A lot can happen over coffee…

Name – Disha Sengupta

Age – 32 years

Marital Status – Divorcee

Social Status – Upper Middle Class

Employment – Ad Filmmaker, J. Walter Thompson

Name – Dhritiman Mukherjee

Age – 34 years

Marital Status – Divorcee

Social Status – Upper Middle Class

Employment – Senior Manager, Business Development, Infosys BPO

Two people – who were unaware of each other's existence – whose paths had never crossed – who were busy leading their mundane lives – Two people – who had nothing in common; but yet, something in common. Yes! Something in common. Who had even thought that a routine, a mundane day would give their lives and their ideologies a completely new spin!

This is the story of Disha, the story of Dhritiman and an accidental meeting over coffee!

A lot of people say that life is all about fighting! Fighting to race ahead in the line to get the ration, fighting to get a job, fighting to succeed and fighting to get attention. But, how many realize that the real fight in life is within each and every individual. It is this fight that each and every one of us has to win – the one against our own demons, our own prejudices – that will determine the winner amongst us. Disha and Dhritiman were just about to win such a fight! To witness – stay glued!

Dec 25th, 2007 – Streets of Bangalore – cut to Dhritiman's flat…

A routine morning beckoned the city of Bangalore. Even the sun was nice and warm with cold breeze blowing across the city. The leaves had fallen from the trees and the birds were chirping, signaling the arrival of a beautiful morning. It was 5.30am. I got up to Karunesh's 'Arabian Nights" music piece (that was the alarm tone of my phone). Switching off the phone alarm, I got out of the bed, wore my slippers and walked towards to the loo. I switched on the light, yawned like a zombie and then brushed my teeth. I finished all my morning rituals. Once done, I got in to my tracks, hooked on to my iPod and went out for a jog. This is the usual way I begin my day. No frills about it… How boring!

Cut to Disha's place…

I got up at 6.00am. I took my brush, wore my robe, picked up my copy of Economic Times and the packet of milk from the outside of my door. While brushing, I prepared a cup of hot coffee for myself, washed my face and went to the verandah. I was just going through the headlines while sipping on my coffee. Whiled away some of my time doing just this. Then I noticed it was 6.45. It was time for me to start getting ready and move to work. Wow! What a phenomenally boring way to begin a day!

Flashback to a normal day in the lives of these two supremely disgruntled and disgusted individuals:

A Normal Day in Dhritiman's Life: Morning 8.00am – the bus arrives in the Infy campus. I get down and walk towards my office building. But wait a minute – I've to clear the freakin' security check as well. I don't know why the hell they check me everyday! I walk through these same goddamn gates every single morning; even then they can't recognize me or what! But then, that is still ok! It's pardonable – at least this is nothing when compared to the scene of walking towards the bldg amidst a crowd of hundreds of other employees. I can't help but feel like a mill worker. I mean, who am I? and how am I different from the others that I am walking with? These are some of the questions that I always kept asking myself. What difference would it make to the world, to the society if I die tonight?

Screw that, I spoke to myself and entered the building. I work very closely with the Corporate Marketing and Solutions Design and Implementation teams. It's time for our daily briefing session at 8.45. I just went to my cabin, dumped my jacket, opened my laptop, and checked my mails… There were a couple of conference calls that I had to be part of; I accepted the invite and got ready for the meeting. The agenda for today's meeting was a discussion on Google RFP. We called the entire team in to the meeting room, brainstormed and finally ended the meeting without any fruitful result.

It had been long, so I decided to go for a coffee break and have a sutta as well. I went to the Terminal, picked up a coffee and went to the smoke zone, lit up a fag and listened to all the operations crap talk while puffing my way to glory. Sutta over and I was back to my building. Few more mails, a couple of conference calls, some more breaks and suttas later, my day came to a close. Finally, I went home. I reached home by 6.15. Dumped my jacket, dumped my laptop in to a corner and fixed myself a drink. I finished that drink and then crashed only to get up the next morning.

A Normal Day in Disha's Life: Hell man! It's 8.30am, and I've to ride through the city's mad traffic to make it to the office. Crap man! Why the fucking city officials can't streamline this traffic issue once and for all, I said to myself more in exasperation than really a request! Nevertheless, it's a part of my daily chore, so better get on with it… After finishing my usual breakfast (corn flakes and a couple of toasts), I picked up my laptop, my dupatta, my car keys and left my flat. I took the lift; didn't want to waste my time and energy taking the stairs to get down from the 8th floor to reach the parking lot on the ground floor.

Fine! I reached the ground floor, got in to my car and moved towards my office. I rip through the city, reach my office and hand over the keys to the valet and enter the building. I reach my cabin, switch on the AC, dump my laptop on the table, get connected, check my mails and reply to some regular mails – just updates and a few sales pitches for reference. There was a meeting scheduled today to discuss the creative copy for a potential client. I called in the client-servicing team, the creative team and also the storyboard artists – the agenda to dissect and discuss the test advertisement. In the meeting, some interesting points were raised regarding the campaign positioning and the target audience (mismatch). Some insights were also shared. The meeting proved to be fruitful and I was kicked about being the leader of a hyper-active and super-creative team.

