The Mango Inspiration!

At 9.40, with rain pouring like there was no tomorrow, I parked my car in front of Leo’s studio and hopped out without realising I would be stepping into a puddle of water. Argh. There goes $200 worth sexy Dimonte heels! I tried to make my way over as fast as I could so I’d be under the roof at least, rather then getting drenched out here! But unfortunately, Leo didn’t have a roof or any sort of fucking thing to protect my hair, my clothes or my make up from getting ruined while I rang the bell continuously.

“I am getting you a god damn extension the next time I come here! So your fellow friends and co-workers don’t have to get wet!” I stated getting in through the door, responding to his wide grin with a sharp, and fairly short nod.

“Towel?” He offered still grinning like an idiot. No really, I mean it. Like an Idiot. A real idiot. “Pity the shoes, who they by?”

I looked down at them one more time, nothing had really happened… they weren’t falling apart or shrinking or anything as such, but I’m still sure their not meant to be worn in so much rain. “I wouldn’t have a clue. Picked them up from a vintage store where I was in Singapore.” I said, letting myself in on the cookies he’d kept on the table. Double chocolate cookies. “Sorry I’m late…” I started but stopped at the raise of his hand gesture. More like an ‘I-pity-your-state-more’ gesture. Leo disappeared in the kitchen, leaving me with the cookies and appeared a few minutes later with Mango juice.

“About time you buy umbrella darlings, the rain’s are only going to get worse!” I nodded knowingly. It’s about the one thing every person I’ve met has said to me. Continuously. “This is the third time I’ve seen you get drenched, and I’m sure all other times you have been too. One more time and I’ll start having sexual feelings towards you babe, so don’t blame other men down the road who have to see you like this… you might earn some stalkers!” I let out a laugh and rolled my eyes. Typical Leo. Too honest, too blunt, and too on-the-sexual-side!

“I’ll keep it in mind!” I said sipping on my juice.

We made our way towards all the outfits he was having confusion for. Leo needed 24 outfits for the Monsoon catalogue addition with Cosmo, featured by UCB and SS, publicizing the Get Gorgeous 5 girls in those out fits. Leo had been in charge of the styling for this catalogue, and I’d helped him through picking the outfits. “This need’s to be in by tomorrow morning?” I asked going through all the finalized outfits. “Are these all the things you and I had gone and picked out from Shopper’s and UNB?” there were a few unfamiliar things that I didn’t remember picking… but I certainly did like them.

“I went again once and that’s when I picked up the other 12 outfits on the left hand side. 18 have been decided, it’s the same as the one’s we used on the photo shoot with the girls. I’m having a problem picking the last 6! The last shoot is tomorrow morning.” He said with a slight desperation in his voice. I looked over and smiled at him. I felt relief flowing through my body as I glanced at the outfits again and realized I knew exactly what we needed…

“Let’s get this thing sorted, shall we?” I asked, sipping to my mango juice.

“Yes… please, I have asked one of the girl’s, Shina, to come over for a trial, she should be here by 10:00pm” Leo said looking at his clock. It was Five to Ten. I walked over to him and gave him a comforting hug, and to my surprise, he’d needed it too. Leo had recently been too bottled up with work, and I think he was having a somewhat Designer’s Block! “Polka Dots! We don’t have them…” I whispered, “We need them,” as I completed my sentence, Leo’s eye’s widened as it hit him, that he actually hadn’t picked up any Polka’s! Which was unbelievable, because he too knew very well the influence they had in the market right now. He looked over at as though I were Thomas Edison!

“We have bright colours, florescent colours, we picked out some textured dresses and skirt’s last week, and at the start we’d decided on these plain winter shade’s. The Blue’s the Red’s… I’m pretty satisfied with the Greens as well… very summery. We have our Greys too.” I spoke slowly and softly, as though explaining an equation to kid’s in the 4^th Grade. Once I was sure Leo was with me on this, I continued further. “Now what we need is autumn shade’s, let’s have some brown’s and dull oranges, let’s also get the pastel colours together because that’s really great in the rain, and defiantly have some Polka dot’s! Before you know it, you’ll have –” I paused as the bell rung. Leo suddenly panicked, as though he had been shot back to reality from a bad nightmare.

“Listen, Leo. I’m dying for a cuppa tea! Will you please do me the biggest favour and make me some nice tea? Go sit with Shina and prepare me something nice while I pick out your 6 outfits, okay?” I said, making it sound like he was doing me a favour, rather then the other way around! Other wise, Leo would never relax. I must be very transparent, because Leo seemed to see what I was up to as he took my hand in his, kissed it lightly and looked at me with the biggest and most touching thank you expression I have ever seen! Hell, now I was defiantly inspired!

