I jumped in like a leopard (a leadership leopard) and spoke very eloquently about the need for strong leadership in an organization. I gave a wonderful analogy about how a company is in many ways like a human body. All the organs are vital and play an important role. Remove any one of them and things begin to fall apart. Yet the brain is the most crucial. Which is why strong leadership is vital in an organization. Otherwise, I pointed out with tremendous gravity in my voice, an organization will become like a coma patient. Do you want Lederman to become like a coma patient? I asked.

Nobody said anything.

‘NO!’ I boomed into the phone.

There was pin-drop silence after that. The only noise I could hear was my own heart beating. (I get carried away by these emotions sometimes. I am like that Diary.)

Then someone asked who I was and how anything I said could have added value to the Compensation sub-committee meeting. I quickly told them that I was Alex the intern, apologized for dialling into the wrong conference call and cut the phone.

Who knows if the IT guys have a way of tracing internal phone calls to the device.

So I quickly ran down to the canteen, sat in a corner and tried the conference call number again. This time I immediately heard Jenny Huang speaking. It sounded like she was summarizing the meeting for everyone’s benefit. I was very upset but tried not to let my emotion show in my voice. I coughed once or twice and then introduced myself. Emily asked me why I was so late. I told her about the complete misunderstanding. No one had told me about the cancellation or the conference call.

But apparently she told Jenny last evening and told her to inform everyone.

And then Jenny said that she had emailed me but maybe the email had bounced for some reason. Maybe, she said, she had spelt my ‘complicated Indian’ name wrong.

Diary as soon as Jenny spoke I knew she was lying.

She said it in exactly the same way that T.G. Ravi used to tell Mohanlal: ‘Don’t worry. As long as you bring me the brown sugar and diamonds I will let your mother and sister go free.’

But in fact he has already killed Mohanlal’s mother and sister by sealing them inside barrels of acid. Poor Mohanlal does not know this and trusts him. In the end he discovers their bones inside the abandoned warehouse.

Mohanlal then seeks terrible revenge.

I will not trust her like Mohanlal. BUT I WILL SEEK TERRIBLE REVENGE LIKE MOHANLAL!!!

Mark my words. That woman will pay dearly for her back-stabbing behaviour. May be not immediately. But soon. She is a bloody intern. Not even a full-time employee. She is fucking with the wrong dude.

Jenny promised to email me the minutes of the meeting and Emily apologized for the mix-up.