Devil in Pinstripes

by Ravi Subramanian

  Three days later, early on a Sunday morning, his phone rang. It was his mother calling from Jamshedpur. ‘Amit, what is this?’ She sounded worried.

  ‘Why maa, what happened?’ he was trying to shake off the last traces of sleep.

  ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Chanda’s mother told me about your move.’

  ‘Yes. I will soon be moving into my new role.’

  ‘We are all concerned beta.’

  ‘Concerned about what maa?’

  ‘It’s a very dirty line son. Too much of maar-dhaad. The police also gets involved at times.’

  ‘Maa, it all depends on how you manage.’

  ‘Bauji was telling me that the general environment is also bad. Why do you want to get into something like this and that too at this time?’

  ‘Don’t worry maa. It’s a good job.’

  ‘Don’t you think you should also consult bauji? Your father had always advised you on what is good for you.’

  ‘I will speak with him and tell him why I accepted it. I am sure he will be happy. I’ll be fine, maa.’ Saying this, he hung up.

  21 June 2004

  The BIG Change

  Mumbai

  The dinner that night with Aditya was very noisy. Aditya had picked Out of the Blues because it was next door to his place. It suited Amit too, because it was in his neighbourhood too. In a city like Mumbai, distances can become pretty daunting especially if you have to travel during peak hours.

  Aditya was dressed casually in a Ted Lapidus jeans and an Armani T-shirt. Had Amit worn the same shirt, it would have looked like a fake, but on Aditya, it looked more expensive than an original. Amit had come straight from office and hadn’t changed. He was in the normal office attire, though the tie had come off.

  Amit was in fact waiting outside when Aditya came in. The driver stopped the BMW Convertible right outside the gates of the restaurant. Aditya looked out of the sexy machine and seeing Amit, got down, turned to his driver and said, ‘I will come back on my own. You can go home.’

  As they were walking in, Aditya bent down. He was a couple of inches taller than Amit, and whispered, ‘We have company.’

  ‘Where? Who?’ Amit was taken in by surprise.

  ‘Eleven ‘O clock. Last table.’

  Amit immediately turned and looked in that direction. Sitting in that corner, very much like a couple in love, were two of his colleagues – Gowri and Sangeeta.

  ‘Probably they decided to celebrate their success together,’ said Aditya as he picked a table in the other end of the room. ‘I don’t want to disturb them, nor do I want them to disturb us.’ The restaurant was dimly lit and it was unlikely that they would be seen from the other end.

  After they settled down and ordered their drinks, Aditya began his story. ‘Look Amit, what I am going to say is classified information. Extremely confidential. I would want you to keep it just to yourself. If I get to know that the word has gotten out, I know the source. It has to be either you or me. And if it ain’t me, God help you.’

  ‘Sir, happy hours will end in five minutes. Do you want to order any more drinks?’ A waiter interrupted their conversation.

  Aditya looked at him and said, ‘Whatever we just ordered, make it two of them and give us our free drinks please.’ This request left Amit wondering if the lure of a free drink existed at every level.

  ‘I know when I announced Gowri’s move you were extremely upset with me. I was looking at your face and saw it go red with anger. I would be lying if I say that I didn’t expect it.’

  ‘Anyone would, Aditya.’

  ‘I know. However, I had expected that given our relationship you would give me the benefit of doubt. Maybe I had a thought behind it.’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Then when I saw your message, I realised I had to speak with you.’

  ‘Thanks Aditya. When I saw your response, I did feel relieved.’

  ‘That was the intent.’

  Amit just smiled in return.

  ‘There has been a larger realignment in the entire bank globally. The move of the NBFC and other subsidiary companies into my span of control is only one of the changes.’

  Amit just nodded.

