Even under these circumstances, Diary, I have decided to do a decent job. Who knows what might happen tomorrow? What if this is all a misunderstanding and Lederman wants us to do a proper job? Besides it is a question of ethics. Whatever goes to the client, I believe, must be of good quality. Even if the client will perhaps never look at it. Or even pay for it. That is the difference between a good but immoral consultant (Rahul Gupta) and a great consultant with a sound grounding in professional courtesy, honesty and integrity (Robin Varghese and other people like Tiger Woods, Joe Paul Ancheri or A.K. Antony).

Have downloaded a bunch of banking best practices docs from the Dufresne KMS. Now I am going to go sit in the innovation room and focus. If this is the last piece of consulting I am going to do for Lederman, I want it to be my best!

5.03 p.m.

Banking best practices are so boring man!

Remember when Gouri bought a DVD of that Japanese movie in Bombay? That one which had the same name as Rashomon chettan in Fujeirah? Going through exactly the same feeling. Eyes are so heavy …

7.23 p.m.

Good news Diary! Dominic has emailed everyone that the project is officially over. He was just informed by one of the Lederman vice-presidents that they had no intention of pursuing or completing any projects that had been signed off by Tom. Till there is further clarity, they will not be paying our bills either. Dominic said he was very disappointed that things had turned out like this. This was the first time he had been prevented from completing an assignment. He said that even when he led the Dufresne team at Enron that was working on ‘Corporate governance and reporting’ he had managed to somehow make the final presentation and get paid 48 hours before Enron declared bankruptcy.

But this time things had unravelled too quickly even for Dominic.

We have been given one week to wrap up and leave the premises.

I asked Dominic if I still had to complete all my reports and decks. He said that there was a 99% chance that Lederman II was gone for good.

At this point, Diary, I have to think in terms of efficiencies. As you know one of my favourite personal mottoes have always been: ‘Never do something that does not have a clear connection to the triple bottom line of profits, society and ____.’

(Always forgetting the third one. Children? Education? Fuck it.)

Can I still work on a proper report for Lederman? Sure. Should I? No. That would be a waste of time for Lederman and unfair to Dufresne. The entire idea of being a consultant is to charge people money for your advice and expertise. What is the point in giving it away for free? Tomorrow what if a bank comes and asks for a free presentation on banking best practices?