Terms and Conditions do not Apply [ON HOLD]

Took Her By Surprise

9:00 PM

December 12th, 2015

Embassy Golf Links, Facebook Office, Bangalore

"So, the idea is to add a feature in the app that allows you to use gestures to add someone to your hangouts circle?" I asked Sarah from across my screen.

"Well, not just that. Different gesture for different functionalities." She said, her voice cracking due to the bad connection. I swear, only in India will a company that runs completely on internet, have bad WiFi signal.

"Okay. I think my team and I can do it. We might need some time on that though, because we need to find a unique identifiable gesture for each important functionality." My brain was already whirring with the possibilities for this. With the right hardware support, it wasn't impossible.

"That's fine Abhaya." She pronounced my name wrong again, but it's not like I can correct her, she's my boss and you don't correct the boss. "The faster you can get it done the better. As head of the Innovation department, I need to have a working prototype soon. This will take the Hangouts app to the next level." She said that last time. And the time before that. And the time before that. But who am I to point it out?

"Will do, ma'am. Anything else?" I asked politely, hoping that the answer is no.

"No. That'll be all. I'll see you next week." She said curtly and without waiting for my response, ended the Skype call. With a relieved sigh, I slapped my Mac shut. I got this job straight out of college. Top of my class IIT Kharakpur, now working in the headquarters for Google, India, as a full time team leading programmer. I loved the job but hated the my boss. And some days just took a toll on me. I rubbed my eyes a bit as a knock on the door caught me attention.

"Yeah?" I said shifting my eyes to my top programmer and best friend Janavi.

"Team wants to go out for drinks. Care to join us, Ms. Team Lead?" She asked with a playful smile, her eyes twinkling. You can't miss her bubbly personality or her eccentric thoughts. We hit it off instantly when we first met. Both of us on our best days were a riot in a room, a force to be reckoned with. One distinct thing you'd notice on her was the beautiful Soulmate Insignia all over her left upper arm. She was one of the luckier ones, got hers when she was just 18 and found her soul mate in two weeks, a beautiful young potugese woman called Samantha, who was, at the time, in India on vacation. Not everyone was that lucky though. At 23, I still don't see any sign of my Insignia showing up anytime soon.

"I don't know Jaan. I've had a rough night with the meeting with Sarah and everything." I said getting up and gathering my things, getting ready to leave the office for the night. I just wanted to go home, call my mum and then go to bed.

"All the more reason for a night out, Abhi. You're coming. That's final." She said with such finality that I didn't have a chance to argue. I laughed and gave in with a nod.

"I'll be out in a moment. At least let me call my mummy ji. If I don't she'll loose it." Jaan laughed and walked out of my office, leaving me to it.

I took a deep breath and dialed up my mum, mentally preparing myself for her assault of questions. My mum was a worry worm. She worried about me, worried about Pa, worried about world peace, basically worried about everything that was important or unimportant in the universe. Right now her biggest worry was my lack of soul mate. She got her Insignia when she was 17. And didn't find Pa till she was 22. SO her biggest worry now was me not getting mine yet.

"Hello?" My mother's soothing voice sounded through the receiver.

"Hi Amma." I said, bracing myself for her assault of questions.