My phone rings. "Hello, Smita here... Yes, sir, I'll be in your office in two minutes." His voice sounds irritated, even slightly angry. I feel nervous as I tread the corridor to his office. It is unlike him. He is always so kind. He never criticizes me and he always understands if I am ill or late. He is the perfect boss and this job is easily the best I have ever had.
Feeling gradually more confident, I arrive at his door. I knock softly and wait. "Come in Smita." I enter cautiously, smiling. He smiles back. He is an attractive man, for his age. He must be twice as old as me. I am 26. "Sit down here Smita." He gestures towards a chair, continuing to smile warmly.
"Thank you, sir." I was wrong, he is not angry. He sits behind his desk; his strong brown eyes gaze across at me. They dart across my face, then my cleavage. His eyes always wander. He likes me I know. It is my fault. I am wearing a thin blue saree with a blouse that plunges at the front displaying plenty.
"Smita, we have a slight problem here. Someone has invited Ravi Singh to next week's luncheon." I look surprised; Singh is one of my boss's business partners. "Well, normally it would be fine Smita, but you see I've also invited Ahmed Hassan and he hates Singh. If Singh is there I can kiss goodbye any chance of getting a new contract from Hassan."
Hassan is one of our important clients from the Middle East. He often visits our office in Mumbai, which is where I work. He is a lecherous middle-aged man. Since he has very close ties with my boss, he always treats me like I am his secretary as well as my boss's. He always tries to flirt with me. I try to ignore him, but each time he visits, he only tries harder.
I shift uncomfortably in my chair. "Did you invite Singh, Smita?" His question is so direct I feel thrown.
"No, no, sir." But I know I did. I remember mailing the invitation. Why did I lie? I feel anxious, slightly out of breath. I know I am no good at lying. For a moment I'm not listening to him.
Then I hear him say, "Well, whoever did this has messed up a lot of hard work." He frowns. Then he smiles again. "Smita, could I trouble you to return to your office and bring me a copy of the computer file you used to generate the invitations that you sent? I meant to ask you to bring it when I called. I'm sorry, but I need to know who invited whom. Perhaps then I can find out who invited Singh."
I feel myself blushing. "Yes sir." I walk back to my office in a daze. Now, what am I to do? You stupid fool, why did you lie? Why didn't you just admit your mistake? At the office, I get an idea. Of course. Edit out the entry for Singh. For the first time in several minutes, I feel relaxed, at least a little. Quickly I make the necessary changes. Within seconds, I am walking back to his office carrying my disk.
After knocking, I am summoned inside. "Thank you, Smita, thank you." He takes the disk. "Take a seat, please. I hope I'm not keeping you from your other work. But this will only take a minute." He puts the disk in his laptop and examines the file. "Yes, no sign of Singh here. Excellent." He smiles. I smile back. What a relief. Smart thinking, Smita. But suddenly, "No, no, no, something is not right here. This file was edited just two minutes ago. Look." I get up and see his finger pointing at the time. Oh no. What now?
For a moment he looks puzzled, but rapidly his face fills with understanding. Then he glances up at me and the understanding turns to annoyance. "Smita, did you delete Singh from this file just now, before returning with the disk?"
"No, sir, I didn't." I know I'm very red in the face and fidgeting nervously. My heart starts pounding harder.
His expression becomes stern. "Sit back down Smita." This time the gentle tone is gone. I feel an uncomfortable tingle as I slide back into my chair. He stares across the table at me, his eyes penetrating me. I look down at the floor. I am too ashamed to look him in the face. There is a long silence as I tremble anxiously.
Finally, he stands. I look up at his form towering over me. "Smita, you edited this file and deleted Singh's name, didn't you?" "Yes, sir." My answer is barely a whisper.
He pauses. He shakes his head back and forth. "Smita, I am very disappointed in you. Mistakes I can accept, though I must say that in this case, your error will be an expensive one. However, when you lie to me and then attempt to cover up your lies by deception..." His sentence trails off. His face indicates how angry he is. I bow my head again, this time lower. I wonder if my trembling is noticeable to him.
He walks behind me and then paces the room. Now he stops and speaks: "Smita, I am afraid that I can no longer trust you... and if I can't trust you, well, I am forced to let you go." These words echo through my head as I feel a knot in my stomach grow tighter. Rapidly, tears well up in my eyes.
I sit up and half turn in my chair so I can face him. "Sir, please... I'm sorry, really very sorry." He is unmoved. "This will never happen again, I promise. Please give me a chance." I stare up at him, my pleading eyes meeting his merciless expression.
"No Smita, what you have done is inexcusable. If I let you stay, you will not have been taught a lesson. For your sake, you should go. Then, I hope, you'll understand how wrong it is to violate the trust others place in you."
He seems set on firing me. I feel awful. I have blown the best job that could ever come my way. Maybe one last desperate plea. "Sir, I beg of you... I am so sorry. I know what I did was wrong. I don't know why I did it. Please sir, I know I need to be taught a lesson, but do you have to fire me? Please, sir, I'll do anything."
He paces across the room. He is deep in thought. He returns to his desk and sits down again. He stares at me. I see the barest hint of a smile. "Well, Smita, there is a way. Mind you, it's not popular these days." I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Somehow, I know this is not going to be easy. "A young lady who has misbehaved as you have could use a good spanking. Something that she would not forget in a hurry."
He speaks coldly. All the while his gaze is unwavering. I blush slightly and gaze down into my lap. "If you will accept this punishment then perhaps we can save you your job here. But, it's your choice. Think about it for a minute."
He walks into an adjoining room. I can hear him shuffling papers or something. I have received spankings before when I was little. They certainly hurt, but I want to keep this job so badly. My thoughts are interrupted by his return to the room. He stands beside me and places a hand on my shoulder. "What's it to be then Smita? You can take the punishment or you are free to leave."
"The punishment please, sir," I find myself saying. I squirm in my seat as I speak and I feel my heart start to race. I look up at him, my eyes wide with apprehension.
He smiles. "Very well, come back to my office at 5 pm sharp tomorrow. Don't be late now, will you?"
"No sir, I won't," I stammer.
"Also, I want you to type up a statement that clearly states what you did wrong and that you will willingly accept any punishment that I administer". "Take the statement home with you, and tomorrow I want to see your and your husband's signature on it."
He ushers me out of the room before I have a chance to think and I return to my work. Why, oh why does he want my husband to know this? I am sure he just wants to add to my humiliation. He knows that my husband is unemployed and is in no position to defend me. We cannot afford to lose my job.
I do nothing in the ensuing time. I sit and worry about my decision. Maybe I should have asked him exactly what this punishment involved. Surely he won't be too harsh, but then again who knows? I saw a new side of him today that frightened me. I type up the statement and take it home with me.
My husband is first amused and then angry when he hears about what I did. I know he thinks I am sassy and hard to keep in line. He only seems glad to hear about my impending punishment. He signs the statement readily. I have little hope of avoiding the inevitable now.
I make sure I time my knock on his door at 5 pm exactly the next day. My knock is hesitant. His reply is anything but that, a sharp crisp "Enter!" that jolts me to alertness. I bow my head, open the door and enter the room sheepishly. I am startled when I see not just him, but another man of similar age standing on the far side of the room. It is Ahmed Hassan.
My boss beckons me forward and then motions me to stop just in front of his desk. "Now Smita, I want to make sure that you haven't changed your mind. Have you?"
"No sir, I haven't," I reply meekly, not daring to look up.