I pointed the mike at the audience and said, ‘And this is for you, GF Sales! YOU are the ones that have made it happen! The most rocking and successful new launch ever! Here’s to many more such smash-hit sales numbers on Bright Biscuits. GO GF GO!’

The last slide thanking the sales team erupted on to the screen before exploding like a fireworks display and the audience went wild. We were nearly mobbed as we got off the stage and random people began grabbing my hand and pumping it wildly as they screamed congratulatory messages. I lost Neil, Shubhra and Yudi in the crowd but bumped into Vijay soon after. He managed to find us a quiet corner where we sat down together. The crowd was quietening down now as Puru took the stage for the last session. He was there to talk about a new launch from the beverages category and he began to pound his fist in the air as he spoke, jiggling up and down as was his customary manner. As I watched his eyes protrude like boiled eggs from his cherubic face, I felt pretty sure he had at least a few bucketfuls of coffee circulating in his system. His passionate spiel soon had the crowd cheering wildly again and it became impossible to make out a word of what was being said.

I tuned out and began scanning the seats around me for Yudi. The marketing and agency teams were relatively small in comparison to the sales team and all of us were seated in the first six rows on the right-hand side of the ballroom. I quickly spotted Neil and Shubhra, surrounded by admiring colleagues, but there was no sign of Yudi. Nor of Varun and Suketu for that matter, I noted as I looked around.

I still hadn’t spotted any of them as we emerged from the ballroom two hours later. The last session had just ended and everyone was heading to the restaurant on the first floor where dinner was being served.

‘How did your presentation go, Tau?’ I asked Vijay as we trooped up the stairs along with everyone else.

‘It hasn’t happened yet,’ Vijay said. ‘Didn’t Yudi tell you? He requested for the presentation to be shifted to tomorrow. Apparently he had some urgent personal work this evening and wasn’t available to present and we couldn’t have done it without him. Anyway, it doesn’t really make a difference whether we present today or tomorrow. And I’m only too happy to do what Yudi wants nowadays! That guy is a lifesaver, man! He has been relentlessly working round the clock on the Dinky Chips script and he finally cracked it two days ago! We have another winner on our hands! And he did it in spite of Puru and that jerk Suketu.’

I stopped short in my tracks and stared at Vijay as my brain worked overtime to digest this information overload. Yudi had postponed the presentation so that he had the evening free to help me? And what was the scene with Suketu anyway? Vijay had already walked a few steps ahead when, realizing that I wasn’t with him any more, he turned around in surprise. He was about to call out to me when Yudi suddenly appeared, running down the stairs two steps at a time.