Abhijit Banerjee – Head BI Wizard and the head of the team that I was joining from the next day.
He backed away hurriedly with his hands held up in surrender and a look of fear on his face.
"Relax Das!", he exclaimed once he had backed away to a safe distance from me. "My name is Abhijit Banerjee and I head the BI team. I saw you walking along and thought I would introduce myself."
I just stared at him in disbelief. Why would you want to introduce yourself to someone by following them in your car late at night and then sneaking up behind them?
But then I remembered the stories of his eccentricity and brilliance.
Abhijit Banerjee, the enigmatic Head of the Business Intelligence department, was a towering intellect with a penchant for eccentricity, setting him apart as a kind yet idiosyncratic leader within the company. His intellectual prowess was unparalleled, earning him the moniker of "Head Wizard" within the professional sphere, where his visionary insights and strategic acumen have propelled the Business Intelligence team to new heights of innovation and success.
But his behavior often exhibited a touch of eccentricity, especially his unorthodox approach to social interactions, manifesting in unconventional and puzzling actions that confused those around him.
All this ran through my mind as I looked at him. Then another though hit me. And not a happy one. This was my boss now and I had almost assaulted him. And in the process I had shown him a side of myself that I kept carefully hidden. I could only curse my luck.
The shock had cleared any effects of the alcohol. I quickly straightened my features into a contrite look and started to apologize, "I am really sorry sir. It's late at night and I thought that I was about to get mugged".
Abhijit Banerjee stopped me with a snorting laugh.
"Why would anyone want to mess with you", he said, looking me up and down and still laughing. "Come on, get into the car. I'll drive you home".
I quietly walked to his car and got in the front seat. I had to adjust the seat to fit in. Abhijit got into the driver's seat and started the car.
I was still processing the situation and was silent.
Abhijit broke the silence.
"I have heard a lot about you", he said. "Good, bad and ugly".
I shrugged having nothing to say.
He continued, "We have only a couple of days before you have to travel. So I will try to bring you up to speed on who we are and what we do. One thing that I have heard about you is that you are a bit of a loose cannon and cannot be trusted. And that is something I cannot have. So I will ask you this once and once only. Can I trust you?"
I looked at him and nodded. "Yes sir, you can."
"Call me Abhijit.", he said impatiently. "We do things differently in the BI team. Of course you know that we capture, store and process all the data generated from the business operations of the company. And generate the required reports for all departments."
I nodded again.
"But that is not all we do", he continued. "We also put in systems and processes to stop any wrongdoing and investigate any such instances if they occur".
These words were said with his eyebrows raised and his eyes looking directly at me.
I knew what he meant but there was a more pressing concern on my mind right now. He was driving pretty fast and was looking at me. That meant he was not looking at the road.
"I am expecting a reply from you", he said, still looking at me.
I started to desperately think of a reply before he killed both of us.
"Well sir…Abhijit, I wasn't really thinking very clearly when I did that", I said in a hurry.
"You weren't thinking?", he said raising his eyebrows further.
He was really talented at how far he could raise his eyebrows. And driving without looking at the road.
I was about to tell him to look at the road when he turned his head to look forward again. And swerved the car sharply as we had gone too close to the divider.
I let out my breath in relief though I hadn't even realized that I was holding it.
"Well", Abhijit went on. "I will need you to think very hard when you work for me. You see we don't just draw the lines or investigate when someone crosses them. Often, we cross lines as well when the need arises."
His words made me curious and I was about to ask what he meant when he stopped the car.
"Well this is where you have to get off I'm afraid", he said. "I believe you live close by"
He was right. We were in my neighborhood. I climbed out.
"See you in office tomorrow Das", Abhijit said as he drove off.
I waved in silence as I pondered over his words. Grey areas, investigations and crossing lines. It felt like I was joining some military special operations group.
I took the lift up to my floor lost in my thoughts. As I entered my apartment I felt a pang of sadness. This has been home for nearly three years. I had grown used to the space and it's nooks and crannies. Now I would have to pack up and leave. Find a new place. Adjust to a new city. A city far away from Anjali.
I was surprised by the sudden sense of loss that hit me at the thought. Had my feelings for her changed?
My earlier emotions for her had always been a mix of attraction, apprehension and defensiveness. I always felt the need to have my guard up around her. Later it got mixed with feelings of tenderness and guilt. Now it seemed there was some other emotions that had come up. Emotions that could really complicate my life. Because I was not sure that they were reciprocated. Sure she had admitted to having strong emotions toward me. But they could be just physical or sympathy or just an urge to control me. The paths of a woman like her and someone like me were widely divergent. And she would definitely consider this aspect.
