360°

‘Has the rain stopped?’ asked Anjana.

‘Nope. In fact I can’t see the other side of the road from here,’ said Vinod.

Anjana looked worried as she got held up in her office due to the heavy rains. She had a get together plan with her friends in The Grand Plaza at 07.00 pm. It was already nearing 06.00 pm.

Seeing Anjana anxiously checking her watch, Vinod said, ‘Looks like you have got a big appointment ahead Anju? What’s up?’

‘Just a friend’s party Vinod. It is long since we had met last. We’re getting together to celebrate my friend Aparna’s upcoming wedding,’ said Anjana.

‘Aparna? Hmmm…that must be the tall girl with the short hair, right?’ asked Vinod.

Anjana said ‘Yeah, that’s her. Such a humorous girl she is! We all end up in fits of laughter after a talk with her.’ Anjana went into the reminiscence mode and was cherishing her old memories. Suddenly as an afterthought she added, ‘Hey hold on! How do you know about Aparna? You haven’t met her before!’

Vinod laughed at her late realization, much to Anjana’s annoyance. ‘It was not a big deal! One of your friends was in bridal attire in your recent photos in your phone. So I just guessed it!’

‘So you have been prying on into my phone without my knowledge!’ said Anjana, who was visibly angry by this revelation.

Vinod’s laughter subsided after sensing Anjana’s anger. ‘Hey I didn’t mean to pry! Was just curious. Sorry anyway.’

Anjana looked away after throwing a glare at Vinod. She peeped out of the window to check on the rains. The rains had gotten severe. Vinod went into his cabin to check his schedule for the next day.

Anjana and Vinod worked in Supreme TV, a growing television channel in the region. Having established only in the past six years, Supreme TV had many fresh and young employees to bring out innovative shows. Anjana had completed her Journalism course last year and was selected in Supreme TV as a reporter. Vinod was a senior TV reporter with a work experience of five years in the same office.

After a few minutes, Anjana took tentative steps towards Vinod’s cabin.

‘Listen. I’m sorry for reacting harshly for the trivial thing. I over reacted perhaps,’ said Anjana.

Vinod smiled and asked her to come into his cabin. ‘Mistake is mine. I shouldn’t have used your phone without you knowing. Anyway, forget that Anju! Is it raining still?’

‘Yeah Vinod. Don’t know if I’ll make it to the party.’ Anjana sounded worried.

‘Don’t worry. If it gets very late, we’ll hail a cab.’

Everyone in office had left at 05:30 pm but Anjana and Vinod stayed back to finish the documentation work of the interview they had taken that day. It was Anjana’s first personal interview assignment in her career and so they took steps to make sure it was perfect. Anjana was recounting the interview in her mind. The guest was Mr. Adithya Krishnan, a young and growing business man in the country. His company, Krishnan Associates., was established two years ago as a medium startup venture in the technical field. It grew to staff around 700 employees across the nation incurring consistent profit.

Mr. Adithya Krishnan was 29 years of age and had proved to be an efficient CEO beyond his age. His recent project on the new graphic technology in smartphones had received many accolades and had been the news of the region. Every media channel tried to get his interview dates as the latest news on the technology from the very CEO would fetch attention to the media channel.

Getting his appointment for the TV interview was a tough task as he avoided TV interviews except for cases when his presence was needed. Vinod had little hopes when Anjana set out to get an appointment with Adithya Krishnan. Anjana wanted to go to the next step in her career and so was ambitious to make this interview possible.

Much to Vinod’s surprise, Anjana had successfully fixed the appointment of Adithya Krishnan for the TV interview. The interview had gone better than they had expected. Adithya was known to be a studious person and one who kept a low profile. Expecting him to be more objective in his answers, Anjana and Vinod had prepared a detailed questionnaire to fit the one hour slot inclusive of commercial advertisement breaks. But on the contrast, Adithya had lots to say for each question that was posted. The editor was sure to have a tough job trimming the interview.

