Devil in Pinstripes

by Ravi Subramanian

  ‘Amit.’ He looked back at the reception desk. The receptionist had caught him looking intently in the direction of the front office girl. Thank God Chanda wasn’t here. She was to come in late that day. She was tired after a long day at work. She had returned home only at 2 a.m. the previous night. An audit was approaching and the entire team was busy preparing for the same.

  ‘Hari has come in. He will see you now.’

  Amit got up. He hadn’t taken the laptop strap off his shoulder and hence the laptop too divorced itself from the couch. He had carried his old laptop with him. NYB was fine with it, since he was moving within the same group. Walking past the reception, up a spiral staircase, he reached the second floor, the feared corporate floor of NFS. Karen, the MD’s secretary was waiting for him. She led him past a few rows of smart looking cubicles, occupied by wonderful looking women, into a large and tastefully done up room. What are so many women doing in a finance company? He wondered as they entered Hari’s room.

  ‘Hari, Amit’s here,’ and Karen left the room.

  ‘Hey Amit! How are you young man?’ And he held out his hand for Amit to shake. ‘I have heard a lot about you.’

  ‘Same here sir,’ said Amit, though the only thing he had heard about the MD so far was that he was a spineless fellow.

  ‘I am so glad that Aditya could convince you to come here. Your wife also works here, right? How does it feel, both of you in the same company? You guys can come and go together. That’s a big benefit. I am sure it’s a great feeling.’

  ‘I hope so sir. Have never been in the same organisation with her so far in my career. It will be a first time of sorts.’

  ‘Well my friend, if you haven’t, you have chosen the wrong organisation to work together. There is a fair bit of energy and excitement here.’ And he winked at Amit as his secretary walked in and out of his room. He was obviously referring to the good looking women in and around the second floor. Amit thought it was in bad taste, but didn’t say much. ‘It sure keeps the motivation level high!’ Saying this, Hari broke into a loud Bollywood villain-like laughter. Amit managed to force a smile too.

  The discussion lasted an hour, wherein the managing director told him about the business, the organisation, the structure, the work culture, and the complexities, and also outlined his expectations on the business.

  ‘You need to work with Gowri on this. He should be coming in any time. Come, let me introduce you to the team around here.’ Hari stood up, gave a slight tug to his trousers, wore his baba-aadam ke zamaane ki glasses and led him out of his palatial cabin. ‘There is no doubt that we need to work together with NYB and there is no better person than you who can help us with it. You come from the bank. Just be careful that you don’t give an impression that you have come here to change everything. Remember, you cannot achieve anything without the support of your colleagues at NFS.’ Amit couldn’t make out whether it was an advice or a threat. A word of caution or an instruction to refrain. The stress and sarcasm and the choice of words neutralised the positive impact of the entire interaction. Amit chose not to comment. He didn’t like the stress on ‘work with Gowri’ . . . and that too coming from a NYB old-timer Amit was wondering what to make of it.

  Hari led him out of the room, onto the floor. It was a large square floor with cabins all around the periphery. The cabins were large, well-anointed and had their own privacy. From the cabins, one could see what went on in the entire corporate floor. A large area in the centre of the floor was covered by rows of workstations. The junior staff and the assistants of the ‘cabin crew’ occupied those workstations.

  Hari started from the first cabin and introduced Amit to everyone around.

  ‘Shabnam Gujral, product manager for auto loans,’ said Hari and looked at Amit. ‘He is joining us from the bank to run mortgages.’

  ‘Oh, welcome Amit! For the records, my designation is Business Head – Auto Loans. Hari just loves to call it product manager. Because that’s what we all do.’ She looked at Hari with a pained look, ‘Don’t we?’

  ‘What a stupid response?’ was Amit’s initial thought. Towards the end of his conversation with Shabnam, he realised that there was a story there which he needed to dig and find out more about. She was a NYBanker frustrated with the going-ons at NFS. After some pleasantries, he moved on.

  ‘Manish Kakkar.’

  ‘Hi!’ Manish stood up the moment he saw them walking towards him. He took Amit’s extended hand and said, ‘I manage credit and collections. Welcome to NFS.’ There was something in this person which told Amit that he could bond well with him.

