If God Was A Banker (12 page)

Sundeep followed them to the door to see them off. It was only half past five and since he was not going to step out of the room, he didn't feel it necessary to wear anything.

'See you soon, sir. You were great,' said Linda and walked out into the corridor with Reshma. Sundeep's ego swelled and he blew them a kiss. They turned and blew a kiss back at him.

As the two women were leaving, someone walked past Sundeep's room. While they were giggling and blowing kisses at Sundeep, who was standing nude at the door, this individual looked back in exasperation. He saw the two giggly women and beyond them, a naked Sundeep peeping out from behind the door. His heart sank. A few wrinkles of concern appeared on his forehead for an instant. He just turned and walked away without saying anything.

Sundeep saw him and froze. He couldn't move. It was as if he was paralysed. Standing there in the corridor beyond the two raunch queens was someone whom Sundeep in his wildest of dreams wouldn't have imagined to be there. The door hardly did anything to conceal Sundeep's nudity. He stood there completely exposed. As he shut the door, he could see that he was shivering. The AC in the room showed twenty-four degrees.

Sundeep was booked on the 1.00 p.m. Jet Airways flight from Calcutta to Mumbai. He was initially scheduled to go back the previous night, but when Naresh told him about Linda, he had decided to stay back.

When he stepped into the flight, there was only one other passenger in Business Class. Being an afternoon flight, it was fairly light. When the captain announced for the doors to be armed for takeoff, there were still only two passengers. Sundeep was a worried man. He kept looking nervously at the other passenger from the corner of his eyes. But that guy was only interested in the scenery outside.

Sundeep waited for a few minutes after take off, but couldn't bear it any longer. He unbuckled his seat belt and walked up to the other passenger, who had his eyes trained on a fixed spot on the window. He stood there for a moment, but the other guy didn't even look at him. Sundeep placed his hand on the other man's shoulder.

'How long has this being going on?' asked Swami without even bothering to look at Sundeep.

'Three months.'

There was a prolonged silence at Swami's end.

'What are you going to do now?' asked a worried Sundeep. There was not a trace of guilt on his face. He just didn't want to be exposed, that's all.

'The easiest thing for me to do is to tell Natasha. But I won't. Not because you are my friend and I want to protect you, but because Kalpana and I adore her. She will be shattered if we tell her about this, particularly after what she has gone through.' Sundeep didn't understand the last bit. Swami was referring to the problems Natasha had had with Suneel Dutt. Sundeep just nodded.

'I will not tell Natasha anything. Relax, Sundeep. But I need to know the complete story.' Swami wanted to get to the bottom of this.

Swami could never have imagined this side of Sundeep's character. That morning Swami had set out for an early morning walk, when he became an inadvertent witness to Sundeep's escapades. How he wished that he hadn't seen that. But can you rewind your life? He thought about Natasha. What did she do to deserve this? She was such a sweetheart. She had already gone through so much trauma and, on top of that, if she got to know of this, she would surely be shattered. He will not tell Natasha anything about what he saw. Not even to Kalpana, he promised himself.

'I want the complete story, Sundeep. No short cuts.'

Sundeep told him the story, from the time Suneel asked him to meet Naresh, to his escapades with his secretaries, and the call centre deal. Swami was appalled. How could someone like Sundeep fall a prey to all this?

Sundeep hadn't told him about the financial benefits accruing to him. Swami didn't need to know.

'Sundeep, I will not tell Natasha, but under one condition.'

Sundeep nodded. Anything was acceptable to him to prevent his exposure.

'All this has to stop from this very instant. If I get to hear anything like this again, I will leave no stone unturned to get you completely exposed, despite you being my friend.'

'Trust me, Swami,' said Sundeep, trying to suppress his glee. He had succeeded in managing Swami. Not for a second was Sundeep ashamed of what he had done.

'And you will be loyal to Natasha throughout your life.'

'Hmm.' Sundeep nodded his acceptance.

'This congestion at the Mumbai airport in mid-afternoon is utter madness. I will have to tolerate Swami's sermon for at least another fifteen minutes,' thought Sundeep after the pilot announced that they were twelfth in the landing sequence.

