Forbidden India Ch. 04

"What story?" Nidhi felt compelled to ask.

"Kangana Ranaut opened her big mouth again." Harini answered, obviously excited. "She will make the headlines today without a doubt!"

"But why?" Nidhi questioned, infected by the other girl's fervor. "What did she say?"

Despite that she would rather look at Samir, Nidhi spared a few moments for the woman. Harinia was short and slight, petite but very pretty, especially with her make-up and jewelry. Her lips were thin but very alluring with the dark red lipstick around them. Nidhi thought Harini looked like a pretty doll in a toy shop.

"She criticized the people that have been criticizing her." Harini answered. "The story is ongoing on Twitter. There is a feud happening between Ranaut and her many detractors!"

"Really?"

"This is what we need." Samir interrupted. "Harini will follow Twitter. When there are no more tweets, she will begin to make phone calls to get commentary from whomever she can. I must go to downtown Mumbai. I am going to meet the street artist Tyler. He is the one who created Mumbai's Walk Of Shame, where he asked people on the Internet to vote for which shameful public figure will be painted on a sidewalk next. If she is painted, she will be the first Bollywood celebrity to have that distinction."

"The people want Twitter to ban her account!" The jumpy Harini added.

"What you must do for us is this." Samir addressed Nidhi. "We will sit you before a computer. You must go through all of our previous stories on this woman, and you must write down every one of her quotes and when she said them. This will help us to compare with the statements she is making today. People on the Internet are defending her and saying she never spoke some of the things her critics are accusing her of. Harini, I will call you when I find the street artist. I want to get his opinion of the latest tweets."

Samir left, Harini walked her to an unclaimed cubicle and showed Nidhi how to access the company archives, and Nidhi got to work.

Nidhi was only a few minutes into her task when she realized there were hundreds of stories featuring Kangana Ranaut. In one headline, Ranaut fought for justice. In another, she celebrated Sushant's last film. Another article claimed her lawyer distracted Mumbai police for something or other and a video existed to prove it.

Nidhi wanted to read the stories more than she wanted to write down old quotes and dates. Besides, she assumed that Samir would want only the negative comments Ranaut had made. She made the choice to skip over dozens, if not hundreds of stories that put the celebrity in a positive light, and concentrated on what the people really wanted to talk about.

A few hours later, when it was nearing lunchtime, Harini walked over to see how she was doing. Nidhi showed her the three pages she'd completed so far.

Harini scanned through the quotes. "I wrote a story on Ranaut only a month ago, where she commented on mental health issues. I don't see her statements from that story."

"Oh, I probably skipped over that one." Nidhi admitted.

"You skipped it over? Why?"

"I am only writing down Ranaut's most negative comments. Those will attract the most attention, won't they?"

Harini went through the first page of the notes again. "Nidhi, Samir and I take opposite sides of the same issue, the same as the fans and critics do on Twitter. This is how we present the story to the public, so our viewers and readers will know we are balanced for and against the big celebrity stories. This is why we have so many followers! You have to begin again. I cannot defend Kangana Ranaut if I don't have her positive quotes to counter when Samir presents all of these negative quotes. I am going to need the list before the end of the today."

Nidhi felt crushed under a bus, knowing that she'd been impulsive and made a mistake, and now she had a mountain of work to do to rectify her error. Frustration swept through her body, knowing she might have ruined her chances of keeping this job she so desperately wanted.

To make things even worse, the manager arrived only twenty minutes later. Harini would surely tell that man how Nidhi had failed her, and already she dreaded the moment when Bikram would send her home.

"Nidhi, come into my office." Bikram later announced.

Nidhi drew in and released a long breath. She had only gone through one-fifth of the many stories on Ranaut, and calculated she might be there until midnight to get them all done. As she left her cubicle, she glanced at the other work spaces. Only two people were still working. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't realize everyone had gone out to lunch.

Bikram had two servings of fast food on his desk. He offered one to Nidhi. She was hungry, but she also wanted to get back to her cubicle, hoping her zeal would dissuade the manager from letting her go.