I knew I was going to pick the White 50’s style dress with Black Polka Dots. It had a very Dior look to it. A sleeveless White short dress, with a black waist belt to compliment the Polka Dots. It was very classy, and went so perfectly with the Black boots. Not any boots, but hot pencil heel boot’s made out of Gum Boot material, specially made for the rains! I thought they were awesome, and to my luck, I found an umbrella there. A Black umbrella with White Polka Dots! I kept the outfit aside do I wouldn’t confuse it with the rest, and grabbed a White AND handbag with some random Red pearls to go with the outfit.

Next would have to be the brown’s… there was a very sexy brown Kurta, it was thin enough to breath in, and thick enough to not get transparent in the rain. It was chiffon Kurta with lining inside and simple but extra ordinary embroidery patterns on top done with a very baby pink thread. It was too short for a Sulwaar, and I want to avoid Jeans as much as I can, so I paired it up with baby pink leggings. The Leather bag from UCB went perfect with the outfit, and so that it doesn’t get too monotonous, I added a Vintage looking colourful Beret! “Not every outfit need’s an umbrella, right?” I asked myself; pretty much satisfied with everything I’d chosen so far!

After struggling between a few different combinations, I finally finished 5 outfits, thinking of what to pick as my final one. I sipped the last of my mango juice, and walked over to the pastel Yellow shorts, alas to the Mango’s! “Yellow… what goes with yellow? Other then, well… every colour!” I mumbered under my breath, eyeing a Blue SS T-Shirt that said ‘The Best Thing To Do When It Rains, Is To Let It Rain’… it was perfect! This Monsoon, people were going to love this T!

I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall with satisfaction. This is it; it’s what friendship is all about… helping each other! He need’s me, and I’m there for him, just like the taste of Mango’s was there for me. I smiled and walked out to the living room, excited to see what Leo thought of the stuff I’d put together!

A pwomise ...

I woke up with my head hurting to the core, as if somebody was nailing my head to the wall, it made me wonder if Jesus felt the similar pain while being crucified… but the thought was blurred out by the overly irritating sound of my mobile phone. What the fuck was this? My ring tone had suddenly changed itself to a Gujrati song. I closely tried to hear what it said before picking it up, I couldn’t believe it, the words were actually ringing in my ear Phone aapado phone aapado, phone aapado ni hani, phone aapado, incoming free e hani. Phone aa- “Hello?!” I said with annoyance in my voice, I hadn’t even bothered to check who was calling, the song really did it. This had to be Rehan’s lame way of playing a prank at me.

“Babe! Where are you? I’ve been calling you for the past half an hour.” Said Leo on the other end. Leo was a flame of success in the industry; people envied him to the core. He started off as an assistant stylist at Shoppers, and then became a senior stylist at Shoppers, got an offer to style for Miss India, and today he’s got half partnership of Miss India with Ms. Sima Brio, as well as his own brand and he’s still a senior stylist advisor at UCB, where none of the designs in India get sent out without his approval.

“Sir! I’m sorry… I took a nap…” I said quickly getting out of bed to switch the light on. Shit. Nap?! It was 8 o’clock in the evening! I’d slept for 6 hours! This was ridiculous… who sleeps for 6 hours on a Friday evening?!

“Rose, stop calling me Sir. You make me feel so unprofessional for calling you babe all the time,” He said, for what seemed like the 20^th time this week. I quickly apologized, tripping over the clothes on my floor. The room was a mess, and I bet it was all Rehan and Simba’s doing. One day I take a nap, and look at this place…

“Its alright, I’m sorry for waking you up, but I need you here, I cant decide on a few designs. How long will it take you?” Me? Help with designs? Couldn’t he find anyone else in his big world of loving buddies and acquaintances to help him pick a design? Why do I have to go all the way to Bandra for it?

“I can get there in an hour,” I replied, cursing myself. I should have said two! Leo must have noticed the regret in my voice, because he said I could be there till 9.30pm, that’s an extra half an hour! I hung up and saw 4 miss calls from Rohani, and I quickly dialed her number while picking out something to wear from my wardrobe. Something casual, yet good for a Friday night.

“You called?” I asked, multi tasking my mind into talking to her, picking out an outfit, and wondering how to deal with Rehan once I was done with everything else.

