If God Was A Banker (15 page)

He was listening to South Indian Carnatic music on his car stereo, when his mobile rang again. This time it was Kalpana. He intuitively realised that something was wrong. He pulled his car to a side and answered the phone.

'Swami, where are you?'

'I am on my way back. I will be home in five minutes. Why? What happened?'

'No, it's OK. Just wanted to check if I should lay out the table for dinner.' But she couldn't hide the shiver in her voice. Swami was beginning to get nervous.

'Kalpana,' he asked firmly, 'What is it?'

'Nothing, Swami. Come back quickly.' That's all she said and hung up.

Swami rushed home and found Kalpana waiting at the door for him. The moment she saw him, she hugged him and started weeping. 'What happened Kalpana? Tell me?' Swami was really worried now.

'Amma called. She was trying to reach you.'

'So it was her. The number didn't flash on the mobile screen and I was driving. I didn't pick it up. What happened? For god's sake, tell me quickly, Kalpana.'

'Ambujam's bus met with an accident on Old Mahabalipuram road. She is in the ICU at Apollo Hospital. Amma told me that her ribs have cracked and punctured her lungs. She is under observation for the next forty-eight hours. Doctors say that she is not out of danger yet. And...'

'And what Kalpana?'

'She has a skull fracture and is in coma.'

This made Swami very nervous.

'Amma is worried. She doesn't know what to do. She is all alone there.'

'Oh my God! What do we do now?' Swami was extremely upset that despite having everything in life he was not with his mother when she needed him most. Success is meaningless if you can't take care of your near and dear ones. And poor Ambu, the frail sister of Swami. How could she take all this? Poor thing couldn't even stand the prick of an injection.

He called his mother and spoke to her for over thirty minutes. Since his mother was in the hospital, he also got to speak to the doctor. The doctor was hopeful of Ambujam coming out of coma, but the conversation was not entirely reassuring.

He kept the phone down and looked at Kalpana. 'Let's pack our bags and leave. We'll take the first flight out to Chennai.'

He picked up the phone again and dialled a number.

'Hello.'

'Aditya, this is Swami.' When Swami kept the phone down fifteen minutes later, he had made all arrangements for someone to reach his mother to provide moral support till he landed back in India.

Forty-eight hours later Swami and Kalpana landed at the Kamraj International Airport in Chennai and headed straight to the Apollo hospital. Swami's mother hugged Kalpana and started weeping like a child. Kalpana consoled her, but she kept crying till the tears dried out.

Ambu was shifted out of the ICU into a private ward and after three weeks she was back at home. Though her movements were severely restricted, she was lucky to be alive. Doctors had said that it would be a good six months before she became completely normal.

T
his episode had come as a wake up call for Swami. On their first night back in India, Kalpana and Swami had talked till the wee hours of the morning. Weird that the discussion should last six hours when they shared the same point of view. They had firmly made up their mind by the time they finally went to sleep.

Swami waited for two-and-a-half weeks after they had landed in Chennai for his mother and Ambu to settle down back at home. Once that objective was achieved, it was time to act on what he had decided with Kalpana.

Swami took an early morning flight to Mumbai. Within the next couple of hours, he was standing outside Kailash's office.

'Oh, what a surprise! Swami, it's great to see you in India.' Swami's sombre smile told him that all was not well.

'Come on in. How come you are in Mumbai? Are you on a holiday?'

'I need to move back to India.' This statement from Swami made Kailash sit up and take notice.

'Swami, I was under the impression that you did not want to come back.'

Swami narrated the entire story to Kailash, including the six-hour discussion between him and Kalpana on their first night back in India. He told him firmly but politely that if NYB was not able to accommodate him in India, he would be happy to quit and find another job here.

He repeated all this over the phone to his boss in New York. Kailash asked Swami to come back and see him the next day.

Swami stayed over with Aditya for the night. Both of them were meeting after a long time and had lots to catch up on. They had been in constant touch over the phone but hadn't seen each other in a while.