Bikram pointed at two drinks. "Coconut or sugarcane?"

This time, Nidhi reached out for one. She poked a straw into it and took a quick sip.

"I have all the reviews from the employees here." The manager glanced toward his computer. "Do you think they are mostly positive or negative?"

Nidhi lowered her head. "Negative."

"The worst one, I think, is that one person said you were too fat to be a good reporter."

This irked Nidhi. "Who said that about me? Was it Harini?"

"Harini? No, Harini gave you a good review. She wrote that you were dedicated to your task. She wrote that you were a slow worker, but that you should become faster as your learn how things are done."

"Was it the receptionist?"

"The receptionist?" Bikram asked. "Why her? She wasn't asked to review your video. Don't worry about who wrote it. I am only telling you because I think a person can do good work no matter if they are thin or fat. Half of the women in India are fat! I am not going to disqualify you due to your weight. I only have eight reviews because I am short of staff here. That is because the office in Andheri West is always pulling away my best workers. After a fast tally, I have found that the reviews are seventy-five percent positive and twenty-five percent negative."

"Twenty-five percent negative?"

"Nidhi, you think the wrong way. Seventy-five percent are positive."

"And the other people hate me!"

Bikram frowned at her. She hated when the man frowned because he looked exactly like one of her teachers from secondary school. "Nidhi, you have to control your temper."

She watched him stand and walk around his desk. Bikram stopped behind her, and the same as yesterday, he began to give her a massage.

"The people who left negative comments gave their reasons." He explained. "They mentioned that in the interview, you did not interview enough laborers."

"It was late in the evening." Nidhi replied. "All of the laborers had gone home by then."

"That is one good reason. The people also think you did not ask enough pertinent questions."

Nidhi sighed. "I know that. I only had a few questions to ask, and I didn't want to repeat the same questions to every worker."

"That is what reporting is all about. It may sound repetitive to you, but if you ask five people the same question, you will get five different answers. It could be that four of those answers are very similar, but the fifth answer could lead you in an entirely new direction."

"One of the laborers mentioned that the flood levee was not reinforced last year, the way it should have been." She recalled. "If it was reinforced, less damage would have occurred to the crops. He said at least the jute would have been saved."

"I don't remember that from your report."

"I didn't include it." Nidhi replied. "I thought it was too far removed from the topic about the laborers having no work left."

"You have to develop your reporting instincts." Bikram told her. "Not reinforcing the levee could potentially be an important story. In fact, I think I will assign someone for a follow-up to that story, with a focus on how the levee broke and who was responsible for it."

"I can do that story." Nidhi said.

"No, you are not ready yet. You can create another video tonight. I want for you to go to the marketplace and ask the workers similar questions to what you asked the laborers in the fields. It is possible that we will add your video to our website."

"Really?"

"Yes. It is not a great report, but it is not a bad report either. I too think you will get better the more you learn about it."

"Are you hiring me?" Nidhi suddenly realized.

"Don't tell anyone, but a few of my workers would not have made a good first impression of seventy-five percent. This is only provisional for a few weeks. In a month I will decide if you will stay here permanently or not."

Nidhi nearly jumped out of her chair. She turned to grab the manager by the arms, only staring at him in surprise. Because she was impulsive, she decided she had to embrace the man. The hug was as fierce as she could give, squeezing Bikram tight to her bosom. When Nidhi released him, she noticed the man's look of desire in his eyes. He wanted her!

"I need fresh air." She decided.

"So do I!" Bikram laughed.

"I am going for a walk." Nidhi turned right away.

"Take the second order of food. You should not eat that in the cubicle, but in the lounge. I don't want anything to damage our computers."

"I think I will eat it after all." Nidhi grinned, taking the food tray and drink before she left.

After lunch, Nidhi returned to scouring through the archives for more quotes. She became so absorbed in the task that she lost track of time, and only became aware when Harini came to see how far she'd gotten.

"I have gone into the back stories by six years." Nidhi said proudly. "I believe I am eighty percent done now."