  ‘I could very easily have given Hari’s role to you. I even know that you would have done this brilliantly and made me proud. I always did and still have that faith in you. But remember, our association is a long one. I have to worry about you not for the next one or two years, but for the rest of your career. We have to go a long way together. I will never compromise you for any short-term gains.’ If only Natasha had been around, she would have choked. She never believed Aditya when he gave this line to anyone. She was sure that he faked concern. But to Amit that night, it seemed for real.

  ‘Everyone knows that Gowri has complete control on the branch managers and key people in NFS. It’s not classified information.’

  Amit just nodded.

  ‘We had to release Hari and that too very quickly, because he was getting a wonderful opportunity and you know I don’t stand in the way of career growth, even if it comes at my expense.’

  ‘Ya Aditya.’ Could he have said no?

  ‘The options in front of us were either Gowri or you. It had to be one of you and no one else. Do you agree?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What would have happened had we given it to you? Gowri would have quit.’ Aditya looked at Amit and then added, as if an afterthought, ‘Well, probably quit, though it is also highly possible that he would have stayed back and created problems for you. More importantly, he has built this team. The people are his. The team is his. If he goes, they will also go. And without people there is no business. It would have been too much of a risk for the organisation to take. We do not have a choice but to tolerate that asshole for some more time.’

  ‘I understand that complication Aditya. But what happens to me? I need to worry about my career too.’

  ‘I am there. You need to trust me and understand that I will do what is good for you. I have never let you down even a single time. What makes you think I will now?’

  Amit just nodded. He was not even looking at Aditya. His gaze was wandering around some insignificant corner at the other end of the hall. ‘I know you do not believe me now. But when you hear what I am going to say next, you will definitely agree with what I am saying.’

  ‘Are you with me?’ Aditya sensed that Amit was not completely in sync with him. He seemed to be in a world of his own. Aditya jolted him back into the conversation.

  Forty-five minutes, eight pegs and quite a few stares from the people on the sane side later, both of them managed to barely stumble through the door of Out of the Blues and wobbled their way towards Carter Road. A Honda Accord drove past them and stopped a few feet ahead.

  ‘I got to go,’ said Aditya as they approached the Honda Accord.

  Both of them walked up to the front seat on the passenger side. Amit opened the door and held it for Aditya. Aditya managed to somehow fit himself into the seat. While his hands were trying to grab hold of the seat belt and then miserably attempted to strap it across his chest, Amit peeped in.

  ‘Hi.’ It was a familiar voice and a familiar face too.

  ‘Hi,’ said Amit and the door shut. The car drove off.

  ‘What was he doing in the car? How come he picked up Aditya? Does he know? Probably he would. Aditya was a deal maker. Otherwise he wouldn’t be there,’ thought Amit. Things were happening too fast for him. ‘That’s the way he is,’ he muttered to himself as he walked back home.

  Chanda was not too pleased when she heard about the discussion at Out of the Blues. But this was a part of a wider game plan. Unlike Amit, she did not have blind faith in Aditya. ‘Women are more suspicious,’ Amit would often say whenever she expressed her doubts about Aditya. That aside, he knew that Chanda was the staunchest supporter of Aditya at one point in time. However, the recent turn of events had probabl
y made her more bitter.

  Late that night, Chanda called her mother in Jamshedpur and they had a long conversation on Amit and Chanda’s plans. Amit was not too happy about the immediate relay to Jamshedpur, but over the years, experience had taught him that it was not too safe to poke his nose into a daughter’s relationship with her mother.

  The excitement levels in office the next day were out of the world. Gowri’s room resembled a rose garden. Almost every branch in the country had sent him a bouquet of flowers. And he loved it. Getting an ego massage always made him feel good. This was the only chink in his armour that was publicly visible. He was vulnerable to people who knew how to exploit this fissure.

  When Amit arrived in office he had to literally watch his step. He tip-toed his way through a sea of flowers, trying not to crush any of them under his huge shoes, and then jumped into his cabin.

