Speaking of moving on, Vile Varun is doing some moving too. To Bihar, to be exact, where he has been posted as regional sales manager for the beverages category. It’s a pappu or a punishment posting, as Vijay told me with an evil glint in his eye. Not that it has reduced Varun’s belligerence in the least. No siree. Vile Varun belongs to that category of people who sincerely believe in always going on the offensive, anywhere, anytime. I bumped into him at work a few days ago and if looks could kill, believe me, I would have been six feet under now, no traces showing.

I haven’t met Suketu since the Annual Sales Conference. He resigned from Blue Strawberry soon after and pretty much went underground. Last heard, he has apparently relocated to Delhi and joined some new creative shop as servicing head. I hope I never have to see him again.

And before you think all I can talk about is work, there’s lots happening on the personal front too! Vijay and Debbie are getting married in December; the date should be fixed this week. I’m totally looking forward to it! The wedding’s in Goa—that’s where Vijay is from, and I’ve been trying hard to convince him to have a beach wedding though I don’t think I’m making much headway.

The Momster is using Vijay’s wedding as an opportunity to constantly badger me about my own wedding, but these days she seems a little less panicky than usual. I think Yudi has something to do with it. I’ve told Sammy about Yudi, of course, but I’m not sure whether I should break the news to the Momster just yet. Of course, she likes Yudi—I mean, the guy chugs down her sugar-free chai and zero-ghee gajar halwa without so much as batting an eyelid, but I’m not so comfortable telling her so soon. Knowing her, she’ll probably start matching horoscopes and fixing the wedding date before we can blink.

Umm, I haven’t told you about Yudi earlier, have I? Well, let’s just say that these days Yudi has replaced Bright Biscuits as the epicentre around which my life revolves.

I have Yudi to thank for my move to the creative field in more ways than one. He put in a good word for me with both Shiv and Blue Strawberry, and his recommendation was pretty much what helped swing the deal. And he did it because he truly believes I have potential, okay? Not because he loves me.

Yes, you heard that right. He loves me. We have our turbulent moments, of course. Like the time I wanted to tell him that one of the things I love about him is the way he smells, just like Papa. Of course, what I meant was that Yudi uses Old Spice which Papa used to use as well and the scent evokes special memories in me. I mean, it’s symbolic, don’t you think? Like this connection between the two most important men in my life. Anyway, I tried telling this to Yudi and ended up saying something that made him think I thought of him as a father figure or some shit like that. He got pretty worked up about that and it was really quite funny after we stopped fighting about it. Anyway, turns out that Yudi’s dad uses Old Spice too, and Yudi has some emotional connection with the smell. These creative types, I tell you!