"You have nine full pages." Harini counted. "I think that will be enough. You can stop. I will confer with Samir and we will prepare our articles together. Thank you, Nidhi."

Nidhi watched the petite woman go to her cubicle, gather her things together, and within five minutes she had left the office. For some reason, she'd expected that Harini and Samir would prepare their articles near her, so she could watch how they did it.

Next, she took a walk around the work area, wondering which cubicle she would be assigned to because about a third of them looked unoccupied. Nidhi discovered only one other girl working at her computer. Even the receptionist had gone home.

Oh, no, Nidhi worried, looking up the time on her phone. It was past five in the evening. If she didn't get to the train station before six, the departure times would be much further apart. She would get home very late if she took a later train.

She decided to excuse herself and went to stand by the manager's door. "Bikram?"

He had glasses on, studying three different pages full of numbers. "Yes?"

"I should go home now. I must get to the train station soon."

"Oh?"

"I have a long walk to get there."

"You haven't purchased a transportation pass?"

"No, I have no money for one. I can only buy one when I am paid."

Bikram looked at the time. "The store at the train station is closed. Tomorrow, I will take you there and we will purchase your pass. Give me a few more minutes and I will drive you to the station myself. Sit down and tell me about your day."

"What about the story for the market?"

"Do that in the morning, when more workers are about. From this point forward, you must mention to me when you are working and when you are not. I forget at times. Some of the workers here arrive late and work on stories in the evening and night. This way, their stories are ready for publication first thing in the morning."

"I didn't know that." Nidhi said.

"For now, you should stay within normal business hours. Your schedule could change in a few weeks."

Nidhi sat down. "What are you doing?"

"I am tabulating expenses. Every reporter has an expense sheet and a budget. I have to put it all together into one larger report."

"Do I have a budget?"

"Not yet. You are only an intern for now."

For now, Nidhi thought. Surely that meant Bikram wanted her to stay.

"This is monotonous work." He set his paperwork aside and focused on her. "Tell me about your time at college. Was it fun?"

"No, it was not fun." Nidhi groaned. "My classes were irregular. They always interfered with my work schedule, and then I had no time for homework, and even less time for going out with my friends."

"Did you have many boyfriends?"

"No, only a few. I was always so worried about my weight. I thought I was very unattractive compared to the other girls."

"I think you're attractive."

"That is because you are an old pervert!" Nidhi laughed.

Bikram smiled. "And what are you? I remember that college girls were very horny."

This time, they both laughed.

"Let me tell you this." Nidhi recalled. "This is very funny. I volunteered for the social programs at the college. My friend and I would go to classes and tell other students what was and was not appropriate in a relationship. We told the boys they shouldn't pull their girlfriends' hair, for one, and that they shouldn't slap their girlfriends in public. This doesn't mean they should slap the women at home, but we have to start somewhere and you know how macho Indian men can be."

Bikram nodded. "I know. We have published many stories on abusive men."

"We taught a short class on condoms." Nidhi continued. "We told the boys what the condoms were for and how to put them on. What do you know? They thought it was so funny to blow the condoms into balloons and to hit each other with them as if they were rubber bands."

"And these were college boys?" Bikram laughed.

"Yes! You would think they were farm boys out in the fields! I don't think a single one learned a thing from our class!"

Nidhi noticed that Bikram was grinning at her. His head wobbled and his eyebrows raised. She watched the manager stand and make his way to the door. Next, after shutting it, he came to stand by her chair, with the front of his pants close to her arm.

"Do you and your boyfriend have plenty of sex?" He asked.

"Not plenty, not anymore." She lifted her chin to look up at him. "We had a room to ourselves, but after the terrible monsoon, several houses were flooded away and now we are crammed into one house with my family, his family and our friends. My boyfriend and I have to go somewhere else to be intimate."

"Do you like sucking his cock?"

Nidhi looked at the front of the manager's pants. She was certain he was hard in there. "I'm not that good at it. My boyfriend said I need more practice." She saw the way Bikram took a deep breath. "You could be in trouble if I told the people from the social programs. They will file a public grievance with the police."

