(... continued from the previous chapter)

But that’s when I was a student. And that is also when I was my father’s pride for having cracked the toughest engineering entrance exam in my state. I was rocking; that’s what all my friends and relatives would think. Some would envy my success. After all, wasn’t I the boy who studied in the number one high school in my state? 

‘Adi, can you please help me with my slide? I’m stuck with the pricing sheet.’ That was Varun who stood up two cubicles from mine, and quickly added, ‘Wait, I’ll be there.’ 

He now stood next to me, with confused palms, not knowing whether he should hide them into his pockets or fold them. I said, ‘This is for the Accounts team to take care of. Why are you working on it?’ 

Varun smiled in an unusually coy fashion, which could not be typical of a guy, ‘Actually David sir asked me to help him with this. He told me he was extremely caught up with higher priority tasks. I think he’s travelling to London or something. So he’s busy.’

I knew David was a 5-star delegator. But I could not say that to Varun the poor chap. He had just joined after having been picked up by our bosses from his B-School campus. I also knew David had told Varun, ‘Feel free to approach Adi. He’s done a similar assessment for another client.’ 

I had been observing Varun for one month. He thought I was God. After all I had years of experience. And he was still a kid. Only if he had overheard my conversations with Kams!

(... to be continued)