Anyway, the fictional Pooja belongs to the serial Ladies Special (@ 9:30 Mon-Thursday on Sony) and the other to JKM motors. Since its inception, I have tried not to miss any episode of Ladies Special and for the past one month I have been trying to miss JKM-Pooja’s incessant calls.

Pooja of Ladies Special is from Dhanbad, and very innocently doormattish. She will get slapped by her husband and still make him tea. After being regularly taunted by him, will still have sex, unwillingly. She was interesting to me, cause I thought girls like her don’t exist. It is small things she does, at home and office, that bewilder me.

Pooja of JKM motors started calling me a month back for my car insurance renewal. I was quite broke, and without July’s salary was clearly not interested, and was willing to even NOT get the insurance. Not just Pooja, but even Nisha, Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta (you get the point) called up. I had had it. Firstly I did not have money, and they wanted it. Secondly, there was still 30 days to go till expiry. So I indicated to all, to call after the 25th. But they did not stop. So individually, all of them received a lecture on calendar interpretation skills from me. Not very sweetly though. So that took care of 80% of callers. Pooja persisted, so I gave in. I asked her a million questions, bargained saying “I am a student and can’t afford this”, told her to call after 2 days, 3 days, 1 week etc, asked for emails, took her number and lost it. But she kept calling, and would very politely ask “Ma’am what have you decided about the policy”.

So today I bargained again, and was promised a car perfume in return. I took it and finalised it. It’s important to add that there wasn’t any elation in her voice, which would be there in mine if I managed to hook a client I have been pursuing for a month.

What made me start on the topic of the parallel Poojas, was a call that came within 30 minutes. This was Nisha, from Rohan Motors. When I broke the news that I had already got the policy, she oscillated between whining and blaming me. “Why dint you get it done from me”, “I have been calling you for so long, so why did go to them”. I told her I did not have any personal enmity with her, so she shouldn’t take it personally. Why I got the policy from Pooja and not her was not clear to me till I thought about it. And of course, I couldn’t have explained all this to Nisha.

All this while, I would imagine the LS Pooja on phone talking to me about insurance. She was someone who wouldn’t mind anything. Someone who wouldn’t complain and wouldn’t blame and just take everything in her stride. And cause I realized that people like her do exist. I chose her for the insurance, over Sabarmati and Narmada cause I remembered her, cause her name was Pooja, and she was just like one.  And I also got the car perfume.