"I have not touched you." Bikram said. "I think you should practice more, but I also think you will have to make the first approach."

"Oh, I have to make the first approach?"

"Yes, then I can file a grievance on you." He said, causing them both to laugh. "Nidhi, I believe you are the type of girl who thinks of doing daring things, but you are never given the chance. Here before you, you have the chance to do it. You can take this situation further, or you can tell me to sit down and forget about it."

"If I say no, will you fire me?"

"That has nothing to do with it. Your provisional employment is secure as long as you perform well. This has to do with only you and me."

Nidhi suspected that Bikram had a wild, sexy side to him, the same way she did. She looked up at his face, into his eyes, and saw the look of want again. It would make her feel very excited if she could open up his pants and touch his cock. Nidhi touched the front of his pants, feeling the hardness, rubbing at it. Bikram touched her hair gently, and also the side of her face.

"You are an old pervert." She teased.

"And what are you, but a young pervert?"

Nidhi laughed, allowing herself to slip away from composure and into sexual wildness. She left her chair and sunk to her knees before her manager. Her hands rubbed the front of his thighs, but they always wanted to return to the front of his pants, because his cock was there. She felt warm inside, then hot, as she dared open the pants and pull on his underwear. His private hair was seen, and then the rest of him.

"Your cock is not a large as my boyfriend's." She compared.

"It will be easier for you to practice with." Bikram smiled.

She laughed again, feeling excited and hot, and not nervous at all. Her hand held the man's cock, touching how strong and spongy it was. Before she could stop herself, her mouth opened up and she put it in. Nidhi shuddered from daring and pleasure as she thought of what she was doing, what she was getting away with.

Bikram's hands touched her hair and shoulders. She could hear him groaning at her affection. His sounds made her want to try harder, to suck better, so he could become louder, but not so loud that the last employee left in the office would hear them. Nidhi felt like a slut for what she was doing, but the feeling wasn't negative. She was enticed and stimulated, and so hot and wet. The last thing she wanted to do was to take her mouth away from this man's cock.

When Nidhi arrived to work the next day, she had a nice and juicy report to present. She uploaded it to Youtube on the company computers, since their Internet service was better than what she had at home. Bikram watched the report and forwarded it to the staff, telling them as the last time to leave their comments before lunch.

Nidhi worried that perhaps this report would be regarded as inferior to her first, even if she had tried harder and followed all of Bikram's advice. She didn't have to worry for long, as just before lunch, a new story spread through the office like wildfire. All she knew at first was that a celebrity was involved, so she tagged along behind the manager to find out more.

"Listen, everyone, listen!" Bikram called out. "Stop what you are doing and save your progress. A new story is breaking now. I will be giving new assignments!"

The employees stood up at their cubicles so their heads were seen over the partitions.

"We don't have the details yet." Bikram continued. "But the rapper Badshah has been summoned by the police. We must move quickly to have the full story before our competitors!"

The manager delegated duties very competently, Nidhi felt. One reporter was sent off to the police station right away. Another was sent to Badshah's home to ask for a statement. Two more people were assigned to social media to see what Badshah and his friends were saying. One last girl was assigned to compile the information coming in and prioritize it.

Nidhi could see firsthand how the company worked. Eros Sky would announce their findings as they happened, one small bulletin at a time. Other news agencies would see their updates and purchase the content. The girl compiling the information prepared paragraphs once an hour, and again these were sold to other agencies.

Nidhi wanted to be part of it, but Bikram kept her away. Since she was so new at the job, she was given the dull task of purchasing lunch for the employees, who could no longer leave the office now that this new story was breaking. Reluctantly, she tore herself away from the action and went to find the company driver.

The rest of that day was very interesting. Nidhi heard bits of new information as they came in. Badshah had made statements to the police earlier, but discrepancies were found. The matter involved creating false followers on social media to promote the rapper's newest album, and if true, the publicity move was illegal and he would be prosecuted. Badshah, his promoters in the music company and his associates all denied any wrongdoing.