17 March 2007

8.20 p.m.

I give up. Goddammit. Enough. Finished. Surrender.

I don’t know how to talk to that Gouri woman any more.

On the one hand here I am in London working my ass off so that I can save my daily allowance and take some sterling pounds home. So that when that stupid woman says ‘I want to have brunch in Bandra’ or ‘I want to go to Salt Water Grill’ I don’t have to ACT as if I have the cash and it is not at all a problem.

And it’s not like she orders the regular coffee. No no. She is hi-fi no!

She wants hazelnut cappuccino with decaffeination. WHAT IS THE POINT THEN BLOODY WOMAN??? THAT IS LIKE ASKING FOR TIGER BALM WITHOUT THE TI …

YOU GET MY POINT NO?

And then what makes it worse is the fact I have to pay for everything always. ALWAYS. What the heck??!!!

When she wants to wear that short spaghetti strap top, designed by the Devil to create widespread sexual assault, then ‘Robin you have to be modern’. But when I tell her that she should pay sometimes because she also gets salary (even if it is less than mine by 27% even without my bonus) then ‘you are just not gallant. I will explain at home later, don’t create scene’.

It took me three months before Boris agreed to let me come to London on secondment with Lederman Bank. I had to beg and plead and put extra animations and 3D lettering in so many of his presentations before Boris finally approved my request.

Boris, as you know, is from Vietnam. No wonder the Americans couldn’t defeat them in World War 2. So stubborn.

And also insecure, no doubt. He is 11 years older than me. And that gap is only going to get wider day by day.

But I understand his apprehension about the London transfer to some extent. Secondments are very very rare at Dufresne. And after that Arindam scandal with that Sri Lankan bank I think I am the first they have approved in the last three years.

Till Arindam spoilt everything for everybody, secondments were an awesome way to save some money. If a consultant did well then the client would ask Dufresne to let the consultant join them full-time for a period of a few months or up to a year.

The most awesome thing about this is that during the secondment period you get paid both in India AND ABROAD! Secondment salary abroad is not very big (smaller than banks, more than Infosys) but it is a good little added bonus. And it is very very easy to confuse Mohan Kumar in Dufresne Mumbai accounts section. Send him an email with long words in English and two or three spreadsheets, and he will completely forget to calculate income tax on both incomes.