It was a bright sunny morning. Though, the girls had landed just four days ago,  Mishti was determined to go for her last round of interviews as soon as possible. It gave her a thrill.  She quickly ate her breakfast and drove to the think tank first.  On the other end,  Kuhu was unsure if she had googled the right place, but she too had reached a bizarre looking office at the end of the market. 

When Mishti reached the think tank, she was asked to wait at the reception.  Just then an old man greeted her as he walked inside the institution. 

"Seema," he spoke to the receptionist. "Someone was coming in for the interview, is that right?"

"Yes, Sir. Ms. Agarwal," she called out to Mishti. "Sir, this is..."

"Ms. Agarwal," the old man greeted her, "come on, let's go to my office. Seema, please send in some tea."  

"After you Sir," Mishti spoke politely. 

"So Ms. Agarwal, I hope I didn't keep you waiting.  Please settle down." Mishti took her seat in the well-lit room.  

"My name is Yash Pal Rajvansh, the founder of this think tank," he started speaking, "after completing my tenure in the India Administrative Service, I settled down and decided to open this think tank. It has been established for nearly thirteen years now. I might look old, but my heart is still young," he chuckled, "my grandsons say I'm cool and young to work. Though I am rarely come to work, I do take the last interviews of everyone who interested in joining the team." A office boy enters and sets the cup of tea. "What would you like to drink?" 

"Nothing, Sir. Thank you" 

"No no, you must drink something.  Why don't we get you some coffee?" The office boy leaves to bring in bring in some coffee. "So I did check your Curriculum Vitae. Your CV is very remarkable. My team had taken an interview through skype, is that right?"

"Yes Sir!" Mishti was admiring the old man and his passion for his work. He was as enthusiastic as Kuhu is when she wakes up from sleep. "It was back in April when I was informed that I have been selected." 

"Alright, well, if you have any questions, fire them up!" Mr. Rajvansh demanded as he sipped the tea in front of him.

"I have read through the work that takes place here. I have gone through some research work and some policy briefs produced by your team.  I wanted to know what kind of work I would be doing on a day to day basis?" 

"Ahh, you will be interning as a researcher. You will be assisting some well-qualified researchers and helping write reports.  In your next four months, I presume, you will be helping with our annual report and some policy briefs and articles that we publish weekly and monthly. There were be some events that you will help organize. There might be events that you will be asked to go and represent our institute. There might be some opportunities to interview and take surveys."

"That's exciting. What will the office timings be?" 

"It will be a nine to five routine, however we respect work from home culture though if you opt for that, your researcher will be providing you with the deadline schedule," the office boy brought in hot coffee for Mishti, "Nice, your coffee is here." 

"Thank you," Mishti sipped the coffee as she was very excited  to work for this think tank. " I would be really grateful to join this think tank." 

"We will be happy to have you too! I would also  like to mention that we respect the work that our interns do and we do have a fixed stipend of twenty thousand rupees per month. We also provide bonuses depending on the work that you produce." 

Mishti was very elated and felt very fortunate. She did not think that she would get a stipend  as very few firms in India provide a good stipend to their interns.  With the offer letter in her hand, she walked out with the best smile. She called up her Bade Papa to inform them that she had the short interview and she was excited to work in it. She still had an appointment with the firm that she had applied to. Though the work they did wasn't as challenging and interesting, she still felt it was important to reach there on time and sit for the interview.  

When she entered, the vibes of this place was completely different. Everything was  color coordinated, there were sofas and too many sofas.  An employee led her to the manager's office.  When she entered the office, she saw a man sitting on his chair and reading some binded report. He was the man whom she had met at the Airport . 

"Good Morning," Mishti spoke to the man in front of her.

"Please sit down." He said without looking up at her. "I'm Kunal," he finally glanced up and acknowledged her presence  and then found something very familiar about her. Mishti was a little confused if she should mention that they had met. 

"I'm Mishti, Mishti Agarwal." She introduced herself and let him initiate the conversation.

"Have we met?" Kunal was the one to break the silence. He put the reports down and looked at her suspiciously.

"We have." Mishti replied without any further delay, "We met at the Delhi Airport." 

"Oh Yes, at the bookstore?"  He was impressed with his memory.  " Damn, I remember details."

"Details?" 

