‘Yeah?’
‘Are you proud of me? For real?’
‘Yeah, I am.’
We looked into each other’s eyes. Together, we had made a place for ourselves in this new
city. We had not only survived, but also thrived. He had been promoted. I had done well. We were
good for each other. I held on to his hand. He cleared his throat to speak. I wondered if he would say
something romantic.
‘Sorry, but are you going to eat that last piece of lamb?’ he said.
‘A hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So one-and-a-half lakh dollars,’ I said on the phone to my
mother.
‘Tell me in rupees,’ she said.
‘It is forty-five to the dollar now. So, around 70 lakhs.’
‘That’s your bonus?’ I heard a vessel drop.
‘I am sending some money to your account. Please go shopping,’ I said.
‘You had a 70-lakh-rupees bonus?’ my mother repeated.
‘Yes.’
‘In addition to your salary?’
‘Yes.’
‘What kind of work do you do anyway?’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’
‘I have never heard anyone earn that much.’
‘I told you, I am in distressed debt. So we work with companies in trouble.’
‘How can you make money if those companies are in trouble?’
I laughed, ‘We do. Is dad around?’
‘Yeah,’ she said and shouted out for him. ‘Listen. Come here. Your daughter made 70 lakhs!’
Her voice could probably be heard across the whole colony they lived in. So much for
Goldman’s confidentiality clauses.
I narrated the entire bonus story and calculation to dad. After a minute of stunned silence, he
spoke in an emotional voice. ‘Even the SBI chairperson doesn’t make that much. You are twenty-four
years old. My little girl has become such a big shot.’
I found it difficult to hold back tears.
‘I am still your little daughter, dad. The one who held your finger on the way to the school bus
stop.’
‘You are my sweetest little one,’ he said.
‘Remember you used to tell me to stand on my own feet? To not worry about anything else, to
just do the best I can? That’s all I did, dad.’
I heard him sob. My father cries more than all the women in the house.
‘I am so proud of you,’ he said.
‘I love you. I miss you,’ I said.
‘Come home soon,’ he said.