  He looked at the cute looking girl sitting with Manish in his room. ‘Hi! I am Jacqueline. I work with Manish and help him with analytics.’ Amit felt a certain degree of warmth in the handshake. He moved on.

  ‘You are Chanda’s husband, right?’ Amit nodded his head. When Jacqueline saw the discussion showing signs of extending, she excused herself and walked out of the room.

  ‘Arre . . . Kakkar . . . sorry for disturbing your date.’ Hari winked.

  ‘Come on Hari!’ Kakkar started blushing at this comment. He even looked towards the door to see if it was shut. He was worried that someone else outside would hear this conversation.

  ‘Amit, I would like to let you into a secret. This girl Jacqueline, who just left, has the hots for our friend Mr Kakkar here.’

  ‘Oh . . . that’s interesting,’ said Amit.

  ‘No Amit, don’t listen to Hari . . . he is just pulling my leg.’

  ‘Ha ha. Amit, grapevine has it that she even proposed to

  Manish once. Unfortunately, the sadly married Manish had to turn her down.’

  ‘If it makes you happy Hari . . . here . . . read this.’ Manish picked up a small packet lying on his table and passed it on to Hari.

  ‘Oh my God!’ exclaimed Hari when he read the contents. ‘My condolences,’ he added, smiling slyly. Seeing that Amit was confused, he added, ‘His heartthrob is getting married,’ while passing on Jacqueline’s wedding invitation to Amit.

  ‘And if it makes you happy Hari, she has even asked for a transfer to Hyderabad because her fiancé is based there.’

  ‘I am sure she waited for you and then gave up.’

  Amit was peacefully listening to this conversation without adding any of his comments to the discussion. After pulling Kakkar’s leg for a few more minutes, Hari, along with Amit, moved on.

  ‘Supratik Guha – CFO.’

  ‘Vipul – treasury.’ They went from room to room, till they reached Chander’s cabin.

  ‘Chander Rastogi – the outgoing head of mortgages.’

  ‘Hi Amit! Welcome to NFS.’

  ‘Thanks Chander! I look forward to learning a lot from you.’

  ‘Sure young man. I can tell you for sure this is an exciting place.’ The way in which he said it belied the sentiment that the words conveyed. Amit’s dissonance only grew. First, it was Shabnam and now, Chander. The expressions, their speech, and their frustrations made Amit rethink whether he had made the right choice. Anyway, it was too late now.

  ‘For how many more months are you here?’

  ‘Two more months.’ Chander had put in his papers and was serving the mandatory three month’s notice period. No one knew where he was headed.

  ‘Oh, great. That gives me some time to settle down in the role. I can fall back on you for advice.’

  ‘Amit, I must say you are stepping into large shoes. Our expectations are very high and I am sure you won’t let us down. Aditya has a fair bit of confidence in you. That’s the reason why we preferred you even though Gowri was pushing for someone from within.’

  ‘Sure sir.’ Oh, so Gowri was pushing for someone within. That’s not great news, he thought, especially if he had to take Hari’s suggestion of working with him closely.

  There was one more cabin to visit. It was the largest room, among the cabin crew. Not as large as the MD’s though. He bid goodbye to Chander with a promise to return soon an
d followed Hari towards the last room.

  Hari stopped outside and looked at the lady sitting outside the room. ‘Suzanna, can we go in?’ he asked. Amit for a moment was taken aback. A managing director was checking if he could walk into the room of an employee. Any other day, he would have put it down to humility. But Hari didn’t do any of this when he met Manish Kakkar, Chander or Shabnam.

  ‘Of course Hari,’ Suzanna retorted and Hari smiled. This cut short his thoughts and he followed Hari.

  ‘Hey Gowri!’ Hari said as soon as he entered the room.

  ‘Morning Hari.’

  ‘Hi!’ He greeted Amit, but didn’t say anything else, because he didn’t know him. That was only a façade, because the moment Hari and Amit had left Manish Kakkar’s cabin, Gowri had called him and taken a detailed information download.

  ‘Hi! Amit Sharma.’ Amit introduced himself to Gowri.

