All the men turned towards me at the same time as if they were one single-minded entity, their expressions hostile. One of them broke away and came up to me.

‘Could we help you with anything?’ he asked—there was nothing helpful in his eyes.

‘I—I was just passing by and—’

‘Then let me not hold you back,’ he said, interrupting me. ‘I know you are her friend but we don’t have anything against you. I don’t think we’ll be seeing you bouncing in any video, so why don’t you just carry on?’ he suggested in a menacing voice.

I’d been meaning to get a cup of tea but instead I went straight to my desk. The episode with the tech department had been extremely weird and had unsettled me quite a bit. What I didn’t know—as I sat and finished my next article—was that the day’s weirdness wasn’t over.

I’d been running a spell-check on my article when Comma came up to my desk.

‘Did you decide on a title for that story?’ Comma asked and pointed to the document that was open on my screen.

‘Not Scared To Be Me,’ I said.

‘Sorry?’ Comma asked.

‘That’s the title. I haven’t put it in there yet but the title for the story—since it’s about how the Internet’s anonymity is encouraging more people to be themselves—’

‘That works. I’ll edit the piece here,’ Comma said and gestured for me to move over.

Comma has always insisted that the Features writers sit next to her when she edits. We were halfway through the editing when the phone on my desk rang. I took the call.

‘Hello?’

‘I need to speak with Polly Sharma,’ said a woman’s soft voice. It was not a request.

‘You’re speaking to—I’m Polly,’ I said wondering who it could be.

Any phone calls I get at work are usually only from public relations people. The caller didn’t sound like one.

‘Polly. Do you have anyone around you?’ the woman asked.

‘Pardon me?’ I asked, taken completely by surprise. ‘Who are you?’

‘It’s important. Do you have anyone around you?’ the woman asked again.

‘Er—yes,’ I replied and wondered why it mattered to the woman.

‘Who is it?’ she asked.

The situation was totally bizarre and before I could answer, the woman spoke again.

‘Is it your boss, Neelima or one of those twins or someone else?’ she asked.

She surprised me again. It was clear the woman knew my colleagues but I couldn’t place her voice. For a moment I wondered if it might be Ragini who had somehow managed to change her voice. But I discarded the idea quickly, it was too filmi.

‘The first,’ I replied, totally intrigued about the caller’s identity.