‘You are welcome. We don’t normally do it. But you are new. Maybe that’s why Neel wanted
it.’
‘Neel?’
‘Yes, he told me to order it. He even selected the arrangement.’
I thanked everyone for the birthday wishes in the team meeting.
‘The flowers are an exception. Don’t get high hopes,’ Josh said.
‘Mostly we gift each other bad loan documents,’ Simon said. The team burst into laughter. I
looked at Neel. He smiled at me.
‘A team from the Metropolitan Bank of Tokyo is in town. They want to meet for potential co-
investments,’ he said, making it clear that the bouquet and my birthday didn’t warrant any more
discussion.
‘That’s Tanaka-san, Shin-san and I am Sugimula,’ said Arai Sugimura, head of the Distressed Debt
Group at Metropolitan Bank of Tokyo, as he introduced his team. In Japan, the tag ‘san’ is applied out
of respect, sort of like ‘shri’ in Hindi. We exchanged business cards, held in both hands, as is the
norm in Asia.
‘La-dhi-ka-san,’ Arai said. ‘Do I say youl name light?’
‘It’s fine,’ I said and smiled. The Japanese bankers bowed to us as they sat down. Bianca
asked us if we needed anything. Everyone agreed to have Chinese tea.
‘It’s an honour you came to visit us,’ Neel said, turning on his client-charm button. ‘How can
we do business together?’
‘Gupta-san, it is plivilege for us too,’ Arai said. ‘Goldman Sachs is ples-ti-gious bank. Youl
gloup has good leputation in malket.’
Bianca came back with teacups and a kettle of tea. She placed them on the table and left.
‘Thank you. It’s all due to my great team,’ Neel said, waving his hand at us.
Neel poured tea for himself. As did Josh and Peter.
‘La-dhika-san,’ Arai said.
‘Yes?’ I said.
‘Would you mind?’ he said and pointed to the kettle. I realized he wanted me to pour tea for his
team. I looked at Neel and Josh. They seemed confused, but gestured that I do it anyway. I poured tea
for the Japanese team and a cup for myself.
Arai explained his desire to co-invest with our group. Nobody else from Arai’s team spoke a
word. In Japan, when the boss talks, you remain silent.
‘So what kind of deals al you looking at?’ Arai said. ‘Any polt-folios?’
Arai had the typical Japanese problem of being unable to speak the R sound, which he
substituted with L.
‘Radhika bid for one recently, maybe she can talk about it,’ Josh said.
‘La-dhika-san?’ Arai said.
‘Yeah, I can tell you about this local Bank of East Asia auction.. .’ I began to speak but Arai
interrupted me with his laughter.
‘Excuse me?’ I said, wondering if I had said anything wrong.