From chaotic courtrooms to complicated feelings, Take a Chance on Me by Arushi Gupta introduces us to Sitara, a young lawyer whose carefully controlled life begins to unravel when love, friendship and an infuriating colleague collide.
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‘Mangalam Bhagvan Vishnu, Mangalam . . .’ the priest chanted in his nasal monotone. ‘The parents of the girl to please come forward and do the kanyadaan.’ As he gestured for our parents to step forward, I caught a flirtatious wink from beside me. We both stifled a giggle, trying to look appropriately solemn for the priest.
How did I get so lucky? How did I end up with this kind, funny and very cute man?
‘Madam? Madam ji!’ The loud yet diffident address jolted me out of my daydream and I found my court clerk standing before me. In his hands was a massive stack of papers, a visibly annoyed look gracing his features.
‘What happened?’ I asked, my internal panic spiking almost as a default reaction.
‘AK sir has said to file the petition today before court shuts. Have you drafted all the applications, made the indexes and got sir’s sign-off?’ Sunil rattled off the to-do list, something which, ideally, I ought to have been doing. I felt a familiar wave of panic move through my body and my heart rate jumped. ‘I need to stop in Karol Bagh to get everything signed by the client too,’ he added, now looking as worried as I was feeling.
‘Uh . . . yes, I’ve printed out the applications. The index needs to be made, and sir needs to do the final check before I sign.’ I hastily glanced at the time, trying to calculate how long I had before the boss returned from his lunch break, while also quickly scanning the soft copy of the petition.
‘Madam, if there is a problem even now, sir will eat us alive,’ Sunil said, his cheeky grin back on display. My boss, Arjun Kohli (AK), or AK47, as we lovingly called him, behaved true to this moniker. We knew it was only a matter of time before he spotted something amiss somewhere, in some document. It might just be a letter out of place, a comma—or heavens, if we’d accidentally put Advocates before Solicitors—and all hell would break loose.
‘I know, we must file it successfully today, or else the matter will not be listed the day after. In case something goes wrong, please fix it at your end in Court. Carry this pen drive with you, it has the soft copy of the entire petition. If required, forge my signatures,’ I rattled off smoothly. This kind of last-minute damage control had become my forte. Not sure if I’d learnt anything about the law in the last four years, but I’d certainly trained my clerks well to copy my signature. ‘I’m telling Manoj ji to finish the index, so just collect that from him. He should be done adding the page numbers by now. Hurry, before sir comes back from his post-lunch walk!’ I held the receiver in one hand, praying for Manoj ji to be at his desk, while making animated gestures with my other hand, indicating Sunil should move along quickly. For once, Sunil, realizing the situation’s urgency, hurried towards the elevator.
I sighed deeply. Trust a crisis like this to yank you back to reality. Just as I was getting to my favourite bit in the fantasy, too. I turned to my friend Aisha, who was seated directly behind me. She was in her own world of pain, her face practically inside the laptop she was staring intently at.
‘Aisha.’
She stared unflinchingly at her screen.
‘Aish,’ I prodded again.
‘Hmm.’ She both acknowledged and ignored me. It was an art she had truly mastered, with my constant whining and moping. ‘He’s going to have a total meltdown today,’ I said to her back as she typed away furiously. Her short ponytail bobbed along and she pushed her spectacles back in place.
‘Why?’ she asked, still turned away from me, razor-sharp focus on the agreement she was drafting.
‘I think I’ve discovered a massive cock-up.’ I absentmindedly pushed my spectacles up on top of my straight, dark, shoulder-length hair.
‘What now?’
‘You know that letter I was supposed to write to the arbitrators? That stinker in which we were complaining about the behaviour of the opposing counsel?’ I paused, hoping for a reaction, which never came. ‘I accidentally sent it to the arbitrator in a different arbitration. Worse, it is copied to the opposing counsel as well.’
She stilled. Then she slowly turned around to face me, her face stricken.
‘Tell me you did not,’ she said, and I grinned, clapping my hands in glee.
‘I didn’t, but I need you to pay attention to me. This is important,’ I said, and her look soured. ‘We need to order coffee because it’s nearly 2.30 p.m. and I’ve been here since 8 a.m. I could pass out any second. So, where are we ordering from today?’
‘One of these days, you will give me a heart attack,’ Aisha said, turning back to her computer screen and, almost instantly, started to type again. I was already scrolling through the delivery app. ‘I’ll take a strong iced black. You can choose the place.’