“Yeah… you slept huh? I’d called the home phone and Rohan said you were sleeping,” She said giggling. “Your little cousin seemed pretty loud though, I don’t want to know what all he got up to there with you dreaming away!” I shut my eyes in regret.

“Me neither babe… I don’t want to know.” I added, “What’s the plan?”

“We’re thinking China House, meet up around 11pm?” China House was one of the most sophisticated club’s out here; it was classy, cool and had a much better crowd then many other places. I looked at my black spaghetti and skinny-legged jeans with a second thought – nah, not for China House! “Why don’t you meet me near Leo’s studio at 10.30 and we’ll head out there together?”

“Alright, I’ll see you then,” Ro said sounding pre occupied herself, but I couldn’t ask why. I had to quickly hang up, pick out another outfit, have a shower and talk to Rehan before I left.

* * *

It was 8.50pm when I walked out of my room in my gray silk rap around skirt, and a Ritu Kumar pink satin spaghetti, I’d picked it up from her show last month. Not literally ‘picked it up’… I paid for it, of course. The whole outfit went perfectly with my diamonte pencil heels and a simple black Gucci Bag. I never liked designer bags until this one; it was so much simpler and less flashy then the others that I had to buy it!

Rehan was watching Cartoon network in the hall, while Simba silently meowed at me from his lap. I’m telling you, they are so a team! Whenever I’m home or I walk in, Simba makes a sound to let Rehan know… it’s very sly indeed, but pity, I’ve finally caught onto it now! Ha, the game’s over buddy! I walked over to the remote control, put the tv on mute and took Simba in my hands, leading him to the kitchen for his food, he was purring louder then ever. I quietly sat him down on the floor as I opened one of his tans of fish. My final decision to dealing with Rehan was giving him the silent treatment, and it must have worked because he walked over to the kitchen too, looking up at me guiltily. He looked so adorable, I just wanted to pick him up and tickle him! How naughty can an 8 year old be after all? And anyway, it’s their age… but Rohani always says I need to make him realize the thin line between having fun and behaving ill mannered.

“Ro had called,” He said finally, sitting on a chair in the kitchen. I didn’t respond. “I’m hungry too,” Why did I know that was coming? And what made him think I’d forget? I took the corn flex out of the cupboard and kept it in front of him.

“You seem big enough to do other things yourself, I’m sure you’ll manage this too,” I said, leaving Simba’s food in his tray and left the kitchen. Even after having Rehan here with me for almost 2 months, I didn’t know him well enough to know what he would do now… I was hoping he would just go eat something and not stretch this further, not only because I was in a hurry, but also because I didn’t need unnecessary drama. I went back in my room to grab my mobile phone.

“I’m sorry, it was just a joke. I didn’t think it would make you angry,” He said, entering behind me. A joke? My headache still hasn’t gone completely!

“What was? Messing up the house? Or the ring tone? Rehan you have to realize I too need my rest. I want to be able to sleep with my peace without having to worry about all this… I work from…” I noticed the sad look on his face and stopped mid-sentence. Aw. I cannot leave him looking like this! I walked over to where he was and kneeled down on the floor to look straight at him.

“Alright then big guy, you have one more chance to prove yourself! I’ve got to be somewhere in less then 40 minutes, and then I will be seeing Ro, so I want you to eat some pasta for dinner and make sure you give some milk to Simba, and be in bed by midnight. Okay? No TV after midnight. Can I trust you?”

“Yes you can, I pwomise I will behave…” He said with a spark in his eyes, and his chin up high. I let out a laugh and gave him a big kiss. He still hadn’t gotten over the Pwomise. I think he’s said it that say since he learned the word! It’s too cute.

"Good. If you stick to your pwomise, I'll have a good surprise for you tomorrow!" I whispered and gave him a mischievous smile before I got up. Perfect. Rohini also said that when a child shows interest in changing or being good, lure them... lure them with something they like, as a treat for being good - it show's them that if your nice to other people, their nice to you. I sort of argued it for awhile, I mean that's what you do with pet's, but according to her, pet's and kids are very similar. I feel so too at times. Anyway, it was already 9:00pm and I was just leaving. God help me! There better not be too much traffic tonight... even though, it's... uh... Friday!

*A friend in need, is a friend indeed*

Surely, there must have been a reason I was sitting in this office, at 10am on a Friday morning trying to desperately come up with an article on 'Things you should know about Relationships' for the January Issue of Cosmo, which was due on Monday morning. This wasn’t my profession, nor did I work for god damn Cosmo. This is what happenes when one of your best friends work for a magazine, you love writing, have excellent experience with heart breaks, are sitting at home trying to relax and make the most of Friday and you get a call – and you’re here, doing her job for her. I had a very satisfying job thank you very much. I’m very much happy working with in the world of Fashion and Events.