There was a buzz in the office about the queer nature of Adithya in the sets. While the team was packing up, Adithya walked up to Anjana and started a casual conversation with her. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, Anjana thanked him for his acceptance to air the personal interview on TV.

Adithya said, ‘My pleasure. In fact I have not done such a detailed interview before. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’ Anjana smiled.

‘Mmm Anjana..could you give me your phone number please? I’d like to be updated about the telecast of this show.’

‘Huh..yeah, sure.’ Anjana gave her contact number to Adithya before he took leave. She was little taken aback by this weird gesture of Mr. Adithya Krishnan who was known to be a reserved type.

‘Anju..the rains have subsided. It’s better that you get going now.’

Anjana snapped out of her reverie and realized Vinod calling out to her. She looked at her watch. It was 06:32 pm. She calculated the time it would take to get to the destination and realized that it would be still late even if she started at the earliest. She was hurrying up to catch the immediate transport available when her cell phone gave a beep.

Hey Anjana..interview was gud.

Anjana was puzzled by this text message from an unknown number. The interview that took place that day was known to very few even in the office. They hadn’t even planned to start the promotion work for the show.

Anjana texted back to the number.

May I know who this is?

She waited for a reply when Vinod offered to drop her in his bike. She politely refused it as she would be going in a different direction.

‘Okay then. Better start moving soon than texting!’ said Vinod teasingly and left the office.

Anjana too came out of the office and waited for a bus when it struck her that she hadn’t mentioned anything about the text messages to Vinod.

                                                                    *****

By the time Anjana reached The Grand Plaza, most of her friends had left and only Aparna and Vidya were present there.

‘Hey Anju! Why are you so late?! Have been dying to see you all these days,’ said Aparna with a warm hug.

‘Sorry Apar..got late due to those treacherous rains and traffic!’

‘Hey hi Vidya! How are you? How’s your job?’ continued Anjana.

‘Am great Anju! Work is the same..but enjoying all the same,’ said Vidya with a wink.

‘Why won’t she enjoy yar? She has got a handsome boyfriend in her office itself! News is that she never takes leave in office,’ teased Aparna.

‘Oh shut up Apar. It’s the occasion to tease you; not me,’ said Vidya.

‘Haha..looks like I’ve got a lot of stories to catch up with!’ said Anjana. ‘Anyway..Aparna, you still haven’t shown me your fiancé’s photo!’

‘Oops! My phone is dead Anju. I’ll WhatsApp you the pics asap.’

‘Uh..tough luck! It’s k hon..eager to see you both as a pair.’ Before Anjana could inquire further about Aparna’s fiancé, she got a call from her Managing Director, Mr. Rajendar Rao.

‘Anjana! What’s this stupid rumour I am hearing now? Have the video or footage of today’s interview been leaked to other media companies?’

Anjana was terrified by the seriousness in her MD’s voice and stammered to reply. ‘Uh? Sir..there must be a mistake. As far as I know, no one would spill it out. Even the promo work is to start by tomorrow only.’ Suddenly Anjana was reminded of the anonymous text message that she had received earlier.

‘That’s the thing which is bothering me. Listen..come to the office immediately. I have called Vinod too.’

‘Okay Sir. At once.’

Anjana hurriedly started to leave. Sensing that something was amiss, Aparna asked, ‘Is everything alright?’

‘No. I mean, yes..nothing serious Apar..just an important business to look after to. Gotta leave now luv. Sorry for my hasty appearance. Will catch up with you soon at leisure. Bye Aparna..bye Vidya.’

‘No problem. Go safe. Bye Anju,’ chorused Aparna and Vidya.

‘Sit,’ said Rajendran. Anjana and Vinod quickly obeyed.

‘The news about the interview which we took today is leaked out somehow. I received an anonymous call from a man who said that excerpts from our interview had leaked and that it would be aired on their channel before we do.’

A tensed silence followed for both Anjana and Vinod didn’t know what to respond.