  ‘Oh, Amit? Yes, yes . . . I remember. How are you Amit? Chanda often keeps mentioning you. I should have connected when I saw you. Come. Come on in. Grab a seat.’

  Amit looked around. It was the most lavish of all the cabins. The table was exquisite and made of teak. It almost looked princely. The wooden coat hanger on the right added style to the room. A large painting by some unknown painter hung right behind Gowri – a scene where the sun was behind the mountains. Orange sky, birds flying in clusters. The only thing he couldn’t tell because he wasn’t sure, was whether, it was a rising sun or a setting sun. Only time will tell, said the interior monologue as he rested his back against the sofa and almost immediately felt the royal touch of leather. This was clearly the most regally anointed room in the entire company . . . maybe even in the entire NYB group in India.

  Hari was with them for a while and then left citing the excuse of another appointment to catch up with. There were only the two of them in the room.

  ‘So Amit, I believe you are coming in place of Chander.’

  ‘That’s what I am told.’ There was something in the tone that he didn’t like. So he responded equally arrogantly.

  ‘Oh ya . . . he is going. Shaayad jaane ke liye kaha hai humne.’ His eyebrows were raised and seemed to convey a mischievous intent. He was implying that Chander had been asked to leave. Amit knew that such was not the case, else Aditya would have told him.

  ‘Hmmm . . . but why? He seems to be such a nice guy. Experienced hai. Bahut saal kaam kiya hai.’ He played along.

  ‘I agree. But you know, he doesn’t know how to deal with people. Uske log khush nahin the. His people were not happy you see. They went and complained about him. Numbers were also not happening. Someone has to take accountability na. How long can I keep helping him deliver his numbers? And if I am helping him to do his numbers . . . shouldn’t I get the credit? No free lunches you see.’

  . . . Aaah there lies the problem. Non-delivery of numbers. Hopefully that would not be a problem with him. But wasn’t the channel controlled by Gowri? If numbers didn’t happen shouldn’t Gowri also take the blame? Or was it that Gowri manipulated the channels to underperform and transferred the blame of underperformance to Chander . . . hmm. Interesting times ahead. Get set for the battle. All this while, Gowri continued speaking.

  ‘You don’t worry. I will help you out with the numbers. As long as I am there, you can relax.’

  Amit didn’t like this statement of Gowri. This is precisely what he didn’t want to do. He would rather take control of his sales channels which were under Gowri and his branch managers and deliver on his numbers himself. He couldn’t rely on Gowri to meet his targets. That would be committing professional hara kiri. Something which Chander and even Shabnam did.

  After a few moments of disputed pleasantries—disputed because Amit was not too sure if they were pleasantries at all—he came out of the meeting, feeling a bit weird. Was the guy trying to help or was he trying to act funny with him. He couldn’t tell. By then Chanda had come in and was waiting for Gowri to be through with the meeting.

  ‘How are you, stranger?’ she said when she looked at Amit. ‘How’s the first day going?’

  ‘So far so good,’ he retorted.

  ‘Let’s do lunch together,’ she said to Amit even as she walked into Gowri’s cabin.

  ‘Interesting guy,’ he could hear Gowri say to Chanda as the door shut behind them. He walked over to Chander’s room to begin the takeover process from him.

  ‘Hey, come on friend,’ Chander welcomed him into the room. ‘Welcome to the frying pan!’

  Amit just smiled. There was something about this guy which made him very comfortable.

  ‘Tell me, did they sell you this job or did you ask for this?’

  ‘They . . . as in?’

  ‘They . . . the bank, Aditya.’

  ‘Oh ya . . . actually Aditya asked me to move in here.’

  ‘I should have guessed. Come let’s start . . .’

  Amit was a bit confused at this remark but he didn’t probe. This was only their first meeting and he couldn’t be seen gossiping within minutes of meeting Chander.

  Lunch, for Amit and Chanda, was at Mahesh Lunch Home. The restaurant was extremely cramped. The food though was fabulous. What better place to celebrate their first day at work together?

  ‘How was my boss?’

  ‘He was behaving as if he was mine,’ joked Amit.

  ‘Oh, he is arrogant. But good at heart.’

  ‘That’s not what everyone says.’

