“Ugh! Prema is soo annoying!”, Patala almost shouted.
Niket looked askance from his mobile phone at her & mumbled, “Why? What happened now?”
“Dude, she goes on & on about ‘architectural beauty’ on her social media. Like she finds architectural beauty even in a WC!”
“Ha ha! So, what do you find annoying – Prema mentioning architectural beauty or she doing it on social media or what?”
Patala could figure out that Niket was pulling her leg. She made a face & asked, “Babe, have you forgotten the time we engaged her to do the interior designing of our house? She made such a mess of it!”
“Hii Patala! Hii Niket!”, Prema was effusive in her greeting.
As usual, Prema was dressed provocatively in a cotton sari tied well below her navel, accentuating her curves. Her backless blouse drew stares from the workers. Her long hair was tied in a high bun and her eyes were smeared with kohl. A huge red dot adorned the centre of her forehead.
Patala forced a smile while Niket launched into a diatribe immediately. “Prema, I’m afraid the interiors aren’t progressing as we’d decided. It’s running behind schedule, the workers keep changing, & forget beauty, even the basics are wrong!”
Prema nodded sympathetically & replied, “Yes, what to do? You know these workers, right? They’re the captains of their own ships. If they want to be absent any day, I can’t get them to change their minds.”
The elongated ‘can’t’ got on Patala’s & Niket’s nerves but still managing her cool, Patala asked, “But Prema, you should have taken this into account when giving us the time estimate. We’ve already served our notice in our current flat & we must move here by 1st. Also, why do the workers keep changing? Every time we come here; we see a new set of workers!”
Prema drawled, “Oh that’s because I send whoever’s available, darling. You know, so that we’re not delayed any further.”
Patala turned away & rolled her eyes. Niket jumped in, “Prema, so whenever a new worker comes, he picks up the work according to what he sees fit. The design continuity is lost, right?”
Prema replied nonchalantly, “That’s arrttt, my dear Niket!”
Niket laughed remembering the, ahem, conversations he’d had with Prema. “Patala, do you remember how she would pick fights with us when we pointed out her follies?”
“Oh God! Please don’t remind me. She’d zero professionalism.”
“It’d gotten so bad that we’d had to disengage her.”
“& then it took us more carpenters, masons & plumbers to fix the damage she & her ‘workers’ had done!”
Patala & Niket burst out laughing.
As Patala & Niket returned to their phone screens, Patala sighed, “& now she speaks about ‘architectural beauty’?! High talk indeed!!”
