...continued from Part2

"He makes a mess of driving this SUV." Abhay thought. "And people believe you are the safest when inside one of these fuel guzzling white elephants."

Driving was his other love apart from designing. And no wonder designing and tuning automobiles is what he started out doing. It was just that by an unexpected stroke of luck, he landed in this architectural consultancy business. Luck, he believed, was always about something you had always been expecting, but feared telling the world about, lest you never got it and lost out on a wager you had never been a part of, in the first place. But this stroke of luck had been rather unexpected, very unlucky, if you had to go by his complex philosophical lexicon. All the same, he got a steady inflow of income to show his detractors and was soon owning stuff, he had never dreamt off. Just then, a rather unfamiliar looking Suzuki passed by his SUV at a traffic signal. "It was a nice set of wheels." Abhay thought to himself as that trade mark sarcastic smile left with not the slightest of hint on his lips. The car that had just passed him was a 90's Maruti Suzuki 1000. A rarity in itself back then, as much as it was now, the special thing about this one was it was nowhere near the original. It had been modified, well past recognition, and tuned to outperform any vehicle of its class at the time. And the new lease of life that had come its way, was thanks to none other than our man, Abhay himself.

A well off friend of his brought it to his garage one day, giving him no instructions, but just his credit card. He was allowed to spend as much as he wanted to on the vehicle, his friend had sovereign confidence in Abhay's abilities and the talent which he had always thought was exceptional. Abhay worked, day in and out on the dead metal and in about three months, he had given it a new lease, nay, a new life altogether.

It was the most unique set of wheels around, and within a week of his friend's father seeing the modified Suzuki, Abhay had sold the garage, and as his well wishers put it, 'moved on'.
And that was how he began using the degree that he had acquired for real. Was it the best thing to have happened? He was not sure. Not till now, at least.

His thoughts soared back out of the flashback as the SUV came to a halt at the construction site.
"Not a bad job Sinha", he shouted out loud to his assistant as he disembarked from his vehicle. "In fact you are marked for a bonus for sure. Now let me see it all, up close".

Sihnha, was his on site project assistant for this particular project. Someone who got to stay there and ensure that his ideas were implemented, as best as they could be. He was not from an architectural or design background, he was hardly educated. It was just that he was a very good manager of resources. And according to Abhay, he was more than just 'very good'. He was the best he thought he could have got, someone who had been able to bend all his clients his way, and get a very good final outcome more often than not.

And this project seemed no aberration to the scheme of things up until now. They did not have the requisite labour and not even the hydraulic lifts and portable lift gate conveyors, a necessity without which Abhay had refused to work with, in his recent projects. But here, Sinha had managed, and manged well beyond his imagination.

He always thought it was the one quality he lacked, being flexible, and well managing his wares. And often, he would find himself complaining to the forces that be, over it and thought maybe that prevented him from showcasing his masterpiece. But that was a thought and just that.

Just then, as he was surveying the angle of the porch arc from his binoculars from a distance, he saw the rope holding on to the make shift labour lift snap, and wobble in the air. As he gathered his wits to understand the situation, he had time, just enough, to run and push aside Sinha from the spot where he had been standing up until now. And with a loud crash the whole rickety arrangement collapsed on Abhay himself.

continued in Part IV