Finally, when they landed and came out of the airport, Swami warned Sundeep for one last time and walked out to a waiting car. Back at home, Kalpana wondered what had gone wrong. Why did Swami come back so soon? This was not normal.

'Swami. What happened?' she asked him the moment she saw him at the door.

'Nothing. I was just feeling a bit unwell.' The moment Swami said this, Kalpana knew that he was lying. She did not push him because she trusted him and knew that he would not hide anything important from her.

That morning a desperate Sundeep had tried to call Naresh from his hotel room. Naresh was not at home. He had, in fact, not returned the previous night. In those days, there were no mobile phones and so Sundeep had no means of getting in touch with him.

Naresh called back in the evening, after over a dozen calls from Sundeep.

'What happened,' asked Naresh, 'you don't sound too good.' He knew, from the number of messages he had got, that something was not right.

When Sundeep told him about the incident, Naresh laughed it away. 'Is that all? You should have sounded off Reshma. She would have managed Swami on the spot. You are selfish, Sundeep. If I was you, I would have sent either Linda or Reshma to him.
Mil baant ke khaana chahiye.'
Naresh was telling him that he should have sent one of the sirens to Swami to buy his silence.

'No Ram. You don't know Swami.
Gandhi ka chela hai.
If there was a competition for the guy who is closest to Mahatma Gandhi, Swami will beat the Mahatma himself hands down.'

'There's not a guy in this bank who I can't manage,' boasted Naresh. 'Linda and Reshma are wonderful my friend.'

'You haven't dealt with Swami yet.'

'Are you worried?'

'I am not worried about today. I have somehow managed it. The concern is that he will be a constant nuisance from now on. He will always be on my trail. He and his wife are both very close to Natasha.'

'T
oh uska koi jugad kar dete hai. Tu shanti rakh.'
Naresh promised to find a way to deal with Swami.

'Don't harm him. Just get him out of our way,' said Sundeep and hung up.

Naresh didn't like bankers that didn't toe his line. This was not the first time. He had dealt successfully with a lot of bankers like Swami in the past. Just as he had made people's careers at New York International Bank, he had also screwed up careers of those who didn't fall in line.

Swami was about to witness the power of Naresh.

A
couple of weeks later Swami and Kalpana went off for their annual vacation. A long awaited vacation for both of them. Kalpana had invited Sundeep and Natasha to join them, but Sundeep declined, stating some pressing work issues and reviews with Suneel. Swami suspected that Naresh was behind this, but didn't say a word.

Swami and Kalpana took a KLM flight via Amsterdam to reach Barcelona. They went on a weeklong cruise from Barcelona. The cruise took them deep into the Mediterranean. They visited the islands of Palma de Majorca, and Corsica. Corsica was the island where Napoleon de Bonaparte was born.

This was their first vacation after their honeymoon in Kodai. Kalpana had pestered Swami till he gave her the dates and the budget for the vacation. She had organised it entirely on her own.

Swami had taken an overseas vacation for the first time and was very excited about it. By the time the cruise docked back in Barcelona after a week, it had transported the couple into a very different world that they didn't want to come back from.

When the flight from Amsterdam landed in Mumbai at 2.00 a.m., they didn't feel like getting off the aircraft. The moment they set their foot back on Mumbai soil, it would signal the end of their vacation. Kalpana knew that the next vacation would have to wait for at least another eighteen months. They dragged themselves out of the aircraft and came back home, collecting their luggage on the way out.

The next morning Kalpana called Natasha to tell her all about the trip.

'I wish I had gone with you folks. Anyway, Sundeep was in Calcutta all the while,' said Natasha. Then she asked for Swami.

'Swami, Roger was trying to get in touch with you. I told him that you were holidaying in Europe. He has asked you to call him the moment you get back.' Roger, an expat, was Swami's immediate supervisor.

'Anything urgent?' asked Swami.

'Nothing that I am aware of. I asked the others in your team and they too didn't know. But no less than four times last week has Roger asked me to remind you,' said Natasha.

'Should I call him today?' It was a Sunday.

'I think it can wait till tomorrow morning. Just be prepared then. My intention was not to make you nervous. I just wanted to let you know.'

'Thanks Natasha. How is Sundeep?'

