“Obnoxiousness,” she completed. “You are a complete Devil Weds Prada.”
“Ritu, my team is brilliant when they want to be. And they want to be brilliant thrice a year — when they are on deadlines before launches. Everything in between is threats, ultimatums and tantrums. They have been scouting the web for 10 Hindi songs about rain. How hard can it be to find that? I generously broadened their brief and included all Indian languages. This is what they sent.”
He hit play.
Tip tip barsa paani…
She sputtered.
“Funny when you are not paying them world-class salaries and perks for this.”
“To be fair, itisa rain song.”
His mouth pursed. He scrolled down his chats and opened the brief he had sent. He pushed his phone in her face and she giddily reached for it, reading, mumbling under her breath. “Something about rain but not typical rain, something that has haunting feels but ends with hopeful notes…” Her eyes rose to his. “I pity your team.”
He snatched his mobile back.
“Why do you need rain songs?”
“For my next collection.”
“You said you are not a musical person.”
His heart skipped a beat. She remembered that? Nilay held back his own giddy smile and shook his head. “It’s to create a storyboard for my collection. My Creative Director is working in tandem with me on the campaign as I design.”
“I thought you have a team that designs.”
“I design one capsule collection in a year. The rest are seasonal and led by my team. What you wore today was mine from last April.”
“Ok…” she leaned back on the kitchen island. “Hmm… let’s see. Rain songs from Bollywood that are haunting but hopeful. ‘Bheegi bheegi si hai raatein…’” she hummed.
He had never heard that song before. He shook his head.
“Wait, not in my tapori voice.” She scrolled on her mobile and hit play. The haunting tune filled the hall. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the melody. Words hit and it turned sadder.
Naa jaane koi… kaisi hai yeh zindagani, humari adhoori kahani…
Nilay shook his head. “Not hopeful.”
“Hmm…” her mouth twisted. Adorably. And she began scrolling.
Badal jo aaye haaye…
“No.”
Nahi saamne yeh alag baat hai, mere paas hai tu…
“No.”
“Why?! This is haunting and hopeful both.”
“Not to underscore the entire campaign. Maybe for one piece.”
“You have different songs for different pieces?”
“This time I do. We are creating campaigns around every piece, one story each. 10 pieces, 10 stories, 10 songs.”
“Rains?”
