Faux meeting

"Dude, will you come to a meeting with me? I am the marketing manager of my company and you are my freelancer friend who is our critical asset." said Aditya, whilst we were sitting in our office. I looked at him, confused. We, actually are lowly and insignificant coders. Programmers in the ABAP language. So I had no clue what he was saying.

I asked him what it was all about. He told me that his friend Kausubh(a.k.a KP) had told the CEO of his company that he was busy for a company meeting, when in reality, he was going to do something else, concerning his own freelance work. The CEO said that he too would like to attend this meeting. KP got caught in a bad situation, since off-course there was no actual meeting.

So he called Aditya for help. They decided that they would have to arrange a make-believe meeting in which Aditya played Chief Marketing Manager of a company we didn't actually work in, and I would act like a freelancer friend who was a "precious asset" to the company for the multiple valuable customers I hypothetically got.

I thought about this whole idea for a while and considered the risk.

"Dude, let's do it." I heard myself say.

So much fun.

We got ready, and went downstairs to a plush restaurant. I waited there as Aditya went out to get the CEO who was with KP. A vacant lemonade that Aditya had ordered, stood there, lonely. I sat on the other side of the desk, half nervous. The waiters looked at me suspiciously. Or maybe that was just my imagination.

The minutes passed, as there was no sign of him coming back. I decided to play with the apps in my cellphone, in an effort to make myself less awkward.

More than 10 minutes later, Aditya arrived with the two men. Quite recognizably, the CEO was dressed in a light blue shirt and overall formal look. KP had a less formal look, maybe since he was exceptionally well built.

We shook hands warmly. I tried to exude an air of confidence and sophistication. The CEO looked at us with gladness. We were his new customers. The four of us took our seats and Aditya started showing the websites made by a firm he had previously had a brief stint in. So we were a web designing firm that catered to big-fish clients such as a famous Indian football club, and a Paris based cosmetic company. He explained on while I gave some counter-productive interjections.

"So, you make websites" said the CEO, " why are you now interested in education?"

Aditya froze for a moment. Then he started.

"So... err.... we are a company.... who.. supplies to it's clients with premium quality UI-UX solutions and now we are thinking of doing this education thing...So that...err....we can get in touch with people who know about UI-UX ... and we can know who all are good at this thingy..."

"Basically," I ventured "we're looking forward for some quality talent acquisition...."

The CEO smiled politely at me and quickly looked away. Did I screw up?

Aditya then went on going on the same lines for quite some time. The CEO, who finally seemed to have lost his patience started explaining the services that his company provided. We tried to look assertive, yet casual to some degree. I couldn't pay much attention to the details he was delving into. The situation in which I was in was hilarious and beautiful.

The restaurant had a beautiful and mellow ambience, the air-conditioning was mild and soothing while a gentle music was playing in the background. Many successful looking people were all around us. But I wan't paying attention to them.

I thought about how this guy I had just been introduced to, KP felt about this whole thing. Did he regularly face such scenarios?

Aditya started some serious negotiations now. The CEO was listening sincerely.

"So what kind of people can you attract to us?"

"That depends on the kind of institute that you choose from our list. You know, actually what we give you is a platform to attract students.... err..."

I felt like talking again: "You know college students typically have much overconfidence when it comes to UI-UX.... They think they know everything while in reality they have no idea of industry standards."

I basically described myself.

The CEO looked amused, and smiled as he nodded at me. Cool.

Five more minutes of Aditya followed. He is an expert negotiate. I was wondering whether to tell that we were getting late. The longer we spoke the more the chance that our cover got blown.

The discussion now turned to quotations and payments. Aditya was asking for good deals. My brain was hardly working. In the end I said, "Maybe we'll let Jugal take the call here." (Jugal was some guy who actually worked in the company we were pretending to be in.)

"Off-course" said Aditya "I shall be forwarding all this to Jugal."

There was some chatter that I didn't follow. The CEO wanted another meeting. They started discussing timings. KP insisted that the next meeting should be with Jugal.

"Dude, we need to leave" I interrupted.

"Yeah you go and call Jugal"

"Yeah, give me Jugal's number"

......awkward......

"Oh, Huzefa, why don't you go to Mr. Sharma up and I will catch up."

He said Mr Sharma in an urbane accent that softens the 'r's. I felt stupid. It was time for me to leave.

I said a quick 'jaldi aa' in order to make myself feel important. Then I left the place and went upstairs in the office....

The whole thing lasted about 40 minutes.

Five minutes later, Aditya came in with some khachoris and samosas in a small packet. As we sat there, and ate, we laughed like crazy. We recounted details of all the faux pas and the successes we had. He had done it all to save his friend's ass. I did it because I thought it would be thrilling.

It was so thrilling !