Supriya had
joined ‘Shikha’s Creations’ just the previous month. She held a Degree in Mass
Communication and Journalism from the University and had completed the same
Diploma that Shikha had. So Supriya was more qualified than Shikha, a fact that
Shikha found hard to digest.
Supriya’s work had been highly recommended by
someone, in a conference that Shikha had been to. Eager to acquire the best of
talent for her agency, Shikha had gone out of her way in wooing Supriya to work
for her Agency as a Senior Visualizer. She had assured her a good pay package,
which surpassed her existing one, and succeeded in adding her to her Agency’s
pay roll. Little would Supriya have imagined about the torture that she would
be soon undergoing on a regular basis.
Right since day one, Shikha had found
faults with her work and even commented unfavorably on her dress sense and
demeanour. After a month, when Supriya
found the situation unbearable, she expressed her desire to quit. “You are
forgetting that you’ve been appointed on a contract basis, during the term of
your probation in this agency. You’ll have to forgo your one month’s salary if
you leave now,” Shikha reminded her smugly.
Supriya knew
that Shikha was giving her a rough time due to her complex about her higher
educational qualifications and superior talent. She wanted to demean her and
destroy her self-confidence by constantly running her down. But what Shikha had
said about her stupidity that day, incensed her beyond measure. She resolved to
overpower the ‘control freak’ through her sheer intelligence and will-power.
‘Yes, I am not a coward. Two can play at the game. I’ll beat her in her own
game.’
That evening,
after work, she headed straight for that client’s office, which had rejected
her idea. She met the Director and convinced him about the viability and
economic feasibility of her original idea. “Trust me, Mr. Kumar. I assure you
that this campaign will be a huge success. Just give my idea a chance.”
The
real estate developer looked carefully at the young girl in front of him, and
decided to give her a chance. He was willing to take the risk after her earnest
assurance. She surely looked supremely confident about her idea being a
success. “O.K., I’ll think about it,” he said in a non-committal tone. But
after she had left, he called up Shikha and told her that he had changed his
mind and wanted to go ahead with the Campaign plan as proposed by the Agency
earlier.
“Supriya, hearty
congrats. Your idea has been approved,” Shikha welcomed her when she entered
the office, the following day. “Thanks. So my stupidity has worked,” she
exclaimed cheekily. Shikha’s face reddened with embarrassment. She squirmed and
vowed to get even with her later, though she maintained a brave front.
The Campaign for
selling plush residences of Mr. Kumar’s Housing Project was a huge success. All
the apartments on offer were sold out on the day of announcement of the project
itself. This was unprecedented in the construction sector of that town where
builders had to wait for years to sell off all their apartments and make any
profit!
It was then that Supriya made an important decision. She would start an agency of her own and give Shikha’s agency a run for her money.
To be continued...
This story written by me was published in Alive magazine in January 2012.
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