Page 88 of Made in Mumbai

He didn’t realise those words had come out of his mouth until her eyes softened. Her palm reached out to cup the side of his neck. “G, you know that money does not get taken away like that, right? You are a smart man, you must have made smart investments…”

“Lots of real estate,” he tried to joke.

“And all of them residences in different parts of Mumbai. I know. The gossip downstairs is real. But G, you have a lot already.”

“Not enough to belong to this city.”

Maya smiled, squeezing his flesh — “Do you know how many people come to Mumbai every day to make their lives? Thousands. And do you know that eventually, they all belong here because that is how huge Mumbai is. If it is not, it expands to make space.”

He nodded, lowering his forehead over hers. “I just need to have homes. I don’t ever want to be on the road again because I don’t have a house.”

She held the back of his neck in both her hands, squeezed.

“Those people who come to Mumbai every day to make their lives, do you know when those people begin to belong here?”

“You are about to tell me.”

“When they start living here instead of just working here.”

His phone buzzed on his desk. Maya patted his shoulder and stepped back — “I know where you come from, G. But now you are here. Take that call and come down. We are all waiting.”

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Gautam finished that call in record time. The Turks, obviously, wouldn’t have gone anywhere. They did not see only this consignment but the volume he brought in terms of variety. Variety that they wouldn’t be able to source from anywhere else.

He changed into the white kurta-pyjama she had brought and quickly descended the stairs, hoping the party would be short and he would be able to take her home to start celebrating the beginning of their Diwali break. Maybe they could take a short vacation if her doctor allowed.

“Please put your hands together for our favourite boss — Gautam Kumar!” Maya’s mic voice echoed, making him stall. The Made in Mumbai area had been transformed. The round tables were arranged with chairs and name tags, everyone already seated with starters and drinks. And Maya, the star of any show, stood on a makeshift stage, a hot pink fur scarf around her neck like some badge of honour. The lot of them erupted in a round of applause — both GK Textiles and Made in Mumbai employees, all decked in ethnics.

Gautam raised his hand, smiling at them and taking a seat at the back. He knew bosses stole all the fun, so he just tried to duck into oblivion.

“Now that the guest of honour’s in the house, it’s time to get to the best part of tonight — TheGundeeAwards!”

He let out a snort. Was she serious?

“Now this is the first year of Gundee Awards,” she held up a tiny gold trophy that god knows when she had had the time to commission. “So I suggest you keep these babies safe. They’ll be auctioned for millions in a few years.”

The crowd cheered.

“And, a word of disclaimer — this award ceremony is not inspired,ahem copied, from any American sitcom which is a remake of another British sitcom whatsoever. This is a brainchild of your Senior Designer’s super mind. Also, no Rustoms were harmed during the scripting of this show.”

Gautam didn’t get the joke, but Rustom was laughing on the side.Laughing.What had she done to the people of Made in Mumbai?

“Now,” her voice turned grave. “I would request everybody to please stand up,” Everybody began to push to their feet, “for a standing ovation for your favourite host.”

Laughs, and Leo jumped back down on his seat, folding his hands into his armpits and shaking his head — “I was supposed to be the co-host!” But everyone else was clapping, so Gautam got to his feet and clapped too.

“Hey,” Sahyadri came and stood beside him, clapping and smiling — “Really, Gautam, you allowed all this?”

“They wanted to do it, let them do it. It’s alright.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Maya took a tiny head bow. “Please be seated for the awards ceremony. Let me make this clear — it was gravely difficult to decide the winners. Everybody was so good that it took us a whole night of overtime, which our favourite boss is going to compensate us for, to finalise the winners.”

The audience turned back to him and Gautam shook his head.

“Cue, music!” She pointed to the side, and her sidekick, which Leo had forfeited the right of and Ria seemed to have won, played some fancy award show beats.

“First up, we have the ‘Most Likely to Make Chai Breaks Last Forever’ Award! We all know who that’s going to be…”

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