The Friendly Lawyer

Next day at precisely 1pm Aswarti Nayar presented herself to the Harsha Terrace Garden Restaurant reception and inquired if Raj Patil had arrived. She was ushered to the table where Raj and Anupam were seated with papers out on the table discussing business transactions of the morning. When they saw her heading for the table, they quickly retrieved papers and put them in a briefcase. Then stood to welcome her indicating a seat opposite watching as the waiter handed her the menu. They immediately picked up their menu copies and studied the familiar line up of dishes.

“What can we order for you Smt. Nayar?”

“Oh, that will not be necessary, I will pay for my own meal in that I requested the meeting.”

“It wouldn’t be seemly for us to allow you to pay when we’ve invited you to this restaurant. We will pay so please order and we’ll talk.”

Aswarti colored in embarrassment but nodded. She liked to be in control during interviews and this was not starting the way she’d hoped. But she nodded and thanked these men for their hospitality. Accepting charity put her in a disadvantageous position as a lawyer. She quickly made her meal choice and the two men followed through with theirs. Then she got down to business.

“You had an employee called Dass who you sacked and he’s claiming unfair dismissal and physical injury from an attack made when evicting him from the property. He has photos of these injuries which I have on file.”

“My manager Sharad handles employment and he’s not here and I’ve several workers of the same name. Can you give me specifics please. Where was he supposedly employed on our property and who delivered these claimed injuries? I’m at a bit of a loss not having any details.”

Raj turned to Anupan.

“Do you have any information on this alleged event Anupan?”

“Not firsthand but I remember Sharad telling me about a case where one of our employees in equipment maintenance had been smuggling fuel and motor parts off the property to sell on the black market with the help of a gate watchman and both had been immediately fired and escorted off the property. When the theft came to Sharad’s notice he set a trap and caught this fellow red handed. We don’t tolerate violence on our property and Sharad certainly is well liked by the workers and has never been accused of hurting any of them. We need to see those pictures and it looks like our law firm needs to be involved.”

Aswarti reached into her shawn bag and retrieved several photos taken at different angles of wounds to arms and back. Raj and Anupan looked at the photos.

“There’s no identity of who has these wounds, Smt. Nayar.”

She pulled another photo out of her shawn bag with the facial image of the man in question. Both men nodded.

“Yes, we know who this is now as we’ve seen him around the property but didn’t know he was not with us anymore. We’ll have to check this out with Sharad as he’s in charge of hiring. But how on earth do you expect to make a case of this when the injuries you showed do not have an identifying face to it? Our lawyers will eat you alive in court.”

Aswarti nodded as she paused from enjoying her biriyani as they discussed this case.

“I totally agree with you this case has practically no chance of getting a hearing in court. Please don’t misunderstand me when I ask this question. Do you consider yourself an honorable person Sri. Patil?”

Raj and Anupan stopped eating and studied the woman opposite them.

“Don’t you consider that an insulting question lawyer Nayar?”

“From the questions I asked your workers before we met yesterday everyone on your plantation considers you a compassionate, caring and honorable man so in that this case has no chance in court I’d like to take advantage of your honorable reputation with the humble request you investigate this case yourself and if you are convinced this man was unjustly treated and wounded on your property would you take the initiative in setting it right. I’d be surprised to find this claim happened but if you find it did will you compensate this man even though he has no chance of a hearing in court?”

Raj relaxed and smiled.

“Smt. Nayar, I know you introduced yourself yesterday and gave me your calling card but unfortunately, I did not take notice as I should have. What did you say your first name was?”

“Aswarti.”

“Then Aswarti I find you to be a very reasonable person and thank you for your vote of confidence in our integrity as a business. Most certainly we will investigate this and not attempt to sweep under the carpet any unlikely bad treatment of our workers. In the unlikely event we find something to support this claim we will get back to you and arrange for compensation. In any case I will contact you when next in Ratnagiri to follow up on what we are doing.

When they got back to the plantation Raj and his half-brothers huddled for a conference about this claim for compensation. The key was to check with those called by Sharad as witnesses to the theft and the expulsion of this worker Dass from the equipment maintenance area. Each had no recollection of any evidence of physical punishment and had watched as Dass was marched out the gate and the watchman involved deprived of his security badge and baton. Raj was satisfied this was a bogus claim to try for compensation on the loss of his job. Notes had been taken as the investigation took place with the names of those testifying.

The week following Raj determined to call on lawyer Aswarti Nayar and give her a report as promised. He looked up the law firm telephone and had his secretary make an appointment then on the appointed day for his trip to Ratnagiri he consulted his appointments for the day and noted his secretary had recorded the appointment for 12.30 pm. He smiled as he saw the venue was Mithula Restaurant in Shanbag Plaza. Aswarti had been obviously uncomfortable she’d been an unpaying guest at Raj’s interview and was now returning the favor to show she was independent. So, he was there at 12.20 pm to make sure he was at this unfamiliar place on time. When he peeped inside. he saw her already at the table working on notes.

This time the atmosphere was more relaxed and not charged with the mutual suspicion of their first meetings. He took his place opposite her at the table, and she scooped up her notes apologizing for the mess reporting that this was a busy day for her at courts and she was making last minute notes from a case being heard before returning to her office. Raj sat and studied her as she put away the rest of her notes and took in the attractiveness of her chosen outfit for the day as she’d discarded her lawyers’ robes for the afternoon in her office. She noted his look of approval.

“I bought it from Agarwal Fashion. Do you mind if I call you Raj. This Sri. Patil thing seems a bit formal. What did you find out for me?”

He pulled out a report from his briefcase and handed it to her. She scanned it quickly and nodded.

“You are meticulous and have all the witnesses documented with signatures and thumb prints.”

She shrugged and looked up.

“Can I keep this for my file?”

Raj nodded and she put it with her other files speaking as she did so.

“Well, the case is closed as far as I’m concerned. Did you consider giving him compensation when he was dismissed?”

Raj laughed.

“The value of stuff he robbed off us and sold on the black market far exceeded any compensation either Dass or the watchman would have been entitled to. I think he should be satisfied we didn’t report him to the police for theft.  Then he’d have known what real wounds would have looked like as they encouraged a confession out of him instead of those fake photos, he produced to give you.”

Aswarti chuckled.

“Probably!”

They ordered food and engaged in pleasant conversation. Raj felt a strange attraction to this woman. She was obviously competent but different to lawyers he’d dealt with over the years. They lacked humor and had the killer instinct as they hunted their prey in court. He wondered how she survived in that environment and decided to probe her philosophy of life further.

“What’s your story Aswarti, obviously you are from the Nayar community based in Kerala, they have a fascinating history. Your accent is not a typical Kerala accent though, so I’m intrigued.”

“My parents moved to Mumbai before I was born, and I did all my education and law degree there commencing my career with one of the law firms as an intern. A couple of years back I came to Ratnagiri for a holiday with friends and loved the atmosphere here. The one who owned Laxmi Legal met me at the court which I attended out of professional curiosity and offered me a job. I accepted and a year after joining him he got sick and looked for someone to buy out his clients. My parents are wealthy and bought the law practice for me so now I employ para legals and interns and own Laxmi Legal Services. My client base has grown and I’m looking for a place with more space and more central location. Do you know of anything available in the central district? It was difficult to break into the business community as they were used to the old attorney. He was one of them in Ratnagiri and I was young a woman and a stranger, but I won them over eventually.”

To be continued.

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