‘It’s a common threat that any media channel faces’ continued Rajendran. ‘But you know very well that it’s our primary responsibility to safeguard any information or news which we have produced. It’s any company’s mandatory policy. Being careless enough to let our work be stolen is the most unallowable offense one could do. Do you understand that?’

‘Yes Sir,’ Anjana said. ‘We’ve been safeguarding the video and information. I can’t fathom how the news got leaked out.’

‘The leakage is by far a manageable situation guys. Media has seen bigger issues. It’s true that Mr. Adithya Krishnan has revealed some valuable information about his new project which would boost our TRP rating. We also get to telecast his interview first on TV. But the threat could be easily looked after at. But it’s more of a matter of ethics and trust. We can’t forsake our company’s policies so easily.’

‘We understand Sir. We will see to it that the news are secured properly,’ Anjana tried to convince her boss about the problem. On the other hand, Vinod kept silent and seemed not to take part in the conversation.

‘Hmm okay. I will consider this as the first and last warning to you. Another problem that I hear of, I will have to decide about your position at office,’ warned Rajendran.

‘We will make sure you don’t get any more troubles,’ concluded Anjana.

Anjana and Vinod made their ways out of the office. Vinod seemed too nonchalant to react to the situation, which Anjana found very bizarre. She asked Vinod, ‘So what do you think?’

‘About what?’

His untimely coolness irritated Anjana. Swallowing the irritation she asked him his thought about the leakage of the news.

‘Duh..that’s a very trivial matter. It’s common that news spreads and leaks. I still can’t reason out why our boss over reacts to the silly situation,’ replied Vinod.

Anjana was mildly shocked by his response. Suddenly his comment on the texts from the unknown number that evening hit her memory and both together formulated doubts in her mind. This reminded her that she hadn’t received a reply for her text to that anonymous person.

Brushing aside these thoughts, she departed the office bidding adieu to Vinod. Again her phone gave a beep. She checked it and saw that she had received two new messages.

Dont worry abt d rumur. It ll not b any no problem.

Vidio abt d interview is more valuable. Hope u get d meaning.

If there was something which annoyed her most, it’s the bad spelling and grammar which few people have habituated because of text messages. More than the anonymity of his/her identity, that person’s language irritated Anjana a lot. She tried to comprehend the meaning of these messages. It could only mean that whoever that was was trying to buy inside information from her as only she had the complete interview details, not even Vinod had full access. The act of attempting bribery angered her to the extreme.

After getting home, Anjana took a quick shower and finished her dinner. Then she took out her phone and tried to find the owner of that unknown number through some apps like Truecaller or WhatsApp. But she wasn’t able to locate that number anywhere much to her dismay.

She remembered about her old friend George who was once her neighbor and also an expert tech savvy. He had learned special hacking and network courses and was a specialist in tracking any network lines. She decided to seek his help in finding out any information related to the unknown number. She called him and filled him in on the details. He was ready to help her and asked her to forward the number.

Thinking about giving him/her a further chance, she sent a message back to that unknown number.

If you could reveal your identity, we can talk further. Else goodbye.

She hit the ‘send’ button and waited for a reply. But her phone remained silent for the next few minutes. Giving up her patience, she put aside her phone after forwarding the number to George and went to her bed. She recollected that day’s events in her mind. Whew! It had been a day full of different events. The interview, evening rains, the troubling texts, friends hurried meeting, warning from her boss..above all the peculiar behavior of Vinod. And also the fact that Mr. Adithya Krishnan getting her contact number! She wondered for a second if those anonymous texts could be from his number. Then she dismissed the thought for there was no reason for him to do so. Her random thoughts took her to the slumber land eventually.

                                                               *****

Anjana woke up the next morning and did her perfunctory household chores. Her parents were not in the station and being the only daughter, she stayed alone in their apartment flats for that week. She got ready and collected her things when she noticed that her phone was switched off. She turned it on and saw that there were two unread messages.

