And then just before ending the conference he said that he was looking forward to working with the entire team and especially with the very ‘astute Robin Varghese who all of us are eagerly looking forward to meeting’ and then he asked Prasad to finalize the remaining nine consultants on the Dufresne team shortly.

After the link was shut down we all did a loud ‘three cheers for Dufresne’. Jenson was noticeably less enthusiastic than usual, and then the party started. There was a LOT of alcohol. But I made sure that there were no video cameras around before I started drinking. With a very senior role to play on the Lederman project, I was trying to make sure that I did nothing to screw things up now.

No more videos and YouTube, just Lederman, I told myself.

The evening was a blast. Everyone drank moderately except Anandakumari who was in charge of mixing drinks, managing the music and distributing snacks.

Then around eight-thirty Prasad called me into a room. There were already a few partners inside when I went in. Prasad, who I secretly think has taken over from Jerry, told me how the entire company was grateful for my part in the Lederman project. He said that my good word had helped the India office win the biggest project in its history.

However, he said it would be impossible for me to be involved in the project. Many of the senior partners felt that my track record was not suited to the high-profile nature of the Lederman project. Not only that, he added, some of the other analysts felt that I was too new and too inexperienced to handle such important work.

I interjected: after all the client had personally asked for me. Prasad said that because of this I would be assigned to the Lederman project but would work from the Dufresne office, and take care of research and documentation. No direct client interactions whatsoever.

MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

He apologized on behalf of all the partners but said he could not let me take up something that other analysts in the firm, with better discipline records, deserved more. The room, the entire office, was spinning around me when I walked out.

This was the ultimate injustice. Dufresne wouldn’t even have got the project if it weren’t for my personal recommendations to Blossom Babykutty.

When I got out Yetch and Rajni were standing by the door looking anxious. I immediately knew who had been bad-mouthing about me to the partners. THE MOTHERFUCKERS! It still makes my blood boil when I think about it.

Of course, I should have just walked out of the party and gone home. Everything would have ended better for everyone if I had. But, instead, I left last. After making sure I emptied every last bottle of booze in the office. By midnight only Anandakumari and I were left in the office. She had been asked to clean up after everyone so I thought I’d help her as well. We found Vineet’s BlackBerry under a table and I flushed it down a toilet along with a family photo that sat on Prasad’s table.