Well I guess, that was the only big deal of the day. I was done and there was nothing else to take care of. Few breaks and few chais later, I decided to call the inconsequential day – a day! I packed my bags and left the office. I reached home early at around 3.45pm. Back at home, I just crashed straight away.

So here was a normal day in the lives of these two supposedly inconsequential people. Now let's flash forward to this day – apparently an eventful day for Disha and Dhritiman.

December 25th, 2008:

Dhritiman had a meeting with Business Development Manager, CNBC TV-18 at 1.30 pm. The venue was decided to be Café Coffee Day, M.G. Road, Bangalore

The Agenda – To discuss a potential deal between CNBC TV-18 and Infosys BPO.

Disha Sengupta also had a meeting with the Senior Marketing Manager, Vodafone India at 1.45 pm. The venue was decided to be Café Coffee Day, M.G. Road, Bangalore

The Agenda – To discuss a potential deal between Vodafone India and J. Walter Thompson.

Both Disha and Dhritiman reached the venue on time. They decided to sit down and wait for their respective clients.

Tring Tring – Dhritiman's phone rang.

Ashutosh: Hey, hi! This is Ashutosh from CNBC. Am I speaking to Dhritiman from Infosys?

Dhritiman: Yes! This is Dhritiman speaking. Tell me Ashutosh.

Ashutosh: Hey Dhritiman! Sorry man! I just called to tell you, that today's meeting will have to be rescheduled to some other day. I'm stuck in another meeting with the board, and it seems that the meeting is going to drag for I don't know how long! I'm terribly sorry mate!

Dhritiman: Hey! That's ok! Perfectly fine… I totally understand. Works fine with me. Will give you a call and fix a date for another meeting.

Ashutosh: Great man! Thanks a ton for your co-operation. Have a nice day J

Dhritiman: Take care mate! You too

Call disconnected. Fuck man! I hate this! Why does it always happen to me, I asked myself (more out of anger) Aaarghh!

Cut to Disha:

Tring Tring – Disha's phone rang.

Ajit: Hello! Am I speaking to Disha from JWT? This is Ajit from Vodafone.

Disha: Hey Ajit. How're you? I was just expecting your call. Tell me.

Ajit: Disha, I'm extremely sorry; but we might have to push this meeting to next week. I'm just caught up in our Monthly Business Review meeting. And looks like this one's gonna go on forever. Can we fix something up for next week per your convenience?

Disha: Hmmm… Yeah! That works fine for me too… So next week, eh? Great! Will give you a call and confirm the schedule. Does that sound good?

Ajit: Sounds great! Thanks a ton for your help! It's much appreciated J

Call disconnected. Crap! What the bloody hell is this nonsense? Am I fool to be sitting and waiting here for this bloody asshole? And we're eager to do business with this guy. Wow! This tops, for sure ;-), I spoke to myself. I was completely disgusted at this.

Nonetheless, I decided to stay and calm myself down with a cup of coffee. I called the waiter and ordered a latte. The waiter was about to go; and just at that moment I saw this tall and good-looking guy walking over to my seat.

Excuse me lady! May I join you, he asked. Unaware of his intentions and also of his existence, I nodded and allowed to join me. He ordered for a cappuccino.

Disha: Excuse me! But I don't know you… May I know who you are and why did you decide to join me?

Dhritiman: Hi! My name is Dhritiman. Dhritiman Mukherjee. I work for Infosys BPO as a business development manager.

Disha: Hi! I'm Disha Sengupta. I work as an ad filmmaker with J. Walter Thompson.

Dhritiman: Wow! What a pleasant surprise! You too are from Calcutta, eh? Nice!

Disha: I know. So I guess, you're still to answer the second part of my question. What made you join me in this crowded place? And please don't say that I'm the most good looking girl n all… That's the most outdated and supremely corny pickup lines I have ever heard.

Dhritiman: Nah! Don't worry… I'm not here to flirt or to try and pick you up or stuff like that! I just saw you and thought that you're pissed with something. Completely disgusted. Pretty much the same thing with me as well. So thought, why not you know strike a conversation? It's fine with me, if you want me to leave…

Disha: No! It's fine with me. The reason seems to be pretty interesting though! So tell me something about yourself… apart from your name and profession.

Dhritiman: So what do you want to know?

Disha: Depends! Anything.

Dhritiman: Well! I am 34 years old. I had been married; but now a divorcee. My wife decided to leave me. And ever since I'm alone. Rest nothing else is interesting about me. Just leading the same old boring and mundane life. You tell me something about yourself.

Disha: Hmmm… We share something in common, I guess. I am 32 years old. Also a divorcee and just as yours, my life is also the same old crappy life. Nothing to write home about. No one else in the family as well. My mom and dad expired long time back, so had to fend for myself. Fought real hard to get to this position where I am, but life just seems to have stopped going anywhere.

Dhritiman: Oh! I'm sorry to hear about the demise of your folks. Well you certainly deserve a lot of credit and kudos to have fought odds stacked against you.

Disha: Why do you say your life is fucked? I mean you're a business development manager with Infy. Life must be a party for you, isn't it?