One was from Aparna. Anju..I have sent u my fiancé’s photo in whatsapp. Check it out!

Another was from her friend George. I was able to retrieve 1 pic associated with the contact u forwarded. I ve WhatsApped it to ur num.

Anjana typed the following message to George. Thanks for the help George. Will get back to you asap.

Anjana turned on her mobile data to receive the images. As soon as the messages were delivered, she hurried to see the images. But her phone got switched off immediately due to low power. She cursed her luck and got in a taxi making a mental note to charge her phone as soon as possible.

Once she was in her cabin, she plugged in the charger to her phone and waited for the red symbol to turn green.

‘What’s up Anjana? Why are you staring at your phone like that?’ Vinod said.

Anjana looked up with a jerk as she didn’t expect Vinod there. ‘Uh..nothing Vinod. Just waiting for a..mail.’

‘Oh! I thought you were waiting for someone’s pic,’ Vinod said sarcastically and left her cabin.

Anjana’s doubts became strong by his comment which was too unavoidable to be considered as coincidental. She wondered if Vinod was the person who had leaked out the news and also the one who was sending her those messages. Anjana had known about Vinod only for the past eight months since she had joined the company. He was a fun-loving and casual person. He became a good friend to Anjana instantly. She liked his cool nature and his healthy attitude. But of late, his peculiar behavior aroused apprehensions in her mind.

Her phone had gained some charge; enough to view the images. Unfortunately, she couldn’t access her mobile data on her phone as the network coverage was quite poor. But she suddenly went into her phone gallery in the hope that the images were downloaded when delivered itself, all thanks to the auto-download option.

She found out two new images added to the WhatsApp images folder in her phone. Not willing to wait anymore, she pressed the folder and viewed the first image. It was a group photo of seven young men, with one man in the centre. That must be Aparna’s fiancé thought Anjana. She then swiped to see the next image and was quite shocked to see Vinod’s photo. For a fraction of a second, she couldn’t make out why his photo was sent to her. Then slowly she understood that it was the photo associated with the ‘unknown’ person. The photo George had sent..so Vinod is that anonymous person trying to bribe information!

Anjana was heavily disturbed by this new revelation thus substantiating her doubts. She understood that this was not so much of a threatening thing but all the same she was upset by the deceit. She couldn’t accept the unjust ways people undertook to earn money, especially young and skilled persons like Vinod. She decided to drink some coffee to vent out the unsettling feeling within her.

When she walked out, she was conscious of Vinod’s eyes on her. She lengthened her strides to escape the awkward meeting with him. But Vinod was fast enough and caught up with her midway.

‘Anju..er, where are you going to?’

‘Canteen,’ Anjana replied curtly.

‘Oh ok. I’ll also join you then,’ Vinod said.

Anjana didn’t know how to avoid him but didn’t want to go with him all the same. So she decided to sort it out directly.

‘Vinod.’

‘Yes?’

‘What you are doing is not right. You cannot put the company’s name at stake for selfish reasons.’

Vinod looked puzzled by her sudden advice. ‘Selfish reasons?! What are you talking about Anju?’

‘You very well know what I am talking about Vinod. I found out what you are up to.’ Anjana felt relieved after letting it out finally.

‘Oh! So finally you saw the photo!! Hope all your doubts are clear now,’ said Vinod happily.

Anjana was confused about his weird tone. What should have been a shameful confession was being confessed proudly by him! She was fuming up with admonitions. ‘How can you be so unbothered?! Doesn’t your conscience prick you?’

‘I was just pulling your legs. Take it light man!’

‘Are yo…’ She stopped talking as her phone let out the ringtone to grab her attention. It was Aparna. She attended the call.

‘Hello Apar. Anything important?’

‘Do I have to call you only if it’s important or what?’ Aparna’s voice sounded hurt.

‘Uh no no..I was just..forget it! So what’s the matter?’ Anjana noticed that Vinod had moved away to let her talk freely.