The next morning, Swami was ushered into Kailash's cabin. Kailash was waiting for him. He signalled to Swami and pointed to the sofa in one corner. 'Hold all calls,' he told his secretary as he joined Swami on the sofa.

'Swami, I spoke with Tony Lewis in New York this morning and I have his concurrence to offer you the position of Head Distribution for NYB in India. This job is at a Senior Vice President level. While I do not have the exact salary details, I can assure you that you will get a good package.'

Swami knew what it meant. He had worked long enough in NYB to know what Head Distribution meant.

'Thank you, Kailash. You have no idea how much this means to me. I don't even want to talk to you on salary and other details.'

'I have not finished yet.'

Swami didn't understand.

'I have also been authorised to tell you that Global HR has requested for Kalpana to be accommodated in the HR unit in India. They made this request when Tony and I got on to a conference with HR to clinch your request. I am happy to give her the task of setting up and running the Global Compliance Hotline in India.'

Swami thanked Kailash profusely. For the first time he realised how much a positive reputation helps in an organisation. He had now come full circle. He went overseas for a global career, did very well, made his money, and now he was back to where his roots were.

All this while Sundeep was in London, firmly in saddle as head of the NRI business. For the first time in ten years, Swami and Sundeep were back reporting to the same boss. In direct professional conflict with each other. The last time round, Aditya was their boss. Now it was Kailash.

T
wo weeks later, Swami joined the Indian operations of NYB as the new Distribution Head. Swami's unit in the US was very supportive of his move and didn't even insist that he come back to New York to give a handover to his replacement. Kalpana too joined on the same day. She had decided to first complete her joining formalities and later take a month off to head to the US for winding down her house there and moving their personal effects back to India.

Swami was happy to be back in the country. Kailash had met him in the same room that Aditya used when he was Head of Retail Banking. The look hadn't changed much. The painting on the wall was in the same position, the table was where it used to be ten years ago. The only change was the absence of Aditya and Natasha.

Swami and Sundeep had occasionally kept in touch through Natasha and Kalpana who were still very good friends. They spoke to each other almost every week.

Kailash introduced Swami to his team of Business Managers: Akshay Bhalla for home loans, Vivek J for personal loans, and Anindyo Roy for auto loans. All the three had worked with Sundeep. They had heard about Swami, but had never worked with him.

The same night, Kailash organised a dinner at his house that was attended by Swami, Kalpana, Swami's direct reports, and a few other seniors from the bank. Kailash had mentioned a time of 8.00 p.m. in the invite.

Swami reached on time with Kalpana and was surprised to find that they were the only ones to have arrived.

'Saab upar hain. Abhi bulati hoon,'
said the maid who opened the door, and went upstairs to call Kailash and his wife.

Swami and Kalpana made themselves comfortable in the living room. The maid came back with two glasses of water. 'Saab is getting ready, he will be down in ten minutes,' she said and disappeared.

The doorbell rang again. The maid reappeared and walked towards the door to open it.

The door opened and a short, slim, long-haired guy walked in with a cigarette in his hand. He looked at Swami and Kalpana and stopped in his tracks. A smile lit up Kalpana's face. Swami stood up from his chair, a smile on his lips.

'Sundeep, what a surprise!' exclaimed Kalpana and gave him a hug.

'Long time. Good to see you. Where is Natasha?' asked Swami.

'Hey folks. How come you are here? I was not expecting to see you guys here.' Sundeep was also pleased to see Kalpana, but couldn't have said the same thing about Swami. Still he went and hugged him.

'How are you, Swami?' Sundeep asked. 'I believe you moved back to India. I have been wanting to call you ever since Natasha told me that Ambujam has met with an accident.'

Swami told him the entire story about his move back to India.

'What is Kalpana going to do?' asked Sundeep, trying to start a conversation with her.

'I will be joining the HR team as compliance officer,' she said. 'Where's Natasha? She never told me that she was coming to India.'

'No. She is in London.'

Kalpana felt a touché unhappy. She was really hoping that Natasha would be there. She hadn't met her in four years now.

'Hey guys. Is this some sort of reunion happening here?' It was Kailash coming down the stairs. 'Sundeep, when did you come from London?'

