Read Devil in Pinstripes Online
Authors: Ravi Subramanian
Devil in Pinstripes (20 page)
‘Sure Aditya. Competition better watch out for this crack team,’ he said jokingly.
After a brief and extremely courteous conversation, Amit walked out of the room. Gowri was left wondering the reason behind this sudden shift in Amit’s approach. ‘Maybe he’s now realised that he cannot fuck around with me.’ A brief moment of silence later, he muttered to himself, ‘For all that he has done so far . . . it’s payback time!’
It had been extremely difficult for Amit to put up a friendly façade in front of the entire team. It hurt his self-esteem, his pride, and his strong sense of self-belief. Reporting to Gowri was not something which he would have ideally liked to do. However, in light of Aditya’s message, there was some sense of relief in a corner of his mind. Aditya would normally not have sent out such a message.
Chanda, a bit perplexed at his reaction to the news of Gowri’s elevation, came up to the corporate floor to see if everything was okay. From a distance, she saw Amit smiling and talking to a few of their colleagues. She felt relieved. The stress signs on his face had disappeared. The look on his face was a relaxed one. She couldn’t possibly guess what had brought about this change. He saw her looking at him and smiled at her. She smiled back. Something felt really good and Chanda realised that this feeling had been missing since a very long time. The romance which had kind of disappeared seemed to be lingering somewhere in the corner of their eyes. She walked back to her desk, a load off her chest. Amit had reacted in a manner which she could never have expected him to.
The discussion between Aditya, Hari and Gowri, ended with a cake cutting ceremony. The team outside, spearheaded by Sangeeta, had ordered a cake for Gowri. It had, ‘Gowri, You are a born leader’ iced over it. Gowri’s chest swelled up a couple of inches when he saw that. He was proud of his achievement and modesty was something he had never heard of.
Even as the cake was being cut, Aditya nudged his way through the excited staff members and stood right behind Amit. Amit didn’t know of it till he actually felt someone’s breath on his ears. Startled for a moment, he looked back. ‘It’s me idiot. I am always behind you. Remember that. See me for dinner at 9.30. Out of the Blues, Carter Road, Bandra. If you feel like it, get Chanda along. Else it is fine.’
And then he looked the other way and began to clap again joining the chorus. He left soon after.
‘Gowri is calling you.’ Suzanna came to Amit soon after Aditya left.
‘I will be there in a while,’ said Amit while intently gazing at the computer screen.
‘He wants to see you now. Says it is urgent,’ Suzanna almost immediately came back to bug him.
‘Okay. Coming.’ Saying this and giving a sigh alongside, Amit got up and walked back with her.
‘Come Amit. Take a seat.’ Wow! Already behaving like a CEO. ‘Maybe he wants to make conciliatory overtures,’ thought Amit to himself.
‘Thanks!’
‘So what do you think?’
‘About what Gowri?’
‘Do you think you will be able to work with me?’ Gowri was fairly direct. He was staring directly into Amit’s eyes. His tone and expressions seemed like throwing a challenge rather than asking a question.
‘Why not?’
‘I thought you didn’t want to . . .’
‘Says who?’
‘So, you are fine with it?’
‘Yes, of course. I am a professional guy and if my organisation demands that I work with you, I will.’
‘Look Amit, there have been problems in the past. And this has been the issue with you guys from the bank. You think everybody except you bankers are idiots. If you want to work with me, you will have to visibly change that approach. I am a guy who does not like insubordination. If I ask for something, I am not particularly democratic in my approach, and you know that.’
‘Ya Gowri,’ he said, while in his mind he felt ‘once a dog, always a dog’.
‘When I had conflicts with you Gowri, you were a peer. Now you are the boss. So things will happen, the way you want them to.’ It was very difficult for Amit to say these things with a straight face. He, however, did manage that.
‘They better be that way my friend. I will ask Suzanna to fix weekly update meetings with you and Sangeeta. I want her here too, because she will formally take over as network head after me.’
‘Sangeeta as network head?’
‘Yes, she is the only one who has the credentials. There is no one more qualified than her.’
‘Sure. She is a brilliant lady.’ Amit was beginning to feel nauseated.
‘Thanks. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.’
Amit got up and walked out of the room. ‘And by the way,’ Gowri called him back, ‘Chanda would now report to Sangeeta. I will tell her. Thought I would let you know too.’ Amit cringed when he heard this. Chanda’s dislike of Sangeeta was legendary and so was the reverse equation. He just nodded and left.
Back in the safe confines of his room, he was pissing mad. He did not like the way Gowri had spoken to him. Almost bordering on condescending. ‘What does he think of himself?’ Had it not been for Aditya he would have put in his papers. He dialled Chanda. ‘I am going home. Will you come now or later?’
Chanda looked at the watch. It was only 4.30 p.m. ‘It’s fine. You go ahead. I will come by auto rickshaw.’
‘Just thought I would let you know that your current boss and my next boss told me that you would be reporting to Sangeeta, the new branch network head.’
‘Oh wow! The beginning of my end, is it?’ and she let out a chuckle. ‘I will wait for it to be announced.’
Amit went back home early. He was very dismayed by the way things had shaped up during the day. In the morning, when he had left for the de-briefing session which Aditya had called for, he did not expect this change to happen. Now it had left him high and dry. His only hope was Aditya. Why did he call him for dinner? He decided to wait and watch. Internally, he had set himself a deadline of forty-five days. He would endure Gowri and his sadomasochistic attitude for the next six weeks. If nothing happens during that phase, he would quit. That was his game plan as he went into the meeting with Aditya.
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.
The BIG Change
Mumbai
T
he 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 probably 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.