"Your bag. It reminded me of my time in London." Mishti was carrying a shoulder bag which had an elaborate thread-work of the  sites of London designed on it."

"Oh!" Mishti proclaimed. 

"I was just going through your resume.  You have just completed two years of university and already have such an extensive resume. I'm very impressed."  He took a break and smiled,  "We also share one commonality." Mishti looked at him with a frown as he continued, "The university that you are studying in. I completed my Bachelors and MBA from that same university. I have a great fondness for that place. It has been my home for five years," he smiled and picked up the resume, "Oh well, now I'm here handling my family business." 

Mishti liked the man in front of her. He was polite, enthusiastic with work, just radiated such positive energy and had studied in her university.  She was surprised to find someone who would move back from London to work in Rajkot in a family business. She had friends who had come to London from India and planned to work abroad only.  She was impressed by this young gentleman. She broke out of her thoughts by the knock on the door. 

"Excuse me for the interruption," spoke a young lady, "A meeting with Mr. Thomas has been arranged, tonight at 6 pm at Hilton Hotel." 

"Thank you." Kunal replied back.  

"So Mishti, do you have any concerns or questions?" 

"To be honest with you, I had applied to a couple of places before moving here for the summer vacation. I got into Center for Social Development Studies, the think tank..."

"Oh you applied to CSDS?" Kunal asked curiously.

"I just had an interview and I absolutely love the work they do there. Since I had an appointment scheduled here with you, I did not want to be rude and cancel it."  

"No, I'm glad that you came. I would suggest, that seeing the kind of work you are interested in from your resume, CSDS would be a great place to intern."  

Mishti was surprised that Kunal wasn't annoyed or mad at her. In fact, he was very encouraging.  

"I'm sorry for taking your time." Mishti spoke.

"No, it is good. CSDS founder is absolutely a fun man and you will enjoy working in that institute." He picked up the folder that laid in front of him. 

"Well, thank you. Once again, my apologizes!"  Mishti stood up to leave when Kunal looked at her and said, "Did you meet the founder?"

Mishti sat down again and replied, "Yes, I had a meeting with him today."

"Well, you just met the coolest Rajvansh, he is my Nanu!"

Mishti began to speak but she was utterly surprised. "No wonder, I thought I would be getting a different reaction from you." She laughed a little. 

"Nanu is super cool. He loves that  institute. It is his passion for years. You will enjoy your time there." Kunal looked at Mishti. "You know it has been a year since I have met  anyone from our university, it is nice to know someone who has arrived from  London, I miss that place."

"It has barely been four days since I moved back and I'm missing it already." Mishti said remembering Nannu, her best friend. 

"I miss the weather, the drives along the Thames River,  walking on the streets near the Westminster Abbey." Kunal reminisced. "What about you?" 

"I miss my best friend. I miss the drives with the Bollywood songs. I miss the parks.  I have spent many hours just looking at the sky and writing in my diary," Mishti spoke remembering the times she had spent hours alone. 

"I guess, we have something in common. Oh well, as my brother says, live in the present." He stood up from this chair and extended his hand, "Though it is unfortunate we can't work here in this company, but I am sure we will meet at some event. CSDS organizes many events which I try attend once in a while for Nanu. Maybe we can catch up and talk more about the London days." 

"I hope we can." Mishti smiled back and shook his hand. "It was nice meeting you." 

As both the appointments were over by afternoon, she ate the lunch that was packed for her in the park. She was having a great day today.  She met two amazing people on the same day who were related and just had the best vibes and energies.  Though Nanu Rajvansh was cool and just full of energy, Kunal was absolutely charming and a positive person. Mishti felt a connect with him as if they could spend hours talking about life in London. He seemed like he had spent hours alone in London, exploring the places and living in the moment, just the same way Mishti had done for the past two years.  When her phone rang, she smiled and answered. She informed her Bade Papa at the turn of events of the day. Though she had to reject one of the offers, she was so happy that Kunal didn't react as she feared he would. Bade Papa  was very proud of her.  And Mishti was glad that her Bade Papa was proud. As she took the last bite of the lunch, she pulled out the diary from her bag to write her thoughts down as she would do when she would sit in the parks of London.

Do comment and vote! Please tell me if you are enjoying this and what you are liking about it. I'm open to criticism too. I would appreciate honest and constructive feedback.