'Kailash! How are you? I was in town and thought I would run around and give you a quick look in, before leaving back for London. Didn't know that you had something planned at home. I can come back tomorrow.'

'No! No! No! Don't worry. It is great to have you here. In fact, your old team is also coming in and those guys will be happy to meet you.'

Sundeep stayed back.

Swami was not a party animal and was a wee bit uncomfortable in such gatherings. Teetotaller that he was, fruit juices were his only salvation in such parties. Aerated drinks were also not his forte. He was hitting an age where they were beginning to make him uncomfortable.

Akshay came in with his wife at half past eight, followed by Anindyo Roy. Vivek had to drop his family to the airport and hence came in well past nine. Amit Suri, the Head of Cards, and Rajendran, the Head of Credit, also joined in.

Sundeep had worked with all of them. He was the centre of attraction as most of them were meeting him after a long time. Swami was feeling a bit lost.

Akshay, Vivek, Amit and Anindyo crowded around Sundeep. They were all trying to be nice and chat up to him. Gossip from overseas was indeed very interesting. Who is doing what? Who is going where? Who is joining and who is quitting? Who is sleeping with whom?

The fun of gossip apart, the other motivating factor was that Sundeep, given his contacts in London, could possibly help them land plum jobs overseas. It was important to keep him happy. Swami could wait. He had just returned—not of much value in the short run. Sundeep was getting a kick out of this. For the first time in his life, he had usurped something from Swami. The attention that would have been showered on Swami that evening was all his.

Sundeep was looking at Kailash from the corner of his eye. He had come here with an agenda, but hadn't got an opportunity to bring it up.

Rajendran, the Head of Credit, had come alone and was gulping peg after peg of whisky. Swami had hit if off very well with him when they had met in office earlier that week. It probably had something to do with their being South Indians. Swami had a weakness for South Indians. It was said that whenever Swami hired people, if everything else was equal, he would hire a South Indian. Even in the US he had managed to keep it this way.

Kailash's house was a class apart. Maqbool Fida Hussain's paintings graced his walls. He had two sections in his living room. While contemporary designer furniture adorned one section, the other had antique furniture from the villages close to Tanjore. He had carted all his furniture, specifically the antiques from Tamil Nadu, all over the globe. NYB had paid for it whenever Kailash moved homes. A picture of Kailash and his wife in their Alibaug farmhouse adorned the large wall to the right of a passage which led to the bedrooms. Kailash was one of the highest paid executives in the country at that time, and it showed. The Advanis didn't have any children.

Sundeep was in his usual high spirits. He was back with his old team, who were keeping him humoured.

'Sundeep, it's no fun without you around. M
azaa nahin aa raha hai. Koi team spirit hi nahin hai.
Why don't you come back?' Akshay was desperately trying to suck up to him.

'Yeh Parsi yahaan se jaayega toh kuch sochen,'
said Sundeep, hinting that with Kailash deciding to hang on, there was little hope of his coming back.

'Then why don't you get us a job there? We'll all come.' Anindyo was one who never missed an opportunity.

At that very instant, Sundeep saw Kailash heading back to his room. He quickly excused himself.
'Ek minute,
Anindyo. I will just be back.'

A deep sigh. 'He's slipped off again.' Anindyo was looking at Akshay this time.

'This is his fucking problem. He never gives a commitment. Slippery as a fish. One day he will pay for all this.' Akshay was bitching behind Sundeep's back.

'Looks like, we will have to deal with this Madrasi only,' said Akshay, referring to Swami as the man from Madras.

Even though Swami was talking to Rajendran, his eyes were on this team, which was to work with him. He was not getting a good feeling. His team was too close to Sundeep. Sundeep would always be aware of the goings-on in his domain. No one had come to him and said anything more than a cursory hello. This thought was very disconcerting. He had to deal with it. 'They are probably a little shy, that's all.' He dismissed the thought that they were ignoring him.

He saw Sundeep follow Kailash into the room and walked up to his new team. All of them had a forced smile on their faces. Swami realised that he was unwelcome in their conversation.