# 3. Charisma !!

The news that a “ new young Indian female” had been absorbed as functional consultant travelled at a rapid pace through the  grapevine, so when Mahita joined a fortnight later , after the VISA processes and legal procedures, she was in for a very warm welcome from everyone.

She took to her work as a fish would to water, and in the first week at office, she had scheduled five training sessions for the staff so that they could be at ease while using the new software.

She got involved with the team very quickly, and soon the silent sloppiness of the team  transformed into bubbling energy and enthusiasm.

They had so much to learn, and so much to work on before they could ensure smooth functioning of the system, and she ensured that everyone was involved in the related activities. There was no place for bias, given that the team consisted of people from many nationalities.

Her enthusiasm was infectious, and her laughter contagious, and within two months we had a vibrant team who could be found working, giggling at times to their own jokes, yet delivering the results with unprecedented perfection.

Late nights, work on weekends -- nothing exhausted her commitment to work.

In less than three months, the system was up and working fine.

“ Seems she has cast a spell on you all, look at your team now, Good job, yaar “, I told Arun over lunch one day.

“Yes, Vinod. She’s magic, that lady. Always talking, and talking sense, too. Not like the other females around,” Arun replied.

“ She’s damn pretty, isn’t she ? “, I tried to sound casual.

“ Yes, but she’s much more than just pretty, if you ask me,” Arun said.

“ Matlab ?”, I was curious.

“ She’s through and through a people’s person. You know that office boy, Hussein, right ? That Bangladeshi  who needed an eye-operation last week ? You’d approved his leave na ?," he asked.

“ Haan, yes, I remember. What with him? He went to Bangladesh for treatment, right ? “, I couldn’t relate Hussein to our discussion. He was one of our very efficient office boys, who worked for a company that provided us the cleaning services on contract basis.  But what between him and Mahita ?

“Arey, his sponsor wasn’t allowing him to go . This lady rang him up on phone and argued for Hussein. He didn’t relent at first, but she spoke him into it. Now Hussein has gone on vacation, and his operation is day after. I couldn’t have done it myself, these sponsors are an unruly lot,” he said.

“ See, this is what happens when I’m at the interview panel. You get the best for your job ”, I chuckled as Arun mock-scowled at me.

Most of the people in the office knew Mahita by now, and she got along very well with them. Congeniality personified, she was available for IT support almost always.

When she couldn’t be, she found an alternative.

Travelling to showrooms never tired her, and she made sure that her work was perfect to the maximum. 

My chance to be near her, work with her and experience her charm came soon, when our company decided to open five showrooms on a single day at multiple locations across the UAE.

For this, I had to work with the showroom managers for the procurement of materials and services , as also the computer systems ,for which Mahita had to work with me, as she had taken over such work from Arun, leaving him to work on his overseas assignments.

We would sit huddled in our meeting room - I , Mahita and the showroom guys - discussing, writing down, planning and scheduling the activities for the new locations.

To me, those were the days I learnt how efficient she was, as an employee, and as a  woman.

It didn't take me long to feel her enticing charisma pull me closer to her.

Close, closer, how closer ?

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Linking this to A toZ 2014 and the Ultimate Blogging Challenge.