  Sangeeta was standing at Gowri’s cabin door. ‘Gowri, I did not know you were so popular. Look at the number of flowers.’ It was clearly aimed at making him bloat with pride. ‘No. No Sango. I am what I am because of all of you.’

  ‘Sick!’ muttered Amit under his breath as he turned towards his laptop, trying to answer a few mails which had come in.

  The announcement was to come in that day. They were headed into a weekend and if it missed today, it would get released only on Monday. Amit didn’t mind it coming on a Monday though.

  Chanda was waiting to see everyone else’s reaction. There were quite a few from Sangeeta’s camp, even Sangeeta herself who had once walked up to her to ask what would happen to Amit. The gossip around was that Gowri would soon get after Amit and make life miserable for him. In response, Chanda stoically maintained that Amit would continue doing his current role.

  And then the message came. It was an email announcement from Singapore, the regional office of NYB. It said:

  Consequent to the Global Retail Bank conference and the focus the organisation is affixing to the growth of the Loans business (credit cards, personal loans, home loans and consumer finance), I am happy to announce the following organisational changes. This is in line with recommended global changes and will be taken forward with immediate effect.

  At NFS the Credit and Collections function currently reports to the Managing Director. However, given the focus on the growth in our Loans business, it is imperative that we ensure this function is not biased by business pressures and hence it has been decided to spin it off into an independent vertical. Going forward, the Head of Credit and Collections for NFS will report to the Country Risk Manager of New York International Banking Group in the country, and not to the MD of NFS. This will ensure that we do not compromise on the quality of the loans that we write even as we look to aggressively grow our loans business.

  A credit centre of excellence is being set up in Singapore for the entire group in Asia Pacific. Manish Kakkar, Credit Director NFS, is being challenged with the task of setting up this unit. This is a challenging assignment and I wish him all the very best as his endeavour.

  His position in NFS India is being taken up by Amit Sharma, the current head of Mortgages business. Amit is a seasoned resource with widespread experience in the loans business.

  Manish Kakkar will report to me and Amit Sharma to Uma Shelar (India Head of Credit and Risk – NYB) in their new roles. They will be announcing their individual organisation structures in due course.

  Gordon Greene Aditya Bhatnagar

  Asia-Pac Head of Credit CEO – India

  It was a defining moment in the history of NFS in India. Credit and collections which was being managed by Manish Kakkar was being spun off as a separate unit and was to report to Uma Shelar who was the head of credit and collections for the New York International Banking Group in India. And Amit Sharma was moving into Manish’s role.

  Amit saw the global announcement. It was forwarded to all of them by Aditya, with a small message saying, please join me in congratulating Manish and Amit in their new roles. His lips curved upwards in a smile. ‘Aditya is an amazing manipulator. Manages to pull off almost whatever he wants to,’ he said to himself.

  The message meant a lot to him. First and foremost, he was moving into a new role which did not require him to report into Gowri. Secondly, it put him in a position of strength with regard to Gowri. And lastly, Gowri had no clue about this change. Amit’s mind started imagining the expression on Gowri’s face when he would read this message . . . priceless is the word! He so wanted to be in front of him and capture that expression forever. He came out of his room. From the passage outside his room, he could clearly see Gowri’s cabin.

  Gowri saw him, and called out to Suzanna. ‘Please ask Amit to see me.’ Amit was sure he hadn’t seen the message yet.

  Amit walked up to him, even before Suzanna could call him. He had heard the instruction which was given to Suzanna.

  ‘Ya Gowri?’

  ‘Amit, I needed to speak to you on an interesting proposition. This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, but I have not been able to because of Hari. I think there is merit in formally putting all branch businesses, i.e. personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, etc., under one individual who will be the branch network head. Today, in any case, the branch managers support all the other businesses, but after you have come in, they don’t really get the credit for their contribution to other businesses. They are not as involved as they used to be. And in the process, business is suffering. I know you are not really in favour of this, but I am a strong advocate of single accountability. The business managers can then focus on managing the product and the brand. What do you say?’

