Chapters (23)
‘That’s all for this week folks, see you next week, same time, same place,’ Ed says and laughs loudly.
Some people laugh at his joke politely; some roll their eyes—behind his back—as they walk out of the room; Ragini just sits and stares at me.
She comes up to my desk later.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’ Ragini asks me.
I can see she is still upset about the edit meeting.
‘What did you want me to say?’ I ask.
‘You could have said you didn’t mind your story not being carried—instead you joined their ranks,’ she says.
‘I’ll be honest with you Ragini, I want my story carried but I am not joining any “ranks”, I’m not the enemy here—’
‘No, you’re just very selfish—your blogger story is just fluff, my story, though, can change lives—how could you do this to me?’ she asks.
‘You’re overreacting Ragini—’
‘I am not fucking overreacting, all right! They’re all gunning for me—it’s been happening for a while now. They want me out of the way so they can promote Mita—the fucking rookie.’
Before I can respond, Neelima and the twins walk up to my desk; Ragini scowls even more—Neelima is not one of her favourite people.
‘What’s happened Ragini, something upsetting you?’ Neelima asks with mock concern.
‘None of your fucking business,’ Ragini says, grinding her teeth.
‘You cannot talk to me like that,’ Neelima says, shocked.
‘I will talk to you the way I please—if you don’t like it you can fuck off,’ Ragini says.
‘How dare you, how—’
‘Which bit of ‘fuck off’ don’t you understand, Neelima?’ Ragini asks.
Neelima stares at Ragini with absolute hatred etched on her face.
‘Oh I can understand perfectly well, Ragini. I understand that you are a rude and frustrated woman,’ Neelima says, finding her voice again.
‘The rudeness you were born with and the frustration is because you can see your glory days ending. You’re not the star reporter anymore—a mere rookie journalist is displacing you. You’re jaded, Ragini. Old stuff. Finished,’ Neelima says with a nasty smile and walks away.
The twins look at Ragini and mouth ‘Bite me’ and follow Neelima.
‘I am going to talk to Sinha. See you later,’ Ragini says and leaves as well.
All the drama has left me very tired. I need the energy—I have a story to file and pages to make. This is a horrible start to a Monday and a bad Monday usually means a horrendous week ahead. Great, I can’t wait.
My phone beeps then—it’s a text message from Sid.
It reads: ‘Did we have sex last night? Can’t remember.’