'He is still sleeping like a log.'

'OK. I will let him be. Let's chat tomorrow morning in office,' said Swami and hung up. He was wondering what the issue could be?

M
onday morning, Swami was in office very early. His first day at work after three weeks. More than four hundred unread mails had piled up in his mailbox.

He was wondering why Roger so desperately wanted to meet him. By the time everyone got into office, he had read each and every mail, but except for a mail from Rogers asking him to come and see him whenever he returns from vacation, there was nothing in the mails to suggest any cause for concern.

Rogers normally came in at around ten. Natasha told Swami at around eleven that Roger wanted to see him. Swami accompanied her back to Roger's cabin.

The meeting with Roger lasted over an hour and half. Natasha could see the proceedings from her workstation, through the glass partition that separated her from Roger's room. However, she couldn't hear anything as Roger's cabin was sound-proof and the door was shut. But she could see that Roger did most of the talking. Swami was mostly sitting quiet, rarely opening his mouth. 'What's going on?' she wondered.

Two rounds of coffee were sent in. After the first two calls that she transferred to Roger, she was asked to put all calls on hold. There was no doubt now that the discussion going on inside was extremely serious. 'Has Swami screwed up something very badly? Is he going to lose his job?' Natasha began worrying for swami.

After about ninety minutes, a beaming Swami emerged from Roger's room.

'What happened?' Natasha whispered. She did not want Roger to think that she was indulging in gossip with his direct reports.

'Later.' Swami kept up the suspense.

'Should I walk up with you to your desk?'

'No. No. Later, Natasha. Actually, what are you and Sundeep doing this evening? Why don't you guys have dinner at home with us? We will talk about it at home,' said Swami, and without waiting for a response, walked away.

Natasha did not get a chance to speak with Swami the whole day.

The doorbell at Kalpana's home rang at 8.40 p.m. She opened the door to find Natasha and Sundeep. 'What a surprise?' she said, and made way for them to come in.

Natasha and Sundeep looked at each other. 'Hasn't Swami told you? He was the one who called us home for dinner.' An embarrassed Kalpana looked at them blankly. She was, however, glad that they had come. She led them to the living room and made them comfortable.

'How was the cruise, madam?' asked Sundeep. 'Will we at least get to see some photographs?'

Kalpana smiled and pulled out the photographs, which had just come in from the studio. She was showing it to them when Swami walked in.

'Look who's here!' said Natasha. She was the first to spot Swami walking in.

He handed over a large packet to Kalpana. He had picked up some food from a Chinese restaurant. He knew that both Kalpana and Natasha liked Chinese food.

'Sorry folks, I just picked up some food on the way and that delayed me. Else I would have been here before you .'

'You should at least have told me that Natasha is coming over for dinner,' Kalpana complained.

'Will you now tell us what you have called us here for?' Sundeep was extremely curious. He hadn't spoken much to Swami after they met on that Calcutta to Mumbai flight. Despite the strain in the relationship, they had to put up a pretence for their wives.

'Wait, Sundeep. Let me first settle down,' said Swami, as he excused himself to freshen up and change. He came back in five minutes and sat down on a sofa next to where Sundeep was sitting. Everyone was looking at Swami, hoping he would say something. Swami was very amused. 'What?' he asked, looking at everyone.

Natasha looked at Sundeep. 'Come, let's go home.' She got up, pretending to be annoyed. Sundeep pulled her down.

'Ever heard of ITDP?' asked Swami, looking at all three of them, one by one.

'No?' the two women said in unison. Their eyes were focused on Swami.

'No?' asked Swami, pretending to be surprised.

'What the hell, No!' said Sundeep and the other two women nodded.

'International Talent Discovery Programme, idiots.'

'What about it?' asked Natasha. Kalpana couldn't figure out what was going on.

'Wait a minute,' said Sundeep. 'You called us here to tell us that you have been nominated for the International Talent Discovery Programme, haven't you?'

Swami just smiled. Kalpana was thrilled. When she heard this, she was walking in with water for everyone and the tray nearly fell out of her hand. Sundeep's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't forgotten the past. How much he hated Swami for having married Kalpana. It was too late anyway.