  ‘No, no. I have seen him change. He is quite curt in the beginning. But as he gets to know you, he becomes very friendly. Look at his equation with Manish Kakkar. The story is that he used to hate him. Now he is great pals with Manish.’

  ‘Let’s see.’ Amit didn’t particularly agree, but deferred to her view.

  ‘Where are you going to sit? Have you found a place for yourself?’

  ‘Ya. Hari kind of indicated that I would be sitting in the room to the left of Manish Kakkar.’

  ‘Oh, that’s where Brad used to sit.’

  ‘Brad?’

  ‘You wouldn’t know him. Bradley Pereira. He was the head of strategy. Has now gone to Dubai. Quit NFS.’

  ‘Ominous seat,’ and they both started laughing.

  His first day in the new office, and they were already having a romantic lunch. Neither seemed to mind. They weren’t sure if they would be able to take these liberties later on.

  Back in office, Amit got busy with Chander while Chanda got back to her day job. The last he saw of her was when she was striding with her laptop into Gowri’s room along with three others. Towards the end of the day, Manish Kakkar walked into Chander’s room. He was an affable, balding, man. He seemed friendly to Amit when he met him in the morning.

  ‘Young man, how has your first day been so far?’

  ‘Good. Quite good. Getting to know things.’

  Seeing that Amit’s notebook was shut and Chander was packing to leave, he asked Amit, ‘Chai?’

  Amit nodded.

  ‘Chal. Come to my room.’

  Amit thanked Chander for his help and followed Manish into his cabin. It was small but nice. Not a patch on Gowri’s lavish expanse of a cabin.

  Both of them got into the room, and discussed obscurities of life. Manish was a philosophical man and came across as an honest guy. Amit had liked him instantly, when he had met him in the morning. He also liked his values. If a guy could turn down Jacqueline’s advances, he had to be of a great moral standing.

  Chai came. The office boy left two cups on his table. ‘Sugar mat dalna,’ Amit told him. The office boy looked at Manish apologetically.

  ‘Doosri leke aa. Phiki laana,’ Manish dismissed the office boy and asked him to get some tea without sugar.

  ‘Aur . . . how’s Chanda liking your move?’

  ‘Oh, she is thrilled. At least there is someone to ferry her to work.’

  ‘But you have a problem, my friend.’

  Amit responded with a blank look.

  ‘How will you flirt with
such good looking women here? It’s a pity if Chanda starts interfering with all this.’ And they started laughing.

  ‘Slowly . . . slowly . . . careful you fool! Keep it down slowly.’ Their interesting conversation was interrupted by a stern voice. It was of a woman and came from outside the room. Amit turned and looked outside the door. Manish didn’t need to turn, but he too was looking outside the door. Their view was blocked by an office boy carrying a large box.

  Manish got up and walked out of the room. ‘Arre Sango. What’s happening?’

  ‘Nothing Manish. Just getting my stuff shifted.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘I am moving here. Into this cabin.’ She pointed to the cabin on the left of Manish’s room.

  ‘Then . . . padosan . . . you are my padosan.’

  ‘Yes Manish. Ain’t I blessed to be your neighbour?’ laughed Sangeeta.

  ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘This evening, Manish. Gowri called me at around four and asked me to bring in my stuff and move,’ and after a pregnant pause added ‘. . . and I moved.’

  ‘That’s great. See you. Let me know in case you need anything. After all, if I don’t take care of my padosan, who will?’

  ‘Thanks Manish!’ Manish didn’t hear her say this because he was already back into the room.

  ‘Who is she?’ Amit asked him.

  ‘She is Sangeeta, the branch network head for west. She is rumoured to be moving to head the branch network pan India soon. Gowri’s favourite. That’s probably the reason why she is moving into this room.’

  ‘Moving into this room? But Hari mentioned to me that I was to move in here.’ Amit was surprised.

  ‘Is that so? I am sure there is some confusion. Why don’t you clear it out with her? I am sure it can be resolved. Come, let’s ask her.’ Manish got up.

  ‘No. It’s okay Manish. I think I will ask Hari to fix this. We will be unnecessarily embarrassing Sangeeta.’ Manish agreed.

  Amit got up and walked towards Hari’s cabin. Karen was there working on her PC.