As soon as I entered the room a smile broke out on everybody’s face and at least three people came forward to shake my hand. One fellow, who exuded leadership, welcomed me in a loud, booming voice. ‘Mister Varkeez!’ he said shaking my hand furiously. ‘We have heard so much about you from Rahul Gupta. We couldn’t wait to meet you in person … Einstein. Take a seat.’

As I sat down I had a vision, like that weird bit in Amélie when everything becomes black and white and Amélie has a flashback. Only mine was a … a flashforward: I am in London, waiting for my train at the tube station to go to work at Goldman Sachs. I am listening to Mozart on my iPod and I even have a pink copy of the Financial Times folded underneath my armpit.

It was a beautiful vision.

‘So Einstein … we can call you that, yes? … good. Tell us what you know about the Black Scholes Options Pricing Model.’

That question was like a slow full toss outside off-stump to Yuvraj Singh. I settled into my chair, adjusted my tie a little and began: ‘Black Scholes is like a lifelong mantra for me …’

Five minutes later I had three cellphones in front of me, two were recording what I was saying and the other was actually dialled into a speakerphone at the Goldman Sachs office in Singapore, where a roomful of bankers were listening to me! They applauded once in a while.

Suffice to say that I touched a level of financial narration that even I had never touched before. I was on a roll, I could hardly stop. And the guys at Goldman Sachs couldn’t get enough. At one point the lead interviewer—George Souki—chirped up that I was even better than Rahul had made me out to be.

Depend on that bastard to undersell me. Chutiya!

I figured there was no harm in really laying it thick. I asked them if they wanted to hear anything else. The person sitting next to me was taking notes, and asked if I knew anything about fixed income derivatives. I told them it wasn’t my strong point but I was willing to give it a shot.

The guys in Singapore cheered loudly!

I started with my ‘Well, no one likes fixed income in these days of rising cost of living, eh?’ joke with a little wink. You should have been there, Diary. I swear the room exploded in laughter.

After twenty minutes or so there was a knock on the door and Shashank put his head in. He nodded his head at Souki who then straightened in his chair and asked everyone to ‘Get back to the business of campus recruitment, people!’

Who can blame them for having lost track of time while they were interviewing me?

Everyone shook hands with me and the guys in Singapore did a little ‘three cheers for Einstein’.

When I left I had no doubt in my mind that it was the best interview I had given in my entire life. What a time to peak it was. Goldman Sachs. The world’s best investment bank. I had cracked the scene.