Dhritiman: Oh man! My life – don't even talk about it… I mean I had the most fantastic life ever. I get a fat salary. I party big time. I just hang out at the clubs and pubs. Have a huge gang of friends. Drink, drink and drink some more. That's what life is.

Disha: But then that's so good. That's awesome. Why do you complain then?

Dhritiman: Because that's all that's there in my life. There's no family at all. I now miss being with my mom and dad.

Disha: Wow! That's fantastic!

Dhritiman: And why is that so fantastic?

Disha: That's coz' our lives are so contradicting; yet, we have something in common… So interesting.

Disha: I'm just so stuck with my relatives. I stay with my brother and sister-in-law. We stay in one house. And owing to the fact that I told you right at the outset, these so-called relatives of mine consider me a slave of theirs. They think they have the right or the responsibility to control my life. I just don't have any freedom whatsoever to do things my way. I'm accountable for every single move that I make. That's so freakin' irritating.

Dhritiman: You know what! I wish you know we could actually swap places… I mean just kidding! But frankly – hats off to you! I guess you're as brave a person as I've ever met. After having suffered such irrecoverable losses, you've clawed your way back. At least that's worthy of being saluted.

Dhritiman: And as for being free, I guess that's completely up to you…

Disha: Huh! Up to me? How??

Dhritiman: See! People will only dictate your life, if you let them do it. I guess you'll just have to break free. Just give it back to them a few times and things should just loosen up for you. Irreverence is the word. Just don't pay any heeds to whatever they tell you. If they try and act up too much – you know just show them the middle finger and walk off. You're earning. You're independent. Act independent. Unless you begin to treat yourself as an independent human being, no one else will treat you that way.

Disha: Hmmm. That I guess is a wonderful advice. I've never thought of such things. I've never thought on these lines. Thanks for making me realize these things. I owe you a cup of coffee for this. Hey waiter!

The waiter comes to take the order.

Disha: Get me a cappuccino and a latte please!

Resuming the conversation

Disha: Hey you know what! Why don't you do one thing! Why don't you just call your folks here or just take a beak and go home? You should visit them… Maybe that will give you a much needed break!

Dhritiman: Yeah! I should think about that… You know what! Sometimes we just get so trapped in our day-to-day affairs that we just close our minds to think on such simplistic options.

Disha: I know! Tell me about it. Hey you're a divorcee. Why did your wife leave you? And do you hate her for dumping you?

Dhritiman: Hmmm… That is a tough one. What exactly do you expect as an answer?

Disha: Truth, of course!

Dhritiman: Haa! Well! I don't really hate her. I, in fact, respect her a lot for being so brave and so independent that she walked up to me and told me that it is just getting tougher for her by the day to live with me. She was a strong individual. As a matter of fact, you won't believe that we're still in touch. We talk every day and we also make it a point to catch up frequently.

Dhritiman: I tend to disagree with the popular notion that people break up only because they dislike each other and post-breakup, they keep maligning each other. People can part ways just because their points-of-view might have changed. They can still be close and still have the same respect for each other.

Dhritiman: Another thing that you taught me today is a person's ability to value what you have. I've never valued my folks through out my life. I've always seen them as an obstruction, but you have made me see value in them. And you've made me realize their importance before it's too late.

Disha: Hey waiter! Can you repeat the same coffee here? Thanks!

Dhritiman: Hey tell me, why were so pissed here during the day?

Disha: I had a meeting with a potential client, but he didn't show up. And my entire day went for a toss. I hate this. My entire day went futile. And what about you?

Dhritiman: Same here. Absolutely same thing happened with me. I too had a meeting with a potential client; but he didn't show up. I was pissed. All my hard work went for waste.

Disha: You know what! We have entered such depression phase, that we think if something doesn't turn up the way we want it to – we start blaming our rotten luck. However; it is not like that. What we fail to look at the other side of the incident. I have a reason to believe now that whatever happens is for the good. I mean just take the case of today… both of us lost out on our meeting today. We thought that it was our tough luck, but see what happened! We got to talk to each other. We're spending some good time together.

Dhritiman: Also, most importantly, we're looking at life and everything in a new perspective. And that's most important.

Disha: Absolutely!

Both Disha and Dhritiman look at their watches – It is 7.30pm.

Dhritiman: Hey it's 7.30pm. I guess it's time to leave. We better get going.

Disha: Yeah! I guess so too. But it was nice talking to you. It really was an interesting day today.

Dhritiman: Yeah! I know. I couldn't have agreed more.

Dhritiman calls for the check. He pays the bill and both of them walk their ways.

Back home:

Dhritiman: I reached home at 8.15. Cling! I took out the keys, opened the door, got in to the flat. I dumped my stuff, switched on some Sinatra stuff and went to the verandah to look at the sights and listen to the sounds outside. It was noisy, yet so peaceful! I had never felt so nice. This day had changed something in me, but I don't know what! Guess! I'm tryin' to figure out…

Disha: Went home. I just fixed vodka for myself, sat on the easy chair in the verandah of my 8th floor flat and was just flashing back on the day! Well, it had not been that bad… Certainly. In fact it was great!