‘Just wanted to ask if you’d seen the photo! I knew you would be free this time..that’s why called you now.’

‘Oh yeah. Yes Apar..I did see the pic you had sent! But I wasn’t able to identify which one of the seven men is your would-be.’

‘Seven?! Do you have any vision problem or what? I only sent an individual pic of him. You have worked with him for the past eight months and you say you’re not able to identify Vinod?’

Anjana took time to process what Aparna had just said. Meanwhile Aparna was calling out to her.

‘Anju?’

‘Hey! Is Vinod your fiancé?’

‘Yes Anjana. As soon as the wedding was fixed, I knew he was your colleague. But Vinod and I thought to give you a surprise..and he also wanted to play a trick. We both were waiting for your reaction as soon as you saw the photo.’

Slowly it dawned to Anjana that Vinod had not really spied on her phone for Aparna’s photo, for he knew her well even otherwise. Vinod had not mentioned about his photo as the ‘unknown person’ rather about his photo as ‘Aparna’s bridegroom’. These silly pretences had misled her to doubt every action of Vinod. She mentally chided her stupid calculations.

Coming back to reality, Anjana said in the phone, ‘Apar..there was a misunderstanding. I was under the impression that the group photo which I mentioned was sent by you and miscalculated everything. Anyway..am happy for you and Vinod, hon! You both indeed make a perfect pair!’

‘Thanks Anju. Hope all your misconceptions are sorted out now. Okay, we’ll meet coming weekend..that is, you, me and Vinod. Is it okay?’

‘Ya sure dear. Am game! Um..hey, I’ll call you back later, ok? Take care. Bye!’

‘K..bye!’

Anjana disconnected the call and went to search for Vinod immediately. She spotted him waiting for her few yards away.

‘Vinod?’

‘Anjana..what were you talking about earlier?’

‘Forget that! I mean, am really sorry for reacting harshly. I misunderstood. Well..I thought it was you who had leaked the interview news and also who is sending me those peculiar texts,’ said Anjana.

‘Are you nuts? Why would I do such a cheap thing? And what peculiar texts?’ Vinod said.

‘I’m sorry Vinod. It’s my fault to misunderstand like that,’ Anjana said. Then she told him all about the anonymous messages and the confusion about the WhatsApp images. ‘I went straight into my phone gallery to check the photos. Had I checked my chat conversations first, all the confusion would have been saved.’

‘That’s okay Anju. First show me the pic he sent,’ Vinod said.

They both viewed the photo and carefully investigated it. ‘Hey! It’s Adithya Krishnan..third from right, isn’t it?’ asked Anjana. Vinod looked in the direction Anjana had just specified. It was Adithya Krishnan indeed.

‘Yeah. But why would a man of such stature do such small things?’ Vinod wondered out loud.

‘So do you think it’s him?’ asked Anjana.

‘I don’t know. Do you know any of the remaining persons?’

She tried to relate any of the remaining six persons. She could not come up with any concrete evidence of knowing anyone but something about the photo was familiar to her. She felt that she was missing out something vital.

‘There are chances that it could be him Anju,’ continued Vinod. ‘He exhibited a rather strange behavior in our interview, remember? Not to forget his ready acceptance of our interview request. And also he got your contact specifically amongst us all.’

‘But why would he do so?’

‘Obvious. He is an evolving personality hungry for attention from public. The interview in our channel would definitely boost up his image but the news will die out in the next programme. What would prolong it is an issue involving him. When we and the other TV channel fight over his interview, he naturally gets to the limelight.’ Anjana began to grasp the real intention. ‘It’s a very common charade many emerging personalities perform to gain attention. Media has seen many such cases,’ finished Vinod.

But Anjana was unconvinced about the whole theory. She could not quite imagine Adithya as a person who could do such cheap stunts. She came out of her thoughts when Vinod informed that they both were asked to meet their boss immediately. ‘I just received a call from him,’ Vinod said.

