I could understand his discomfort with my increased involvement in the creative aspect of work too, even though I was really mad at him for the way he had behaved. A lot of brand managers fancied themselves to have great creative talent, like Yudi had said, and liked to get involved more than was necessary in the creation of ad films, often with disastrous results. The sales head of GF, Purushottam Mittal— or Puru, as he was popularly known—was notorious for landing up at film shoots and telling the director exactly how the film should be shot or how a script should be modified. I’d heard that one of the ad films on Dinky Chips had even been shelved recently on the day of the shoot because the creative team refused to comply with Puru’s demands. So it was no wonder that Yudi didn’t want me to get involved beyond a point with the Bright Biscuits ad film, but it was too late for me to retrace my steps now. Even though I’d always had a fascination with creative work, I’d never been able to get too closely involved in it before. I had either restrained myself, not wanting to overstep the fine boundary between my work and that of the creative team, or someone else had done the restraining for me—either an overzealous creative team fiercely protective of their turf or a boss who wanted me to focus on other stuff. But it had been different with Bright Biscuits. This was the first time I was managing a project independently and I didn’t have a boss constantly breathing down my neck even though Vile Varun was doing a great job at being pesky. Moreover, the creative team seemed to like my involvement, not resent it; and Suketu was being very supportive as well. But most important of all, for the past few days, I had truly been enjoying work. It wasn’t a drag any more. It was fun, exciting, and something I looked forward to.

So Yudi could take a walk, I resolved to myself silently. I was going to continue involving myself on Bright Biscuits just the way I wanted to. Maybe we would really come up with something truly groundbreaking, and then Mr Yudi could eat humble pie.

‘Megha! Dude, what are you doing here so late? Are you planning to start your very own chapter of Workaholics Anonymous?’ I looked up to see Vijay walking towards me.

‘Just leaving, Tau. I was suffering from email overload as usual. What’s your scene?’

‘Too much stress on the new Dinky film, dude,’ Vijay sighed. ‘We’re in deep shit. Suketu seems to have lost it, the creative team is floundering and to top it all Puru has decided to get involved in it too, turning my life into one holy mess!’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ I looked at Vijay, concerned. He normally wasn’t the type to get stressed about work. ‘What’s the problem with Suketu?’