What a day!

23 May 2006

7 p.m.

Triumph! All bow to Robin Varghese now!

I’d spent half the day wondering about what was happening at the Copper Chimney meeting when we got a company-wide email announcing the success of the bank acquisition project. Dufresne had been hired to take care of all strategic activities.

Jerry, who wrote the email, highlighted the work done by Abhijit’s team, especially the inputs from Vineet, ‘one of our bright new joinees who helped with the modelling’.

My feelings were split between feeling delighted for Dufresne and wanting to run a bus over Vineet. Slowly.

Okay, there is a dinner for all hands at Indigo in an hour. I must shower and leave soon.

Two more days in the hotel; might as well use all the toiletries.

The Wadala flat looks like a winner. I am meeting the landlord the day after tomorrow to pick up the keys.

Bye! More tomorrow.

Hope Vineet gets food poisoning or something.

24 May 2006

8 p.m.

Sigh. I will miss this hotel room and this luxurious lifestyle.

But then I must not feel too sorry. This loss is only temporary. The consulting life has much, much more to offer!

Let me explain, Diary.

All day today I was busy Googling some information that Abhijit wanted. Something about the average literacy per state in India based on latest census and NSSO data. It was exciting for the first half an hour. And then it got unbearably boring. Kerala came first though!

When I went to explain my findings to Abhijit, I found him sitting with a bunch of bills. He told me to sit while he finished ‘filing his expenses’. There were a LOT of bills and Abhijit looked really frustrated by the effort.

I offered to help him, of course, and he shoved a pile at me and told me to divide it into food, lodging and travel bills. Of course, you may have noticed, Diary, that besides solidifying my solid impression with Abhijit, I was also trying to do some smart reconnaissance. Expense management is one of the key functions of a successful consultant and I did not want to lose an opportunity to learn from seniors like Abhijit.

I was taken aback to discover that though Abhijit had spent just one night at the Oberoi in Bangalore he’d managed to launder five shirts, two trousers and a pair of boxer shorts. He had also consumed eleven cans of Red Bull. Two hundred and fifty rupees each. I betrayed none of my alarm at this of course.

But I will admit that this disturbed me on several moral levels.

I’ve always believed that clean and honest finances make a clean conscience. Somehow Abhijit’s work ethic disturbed me.

An hour and a half later I was feeling extremely pumped up. My concerns had been unnecessary. Clearly if this is what the consulting life meant I was going to have a LOT of fun. Abhijit, with help from me of course, had filed for expenses worth THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND RUPEES! For two days and one night in Bangalore. He explained to me that responsible expense management was very important. And that I should always spend money keeping the client in mind.