Excerpt: Saviour of Sonorous Stones

Saviour of Sonorous Stones
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There are days when you wake up with a feeling that you can change the world.
Most other days, though, it is the world that changes you. Often we do not
even notice this change. It is so discreet. Much like the changes to shore line
by the oncoming waves. As the waves recede, the sands seem to be the same. But
then some of sand has been pulled in by the waves.

When Vivek woke up that Wednesday morning, he had no clue how his life would
change. Not that he was not hoping it would. But the fact that it would
today was not known to him.
As he opened his eyes, he was hoping that it would be a Saturday and he would
not have to go to work. Then his bleary eyes fell on the digital clock hanging
on the opposite wall. It was a Wednesday. Not even a Monday. When one
could blame this feeling on Monday morning blues. After all research backed
such feelings. 70%, maybe more, have claimed to have 'not-feel-like-going-work'
feeling on Monday mornings. It is kind of funny how some of us never grow up.
Did we not feel same when we were young and hated school ? The dreaded Monday
morning when homework was not complete, the bag not having the right books
according to the day's time table. Monday may well have been called MurphyDay.

Mid week blues probably, thought Vivek as he pulled himself out of his bed
and dragged himself to the bathroom. As he was brushing, the mouth freshener
or whatever they put in these pastes, started to clear some of the drowsiness.
Vivek realized that this 'blue' feeling has been around for some time now.
He was all zeal when he passed out of the country's top B-school . He was
passionate about sales. That is what he got into. And in a very short period
of time, he was able to get to a position in a big multi-national company what
others would have taken ten years maybe more. This career growth brought in
an increasingly fattening pay-check, unbelievable number of perks and a
phenomenal rise into the stratosphere of society.
Vivek had more than he had ever wished for. Yet there was there was feeling
of not having something that he had been getting for the past couple of months.
After finishing the shave and a quick shower, Vivek dressed up and went to
the breakfast table. Ramu, the cook cum servant, had put couple of sandwiches
and glass of carrot juice on the table. Vivek grabbed the newspaper and flipped
to the business page as he bit into the sandwich. The stock market was in a
free fall. The global economy was heading towards a deep recession and its
effects were being felt here as well. This was not the best of times. Vivek's
company was feeling the heat too. Its stock price had feel more than 10% over
the past six months with a forecast of going further south. Vivek's team
was getting increasing pressures to revise the sales targets to keep up with
the dipping revenues in the first world countries.
Vivek did not have any magic wand which he could just wave over the consumers
and increase their consumption. Or attract new consumers. The currently propsed
sales target were a stretch in the first place. Increasing them further was
out of the question in Vivek's view. Vivek did not feel like eating the second
sandwich. He drank only half glass of the juice, wiped his mouth with a napkin,
grabbed his briefcase and rushed out of the apartment.
As he got into the lift, he called up his driver from his Blackberry
and asked him to drive the BMW up to the apartment block entrance.