‘That’s USA, madam. This is India, we have one billion population, or two
billion eyeballs. Imagine the potential of the Internet. And we have a mutual fund,
so you don’t have to invest in any one company.’
We cajoled Ms Sreenivas for five minutes. I threw in a lot of MBA terms like
strategic advantage, bottom-line vs. top line, top down vs. bottom up and it made
me sound very intelligent. Ms Sreenivas and Sri nodded at whatever I said.
Ultimately, Ms Sreenivas agreed to nibble at toxic waste.
‘Let’s start with ten lakh,’ I said to close the case.
‘Five. Please, five,’ Ms Sreenivas pleaded with us on how to use her own
money.
I settled at five and Sri was ecstatic, I had become their favourite customer
service manager.
Bala took me out for lunch at Sangeetha’s, a dosa restaurant.
‘What dosas do you have?’ I asked the waiter.
‘We have eighty-five kinds,’ the waiter pointed to the board. Every stuffing
imaginable to man was available in dosa form.
‘Try the spinach dosa. And the sweet banana dosa,’ Bala said as he smiled at
me like the father I never had. ‘So, how does it feel, to get your first investment?
Heart pumping?’
My heart didn’t pump. It only ached. I’d been in Chennai for fifteen hours and
had not spoken to Ananya yet. I wanted to buy a cell-phone as soon as possible.
Wait, I’d need two.
‘I see myself in you. You are like me,’ Bala said as he dunked his first piece of
dosa in sambhar. I had no clue how he reached that conclusion.
I had Ananya’s home landline number. But, she didn’t reach home until seven.
She had a sales field job so no fixed office number as well. I remembered how
we’d finish lunch in campus and snuggle up for our afternoon nap. It is official,
life after college sucks.
‘Isn’t this fun?’ Bala said. ‘I get a rush every time I come to the bank. And it is
twenty years. Wow, I still remember the day my boss first took me out for lunch.
Hey, what are you thinking? Stop work thoughts now. It is lunch-time.
‘Of course,’ I said and collected myself. ‘How far is HLL office from here?’
nora
(Nora)
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