I wake up everyday to go to the studio, plan the next big fashion show and then make it happen. I make people’s dreams come true – from scratch. I work with fashion houses, big brands, designers, and often even photographers. From what goes in the seasonal catalog to what and how the fashion show is going to be formed – I take care of it all. Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it? Well that’s the catch – it only sounds like heaven. Atleast I still made it sound ‘okay’, unlike others who call me the Dream Weaver, psh, give me a break! Anyway, the reality is, it being Friday, I wanted to do as much of it as I possibly could so I wouldn’t be nagged about it over the weekend, not that I was the biggest party animal in town, but I would like some time off, so I can be with myself. Infact, I don’t even know why I said yes to this? I knew exactly how this stuff worked. Before working in the fashion world, Right. I was working with the Mag - Page 3, handling all the Designer Interviews, I changed my job because writing had always just been a hobby and nothing more, just like dancing and modeling, or even reading. It also gave me a chance to work on my own terms with my own timings, along with a good pay rise! So there I was, in a way, a victim of the fashion world.

Rohani and I met at a party while I was working with Page 3, at that time she was a junior assistant at Cosmo and us being the two youngest girls at the party, we clicked right away! A year later, we’re best friends and she’s found the fastest success in the bizz world! It’s not often when a junior assistant goes to an editor in a years time, and she was good at what she did too, but I don’t think she’ll ever stop whining about being a littler older than me, and me finding success at an earlier age – only by two years though! Deep down inside, I know she’s happy for me.

Anyway, once I’m done with this article, I’m out of here – straight home to take a nap. I’m going to switch my phone’s off and sleep, and yes I don’t care if it’s Friday, a night for fun. My eyes surely don’t seem to be enjoying all the hollowness underneath them these days, it only means more foundation – leading to a much higher risk of pimples, now I cant be walking around throwing orders and 5’11, Size 0 models with a pimple on my face, that would be criminal.

“Their going to submit the January Issue on Monday, then I’ll start working on the Feburary issue. Do you know how much work that is Rose? A forthnight before Christmas, and 20 days before the New Year! Not that I have any plans for it, but I’d feel less worse if I wasn’t working my ass off days before the year ends!” Rohani said, swinging the office door open with a mocha and a cappuccino in her hand. The Mocha just made me reach out without a thought but I paused at her last few words and folded my arms in front of her, giving my well-known evil stare.

“Work your ass off? Or MY ass off? I’m doing two jobs here and yet getting paid for one,” I said, finally grabbing my mocha off of her once my purpose was accomplished.

“And for that, the all mighty will bless you!” She added enthusiastically. A reason I truly could strangle Ro is, she tends to mention the All Mighty ever so often at times when I’m frustrated just to get on my nerves because she knows I don’t believe in any such thing.

“Another word Rohini and you can wait for the All Mighty to do this article”, I said, smiling to myself on the inside. I knew that would shut her, she made a spoilt face and sat down on the sofa in her cute compact office – designed by me. Every time I walk in here I wonder how on earth I did something so brilliant with this room.

It was twenty past noon and I’d finished collecting all my research, reading through it, and I was 100 words into the article already when I realized all I needed was my comfortable bed to lie on, and my home made tea and I would get this article done a lot quicker. I turned to face Rohini, who was busy making notes for the February Issue; she quickly looked up as she realized I wasn’t typing anymore.

“I’m going to take this home and work on my laptop, I need some homely atmosphere.” I said, picking up all my belongings from her desk. “I’ll mail it through to you if I don’t see you over the weekend!” Ro gave me an are you sure? Look. She doesn’t get the idea of me ever wanting to work on my own when I’m alone, where as it’s when I do my best! She prefers having us all around while she’s working so she can brainstorm ideas and have her breaks – that’s where we’re totally opposite! I go insane if I have people around me while I’m working… I know, not the best work ethic to carry while managing events!

“If your sure babe…” Rohini said as her voice trailed off, I thought I noticed a glimpse of disappointment on her face but then she suddenly gave me her big gorgeous smile and stood up, to help me collect everything.
"Thanks," I said and smiled back. She'd known me long enough to know when i was outside my comfort zone. I packed all my stuff and rushed home, before anything else - I needed a warm bath! I had one the very few houses in Bombay with tubs, and I sure as hell wanted to make use of it!