If God Was A Banker by Ravi Subramanian Page A

well.'
    'I will try my best.'
    'On a prom night, Swami, people who do their best always whine. The winner takes the prom queen home,' said Suneel at his arrogant best. The dialogue was a straight lift from a Hollywood flick.
    'Kalpana was a prom queen, Suneel,' retorted Swami. Thanks to Kalpana, he had seen the same Hollywood flick starring Nicholas Cage. He honestly didn't care too much because Suneel was not his boss anymore.
    Suneel was pissed, but couldn't do much about it. 'I'll finish you,' he muttered under his breath as Swami walked away.
    The dance floor was jam packed, like a peak hour Mumbai local, when Suneel pushed his way through. He found Sundeep and Natasha grooving and joined them.
    'Suneel, where's your drink?' asked Sundeep.
    'I'll get one when I am off the floor.'
    'What do you want, I will get it for you,' said Sundeep. 'The regular whisky and soda?' Suneel nodded as Sundeep dashed off the dance floor, leaving Natasha with Suneel.
    'Dance with me?' asked Suneel. Natasha didn't quite mind, as she was anyway grooving away furiously. Suneel matched her step for step. With every move of his, Suneel started moving closer to her. Natasha was a pro at handling advances. She was quick to notice and took preventive action. She was hoping that Sundeep would come back with the drink soon, but he was taking too long. Her eyes scanned the crowd to look for him, but she couldn't find him. Suneel realised that her attention was diverted, and, in one move, his hand went behind her waist and drew her to him and then released her almost immediately. This was just a sampling move. He was only testing the waters. Natasha was taken aback for a moment, but when Suneel released her, she relaxed a bit.
    When Suneel saw that Natasha didn't react, he started getting bolder. He moved in for the kill. He was so close to her now that Natasha could feel his breath. Suneel was a professional wooer. He was making it seem like a dance step, but it was not. No one around could realise what he was up to. Only Natasha knew. His hand was all over her back. When he pulled her close to him one more time, Natasha could make out that he was aroused. 'Where the fuck is Sundeep?' she thought in desperation.
    Kalpana was dancing next to Natasha and could make out from her expression that all was not hunky dory. She stopped dancing and went up to Natasha. She clutched her hand, looked at Suneel, and said, 'Suneel, will you please excuse us? I need to talk to her for a minute.' Suneel couldn't refuse. She dragged her away from the floor, just as Sundeep returned with the drink. 'Anything wrong?' he asked Suneel.
    'Well, no. Nothing. Just as the mood was building up, your wife went away with some lady. Maybe she thought I'm a lousy dancer,' he said. The sarcasm in his voice was evident. Suneel didn't like to be turned down.
    Later that night, Sundeep and Natasha had a huge showdown. Sundeep was upset that Natasha had walked away from Suneel on the dance floor. Natasha kept explaining what Suneel did, but Sundeep did not listen. He felt she was overreacting.
    For the first time in eighteen months, Natasha felt that Sundeep was not the kind of guy she thought he was. 'Did he marry me because he really loves me, or was it something else?' Natasha wondered as she hit the bed that night.

 
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    L ife in office became tough for Natasha. She was finding it difficult to cope with Suneel. This man was known to be a vindictive guy. He had not forgotten the dance floor snub and would make snide remarks at Natasha once in a while. Natasha decided to bide her time. Sometimes, when it became unbearable, she would call Swami or Kalpana and cry her heart out. She didn't say anything to Sundeep. She knew he wouldn't empathise with her. He was out to build a relationship with Suneel and was blind to everything that would make it difficult.
    In the next few years, many other banks also got into the loans business. But given their long history as deposit gatherers, with