Corporate Carnival by Bhaskar P. G

Author:Bhaskar, P. G. [Bhaskar, P. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789350295885
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2012-08-15T06:00:00+00:00

12

’Coz Love Has No Season, No Reason

July 2010 was South Africa’s time in the sun. To a man, the country cheered like they had never cheered before. First for Bafana Bafana. Then for Ghana, the sole African nation remaining in the World Cup. Then for Soccer City, and finally for themselves, the super successful host country. But now the party was over. And it was time to move on.

Our new regional CEO was a chap called Peter van Hart, a Dutchman. The new compliance man was Jan Kahn. Nathan had so far managed to cling on, though there were rumours that he was on his way out. The top guys in corporate bank and treasury were also preparing to leave. As if the existing confusion in structure was not enough, the CEO had set up an NRP team akin to the NRI team to cater to off-shore businesses from resident and non-resident Pakistanis. To run that team, we had yet another head, a former colleague of mine, Ahmed, whom I had not particularly liked when I first knew him. It wasn’t just he I objected to, but the fact that in addition to premier banking, investment services, NRI team and private banking, we now had one more dimension to add to the whole ‘wealth management’ scenario. It was apparently Jan, in his capacity as the new CEO’s close buddy and trusted advisor, who had been instrumental in getting Ahmed in and wrangling a good position for him.

‘Ahmed’s not a bad sort, Jai,’ Kitch told me. ‘Once you get to know him, he’s pretty decent.’

‘The creep sent me an invite on Facebook yesterday,’ I told him. ‘You should see his Facebook page! Ahmed talks quite well, but he writes a lot of rubbish. He’s always been like that. I have kept a couple of his emails from Myers at home in my “funny file”. On Facebook, he’s put up a picture of himself wearing just a pair of unbuttoned denim shorts, bare torso and all. He seems to think he’s some kind of love god. He’s thirty-five and has three kids, but on his info page he has the gall to say he’s interested in women and is looking for dating and relationships. He’s put in a little bio… here, let me show you.’

I logged in and went to Ahmed’s profile. Under ‘About Me’ he had written: ‘I’m smooth. I’m sexy. I value my skills. I respect my intelligence. I act on my feelings and think for my beliefs. Believing is doing. I love what I am. Life is nasha. Live with junoon. DIL DIL PAKISTAN!’

‘Can you believe it? Such nonsense!’

Kitch stifled a laugh. ‘I know, Jai! But that’s just the way he is. A lot of bluster and bravado, a bit immature perhaps, but he’s all right. Do you know I took him to see a Tamil movie once, while we were at Myers.’

‘What!’

‘Yeah, we happened to bump into each other in Deira one evening. He was at a loose end and decided to join me at Galleria.

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