He told me not to worry as not too many applicants were coming back for second interviews with Dufresne.

These guys were picky! And yet Einstein had prevailed! I don’t like referring to myself in the third person, but still …

I left on a very good note, I thought. When I returned to the student pool my face bore a stupendous smile of silent satisfaction.

Post my commendable performance at Dufresne I felt a buzz going through me. A certain vibration of confidence. And beginning at my midriff this thrum of anticipation began to spread all over my body, working into a crescendo before I realized it was my vibrating cellphone in my left jacket pocket.

Shashank was on the phone. He spoke exactly three words: ‘Goldman. Come. Now.’ And then he hung up.

Sometimes when a company sees such overwhelming and intrinsic talent they demand to see the applicant immediately. This was clearly one of those moments. Was there a spring in my step? YOU BET.

The atmosphere in the Goldman section of the complex was definitely NOT like Dufresne. The rooms were full and people were walking around looking nervous. Shashank stood in a corner, looking perturbed as he read from a sheet of paper in his hands.

I walked up to him.

‘Hope they didn’t get tired waiting for me, Shashank. I’m here. Who wants to see me first?’ I asked him with the quiet confidence of a candidate wanted by several firms.

He told me that all the rooms were full but Goldman wanted to wrap up the first round in ten minutes and those who didn’t make it by then would be eliminated. He said I’d made it just in time. I told him that Dufresne was bullish on me and Goldman had to hurry up if they wanted ‘a shot at Einstein’.

Suddenly a big, tall, broad black guy stepped out of one of the rooms and asked for me by surname. He had a broad smile on his face. I waved at him energetically and strode forward confidently.

Just as he turned around to enter the room, Rahul Gupta stepped out. He had his arm around a short grey-haired Goldman fellow and, as they passed each other, he high-fived the big black man. They all looked very happy and warm. It was like a Benetton ad with BlackBerrys. Bastard Rahul.

A moment later, I felt my heart roll loose from its moorings and plumb into the depths of my stomach.

I had walked into a room full of people. Each one clearly an employee of Goldman from their slim-cut suits, long pointy-toed shoes and Berrys. My memory is a little hazy, but there must have been at least seven people in that room.

Under normal circumstances I would have been nervous. A total wreck. Here I was, appearing for my first-round interview with Goldman Sachs, and there were half a dozen super-smart bankers with years of experience ready to grill me.

However, you will be pleased to know, Diary, my misgivings were entirely unfounded.