“So let’s all reach the sales target and earn a trip to Singapore. Are you with me?” screamed Harish with both of his hand stretched apart and veins of his neck popping out. His face and upper part of his body was engrossed in blue color emitting from the projector. He was standing in a conference room filled with 12 sales people sitting around the glass table.
They all replied with a thunderous YES!!
“What a life he has” whispered Ramesh in Bhushan’s ears.
“Ya and such a good orator.” Bhushan whispered back
“You know whenever he comes here, he stays in Hilton Hotel. He must be getting pampered like a king”
“And he must be getting the best food & beverages”
“And we are stuck with our Hilton” laughed Ramesh pointing at their Tiffin box. Bhushan giggled as well.
Everyone was wrapping up and leaving the conference room for lunch. Ramesh and Bhushan were one of the good sales performers at Stringer . They had joined the company 6 months back. Ramesh Duggal was from Jabalpur while Bhushan Shukla was from Indore. Being from the same state they immediately became very good friends.
As they were leaving for lunch they both saw Harish the sales Head in corridor smiling at them.
“Hey Ramesh and Suresh …sorry I mean Bhushan “grinned Harish. This Ramesh and Suresh joke was invented by Harish during his last visit as he saw them inseparable.
“Hello Harish. Care to join us for lunch? ” asked Bhushan who knew the answer would be negative. Why would a Sales head eat an average lunch with 2 out of 70 sales professionals he heads India wide.
“I wanted to discuss about lunch, come to my cabin” he signaled with his hand wave.
Harish Rai was based out of Bangalore. He was in his mid forties; he was short in height but well built with sharp features. He was particularly known for his impeccable salt and pepper hairline and the way he maintained and took care of it.
“I have a surprise for you guys” whispered Harish
“What is it Sir?” Bhushan asked while hardly containing his excitement.
“Here, take this” Harish handed them food card of Hilton Hotels
“Today’s lunch is on me for the good work you guys have done last month”
“But we have brought our lunch “said Ramesh lowering his head.
“That’s ok; we will see about that later. Keep the Tiffin’s here and you can leave. But I need you back for the meeting in 1 hour. So better hurry up “Said Harish looking at his watch.
Both Ramesh and Bhushan stormed out with a big smile on their face. What a coincidence … speak of a dream that comes true so fast.
As they entered the huge imposing gates of Hilton hotel that were made of white marbles their heart raced in excitement. The Hotel was a huge building with a wide glass doors at the bottom. Above it there were of thousands of squares made of glass windows. As they reached the entrance they were greeted by tall Sardars wearing bright red uniform with a smile. As they entered they were confused where and what to look. The corridor was huge and the floors were so squeaky clean that they felt guilty while stepping on it. In front of them was the reception counter with well groomed people in blue uniform attending customer, some personally while some on phone. In the middle of the waiting room there were huge blue colored sofas lined up where people were seated. Most of them had buried themselves in their phones while waiters were approaching them with water.
Both of them timidly walked past towards the restaurant. The restaurant too was huge with at least 50 tables, each with 4 chairs. They could see people eating different varieties of food from Lasagna, Pizza, noodles, rice along with soft drinks, juice, beer etc. Both of them were overwhelmed by the magnanimous premise.
They both ordered a lot of food and ate merrily. They even clicked some selfies and pictures of food. They had one of the best times of their life. They reached just about an hour later.
“Dude! Our Tiffin’s” Ramesh reminded Bhushan . They quickly went into Harish’s cabin only to find their Tiffin’s empty.
“Good food yaar ” said Harish who came from his washroom wiping his mouth.
Both of them were pleasantly surprised.
“Harish, when you had an option of has the best food in Hilton, why did you go for our tiffin which is nowhere close? ” asked Bhushan with genuine curiosity.
Harish smiled “You guys don’t know how lucky you are to get home made food every day. Although I can eat at any place I want, yet all that money can’t buy this simple homemade food. I yearn for such food every day. I hardly get a chance to eat at home because of my job. So today when I saw your Tiffin, I was tempted to have it. That’s why I gave you my food card”
“So you didn’t send us because of our performance?” questioned Ramesh grinning.
All of them started laughing.
“So how was your lunch? “Asked Harish
“The best food we had in our life “said Ramesh
“Same here” smiled Harish
All of them had their HAPPY MEAL.