"No", I shook my head. I had to suppress these thoughts completely if I wanted to survive. I was already treading on very thin ice. I was not from a very affluent family and would need to hold on to this position and focus all my energies on growing my career. Such fanciful emotions were not for me at this time.
Calmed by these determined thoughts, I changed and went to bed. It had again been a long day.
...…_______________________________________________________________________________________________.......
Next day I walked into office with mixed feelings. I was sad to be leaving a team where I had fit in so well but I was also excited to be joining a role which seemed more in line with my interests and sounded very mysterious.
I went to my desk and found a note from HR there.
"Please meet me for the completion of formalities for your reassignment" it said.
I made my way to the HR bay. There a manager, who introduced herself as Nidhi, led me to a meeting room.
Apparently I had to sign a lot of documents. There were non-disclosure agreements, declarations and a lot of other legal papers which I failed to understand. Then Nidhi explained the basics of what restrictions I was supposed to adhere to. Any non-adherence would result in my immediate termination from the company at a day's notice.
These included not being allowed to discuss my work and projects with anyone except my boss and project team members, keeping all access credentials secret and keep my ID card on me at all times and not allow it to fall into anyone else's hands.
The last restriction was like the final nail in the coffin.
"You are also not allowed to have any personal relationships with any other employees in the company. No familial or romantic relations are allowed. Any such relationships have to be disclosed in writing to your immediate reporting senior.", stated Nidhi.
I nodded, keeping my face expressionless.
Then Nidhi handed me my new ID. It would give me access to the BI areas across all the branches of the company.
Next the IT person came in to hand over my new laptop. It was a top-of-the- line model with all the bells and whistles.
Then Abhijit came in to brief me. It was a short one since we had already had the basic discussion the previous night. He laid out my basic responsibilities and the reading and certifications that I would have to do to catch up with the rest of the team. Projects would be assigned to me once I joined at my new office.
I would be joining the team as a Data Analyst.
Abhijit then called in a Senior Analyst who was part of the BI team at my new office.
Once she came in, Abhijit made the introductions.
"Simran, this is Samayak. He will be working with you for a few weeks till he finds his feet.", he said briskly. "Samayak, Simran will be guiding you through all processes and functions you need to know. She will also be making an assessment of how much you already know so that we may train you accordingly. She works out of the Bangalore office, so there won't any issues working together"
Both of us nodded. I saw Simran's eyes widen slightly as she looked me up and down. I was used to it. I was physically imposing.
Then Abhijit walked out.
I looked back to Simran. She was quite tall and a bit on the curvy side. Clad in a simple salwar suit she looked like she didn't really want to stand out by appearance. What did stand out were her black eyes from behind her spectacles. I had rarely seen darker eyes.
I could see her looking me over as well.
I quickly broke the silence, "So what's next?", I asked.
"Let's start by going over what you already know about data science.", she said. "I don't expect that you will know much. But we have to start since you are now a part of the team.", she added in a condescending tone.
The hostility caught me a bit off guard. We had met for the first time and she already disliked me. I must have a real talent for rubbing people the wrong way.
I decided to take a direct approach to defusing the situation. I really couldn't start on such a hostile note.
Putting on my best smile I asked her, "Sure Simran, I will do my best. By the way this is the first time that we have met. But I already seem to have offended you in some way."
She was taken aback by this approach. I guess she had expected me to just grin and bear it. Then she gathered herself and the politely neutral expression on her face was replaced by a grim look.
"You know, the company is not stupid. The management has suspected for quite a few months that something was off about this region's sales numbers. And doing what we do, the BI department was tasked with finding the problem. And guess who led the investigating team?"
I knew what was coming but still asked the stupid question, "Who?"
"Me", she said in a tone of suppressed anger. "We worked our asses off for months to find the problem but just could not trace it. And then suddenly last week the numbers correct themselves and we still didn't know how it was being done or where in the system it was coming from."
I couldn't help a little self-appreciation. "Umm…that was me" I said.
Her face reddened.
"You think you are so smart! Well, welcome to the team where everyone is smarter than you. And guess what, not being able to catch you before Anjali handed us everything, is going to have a negative influence on the appraisals of quite a few of your new team members including me. And everyone is quite eager to meet the guy who screwed them over" Simran continued with a cold smile.
I got it then. My work had preceded me. And made me enemies that I had not even met. Correction – I had met one; she was standing before me with every intention of making life very very difficult for me.