They both went to Mr. Rajendar’s room. ‘Come,’ said Rajendar.

‘We have found out the person responsible for the news leakage,’ Rajendar said.

Anjana and Vinod looked at each other. ‘It’s Dinesh, Mr. Adithya’s newly employed assistant. He had been outsourcing some important information about Mr. Adithya Krishnan to some of his business opponents without Adithya’s knowledge. Adithya recently found out the inner gambit against him. He contacted me to clear the doubts regarding the leakage and also apologized personally for the inconvenience we faced because of this.’

‘Oh. So shall we make news about this assistant Dinesh?’ asked Vinod.

‘No no. That’s a tempting thing, yes. But Adithya has requested us personally not to make this news. So valuing an able gentleman, the team has decided to ignore this minor threat and we’ll go ahead with the telecast work of Adithya’s interview. And if the interview gains more attention than expected, Adithya has given word that he would offer another interview for us,’ Rajendar said.

Anjana and Vinod were happy by this positive aspect amidst all the confusion. ‘So I want you to concentrate more on the coverage of this interview. And as it has turned out, the leakage is not your fault. So I take back my warning guys, am sorry!’ Rajendar apologized genuinely.

‘It’s none of our fault Sir. Sure we’ll work on the final telecast version now,’ assured Anjana.

‘Good. Go back to your seats,’ Rajendar said.

Anjana and Vinod came out and were silent for few seconds. Then Anjana said, ‘So..it wasn’t Adithya. How easily we were misled!’

‘Yeah,’ Vinod said. ‘We were too streamlined to think in different dimensions.’

‘Which isn’t a characteristic of a good reporter,’ admitted Anjana. ‘We should always think 360 degrees wide.’ Vinod nodded his head in agreement when Anjana’s phone rang. It was from a new number. Anjana raised her eyebrows. Vinod gestured her to attend it.

‘Hello?’ said Anjana.

‘Hello! Adithya Krishnan here! Ms. Anjana?’

‘Mr. Adithya Krishnan! It’s a pleasure to talk with you!’ exclaimed Anjana.

‘Thank you. Firstly, I think you must have heard about the wrong on our side. Sorry that you guys were affected because of this. And secondly, I’d like to know about the date and time slot when my interview would be telecasted.’

‘Oh..that wasn’t your fault Sir. In fact we’re thankful that you reported back to us truthfully,’ Anjana said politely. ‘And regarding the show, we’ve planned to air the show on Sunday two weeks from now. Evening slot Sir.’

‘Fine. This show will be helpful for our business. And the reason I called you personally is,’ continued Adithya, ‘that I have a request to make. We have a deal with DigiTest Computers which is a small startup company in our town. If you could do a story with this firm, it would be beneficial to the firm and also we would get economic contracts from the company.’

‘Sure Sir. My team would surely do this story,’ promised Anjana.

‘Thank you Ms. Anjana. You could tell me when you’d like to do this and I shall arrange everything.’

‘Alright. I’ll get back to you this weekend Sir,’ said Anjana and hung up with the formal farewell words.

Anjana filled in Vinod on the news. They both were ready to start the new story.

                                                                *****

‘Apar! You li’l brat! You guys deceived me perfectly!’ complained Anjana teasingly. Anjana, Aparna and Vinod were dining in The Grand Plaza for the weekend as they had planned earlier.

‘Haha! It was Vinod’s idea, Anju. He was happy to find out that you were my best friend and didn’t want you to know it so plainly,’ explained Aparna.

‘Oh. You should have seen how he described you to me! “The tall girl with the short hair” Oh my God..I even felt protective over you and chided him for prying in on you! Little did I know then that he had known more than he revealed,’ said Anjana.

‘I just couldn’t stop my words when you kindled my thoughts on my sweetheart,’ Vinod said romantically and winked at Aparna.

All three of them laughed and were having good time together.

                                                                *****