  Aaah, so that’s the plan. The bastard wanted to formally club the entire sales in the company under his sweetheart Sangeeta and marginalise everyone including Amit. He couldn’t make out if he was serious about it, but he knew for sure that he was making an attempt to spite him. ‘I am going to play along,’ he said to himself.

  ‘I think it is a great idea.’

  ‘Do you?’ Gowri looked up with eyes that disclosed wonder and surprise. He never thought that he could get his kill so easily. ‘Your view was quite divergent earlier,’ said Gowri, more as a question than a statement.

  ‘I know, but I’ve changed my mind now. Better sense has prevailed and I think it will be a good idea. It will bring in greater synergies between businesses. And more importantly, if you strongly feel so, it should be done. It will be good for the organisation if the new CEO gets the structure he wants. Don’t you think so?’

  ‘Oh, yeah yeah. You’re spot on,’ said Gowri with his infamous American accent. He had this disgusting habit and it usually came on when Gowri was not too sure about what is happening. Despite Gowri being so sharp, the sly fox somehow failed to recognise the sarcasm in Amit’s voice.

  ‘If you want I can draw up the new structure and give it to you. You can refine it with your thoughts and then we can see how it goes.’ Gowri looked at him. He had a look of disbelief on his face.

  Slowly he nodded his head and moved away from his laptop. ‘I would love that.’

  At that very moment Hari walked in. It was his last week in office in India and he was moving out of the country to his next assignment early next week. He looked at Gowri and a smile appeared on his face. ‘Hey buddy! Congrats man!’

  Hari gave a strong handshake and hug to Amit. Gowri had a bewildered look on his face, wondering why this guy was congratulating Amit. He stood up from his chair. What’s going on? He had no clue. Seeing Gowri’s puzzled expressions, Hari figured out that Gowri did not know about it. ‘Haven’t you seen your mail box? Please read and then congratulate this man here.’

  ‘What for?’ he thought to himself. Anxiety was gripping him by his jugular vein as a voice inside him was saying that something is just not right. He frantically signed in and began searching for the mail. It is usually at such moments when you really want something that very second, that the computer tries all its tricks with you. Gowri’s computer was no differe
nt. Three minutes of slow internet connection and two minutes of the computer hanging later, he finally found the mail. ‘There it is,’ he whispered as he opened it. Amit wanted to be in front of him to see his first hand reaction and thanks to Hari, his dream was just about to come true. According to Amit’s over-imaginative brain cells, Gowri’s eyes popped out like Bugs Bunny, and his jaw dropped down on the floor while he went through the mail.

  He turned around to face Amit. The look on his face belied his thoughts. ‘Congrats’ through gritted teeth was all that he could manage to say.

  ‘Thanks Gowri. Do you still want me to come up with the changed organisation structure? I can still do it for old time’s sake.’ This time, the sarcasm didn’t miss Gowri. He didn’t like what he saw and heard. Gowri was looking forward to pinning Amit on the mat, but the guy had escaped from his clutches.

  Satisfied to the core of his heart, Amit came out of the room. He picked up his phone and sent two messages. The first one was to Chanda. Chanda saw it and smiled. It said: ‘Love you’. The second was to Aditya: ‘Thanks Aditya for being what you are. I know I should not have doubted you. Apologies. I am human too. Thanks for all that you have done for me.’

  With a spring in his step, Amit walked back into his room, closed the door and crashed into his comfortable plush leather chair. Rocking backward and forward, Amit’s mind started reflecting on all that had happened in the last few years at NFS. Life is a big leveller. You win some battles, you lose some. As long as you win more than you lose, you are doing okay.

  His thoughts went back to the night at Out of the Blues with Aditya . . . the moment when Aditya told him about the proposed change. He was not very gung-ho about this till Aditya told him it was to be an independent function that did not require him to be reporting to the MD of NFS. That had swung it for him.