,’ I say very quietly and try to pull Ragini away.

‘It won’t be that hard with your tits Ragini, they’re on free show most of the time anyway,’ someone yells out.

‘Who said that? You misogynistic bastard—who said that?’ Ragini shouts.

I grab her hand and try to drag her into the toilet. Ragini jerks my arm away.

‘I’m not going to run from confrontations. You’re most welcome to be a fucking doormat if you want to, Polly!’ Ragini yells at me and storms off to her desk.

I stand there thoroughly embarrassed and without a clue as to what to do.

‘It’s all right Miss Polly,’ Arvind, the tech team boss says, ‘I’ll sort out whoever made that comment, sorry about that. You, though, watch for that Ragini, she can be a nasty bitch.’

I scowl at him and walk into the toilet—I know Ragini can get emotional and aggressive but whatever she is, she’s my best friend.

3

Enter the Dragon

Whoever said ‘guests are like gods’ has not met Dragon. From the minute she arrives to the minute the train leaves the platform, Dragon makes life really difficult for everyone around her—that’s mostly me.