‘How is it going?’ he whispered, quite unnecessarily as people had already left
for the day.
‘Fine. I sent you the presentation. You approved, right?’ I said. He had given
me an OK in the afternoon. The last thing I wanted was another night out.
‘Yeah, that’s fine. Listen buddy, I need a favour from you.’
Bala had never called me buddy. The room smelt coconutty and fishy. The
coconut came from Bala’s hair, the fish from his unspoken intention.
‘What favour?’ I asked without smiling.
‘See Krish, this job, my career, it is everything to me. I have given my life to
this bank.’
I nodded. Come to the point, buddy, I thought.
‘And you, as you will admit, aren’t into it as much as me. Don’t take it the
wrong way.’
He was hundred percent right. But when someone tells you to not take it the
wrong way, you have to take it the wrong way. Besides, I had spent the last three
nights working hard with only ATM guards for company. I deserved better.
‘That is hundred percent false,’ I said. ‘I’m dying from work. I do whatever you
want me to do. I sold that crap Internet ...’
‘Easy, easy,’ Bala shushed me.
‘There is nobody here. We are not planning a James Bond mission that we
have to whisper,’ I said.
Corporate types love to pretend their life is exciting. The whispers, fist-
pumping and animated had gestures are all designed to lift our job description
from what it really is - that of an overpaid clerk.
‘I’m not doubting your hard work. But see, in corporate life, we have to look
after each other.’
‘What? How?’ If he didn’t come to the point in two seconds, I would slap him.
In my imagination, I already had.
‘I am your boss, so I can look after you anyway. But today you have a chance
to look after me.’
nora
(Nora)
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