today. I met everyone though I forgot their similar sounding South Indian names
the minute ii heard them.
‘Customers start coming in at ten, two hours from now,’ Bala said. ‘And that is
when the battle begins. We believe trainees learn best by facing action. Ready for
war?’
I looked at him. I could tell he was a Citibank lifer. At forty, he had probably
spent twenty years already in the bank.
‘Ready? Any questions, champ?’ Bala asked again.
‘Yeah, what exactly am I supposed to do?’
Bala threw me the first of his many disappointed looks at me. He asked a rep
for the daily research reports. ‘Two things you need to do, actually three,’ Bala
said as he took me to my desk. ‘One, read these reports everyday and see if you
can recommend any investments to the clients. Like look at this.’ He pulled out a
report from the equities group. It recommended shares of Internet companies as
their values had dropped by half.
‘But isn’t the dot com bubble bursting?’ I asked. ‘These companies would
never make money.’
Bala looked at me like I had spoken to him in pure Punjabi.
‘See, our research has given a buy here. This is Citibank’s official research,’
Bala spoke like he was quoting from the Bible. Official research was probably
written by hung-over MBA three years out of business school.
‘Fine, what else?’
‘The second important job is to develop a relationship. Tamilians love
educated people. You, being from IIT and IIM, must develop a relationship with
them.’
I nodded. I was the endangered species in the priority-banking zoo that
customers could come throw bananas at.
‘Now, it is going to be hard for you as you are...’ Bala paused as if he came to
a swear word in the conversation.
‘Punjabi?’
‘Yes, but can you befriend Tamilians?’
nora
(Nora)
#1