This solid dose from Sai made me
think twice, and made me realize the fact that finance though very clumsy,
could be put to use in our daily life activities too. Anyway, continuing with
Sai’s marriage story, it was this day when he met the first marriage proposal
shortlisted by his parents, whose photo Sai had approved. The girl and her
family had come to Sai’s home where the the first formal meet was arranged. Before meeting
her, Sai had looked at her complete bio-data, filled in the excel model and had
made some calculations of his own. The girl's name was “Anita” and was a Delhite
(born and raised in Delhi), a B-Com from some Tom-Dick-Harry Delhi based
college and working for a salary barely touching 6 figures. The girl was quite
pretty, with shoulder length silky hairs, sharp nose features and big round
eyes. She was wearing an embroidered pink salwar kameez, and nice little gold
necklace. The lipstick was very subtle and had a glossy finish, making her lips
more attractive. The eye lashes were thick, with beautiful captivating eyes, the
first look of which would make any normal guy fall for her. But as the guy in
subject is no normal one, Sai’s first thought looking at her was the expense
she has incurred to look this beautiful and calculate the sunk cost.
What more can you expect from such a finance whiz-kid!
Anita had come along with her
parents and her younger brother Dhruv. Anita’s father was an officer with the
Delhi traffic police department and her mom was housewife. Her mom was wearing
a saree and loads of gold ornaments on her body. It was like she wanted to show
off below-the-table earnings of her husband and giving away a hint of their
family affluence. Anita’s dad was wearing a Nehru suit and her brother was
wearing worn out denims with a tight T-shirt. After a initial few minutes of
formal introduction and gupshup, Sai’s Dad asked him to take Anita to nearby
CCD and have a chat with her in person so that they get to know more about each
other. Sai went to his dad and murmured something in his ear. His dad too
whispered something in his ears. Everyone in the room including Sai’s mom was a
bit curious about the father-son whisper.
Sai then went in his room, changed
his kurta to wear a polo T-shirt, picked the car keys and carried his wallet
and laptop bag. He then asked Anita to come with him to CCD, and her father nodded
her, giving a signal of approval to go along with Sai. Sai’s mother was
a bit apprehensive at first seeing that he was carrying his laptop along with
him to CCD, but refrained from saying anything. Finally Sai and Anita got into
his car and he drove her to nearby CCD lounge. On reaching CCD lounge, Anita
pointed out a corner table where they could sit together and have a nice cozy
chat. It was Saturday afternoon, and the lounge was filled with young couples
and other marriage candidates. The entire lounge was painted in yellow and
green with cosy red sofas seats and small circular round tables. Sai placed
order for “Mint Mystique” and Anita ordered “Choc-orange” coffee. Anita started
the conversation by asking Sai about his current job and his life at B-school.
Anita: Dad told me that you are
an MBA from Delhi’s top B-school. I have some of my friends currently doing MBA
and keep on hearing a lot of buzz about the campus life out there. How was your
time in campus?
Sai’s campus life was full of
booz and sutta, a consequence of the frustration when he realized that Finance
is a useless buzz word and a baseless field. The only thing which he remembers
is that every night he used to hang out with his friends on terrace and have pints
of beer and smoke and then by some miracle waking up in the morning in his own
bed. He never remembered his return journey from terrace to his own room in the
dorm. The other thing he remembered was the college parties and the Exams,
where more you study the less you score.
Sai: Actually I miss my days I
spent in the college. Those were the best days of my life (even though I
remember only a few….which he did not say to her). The faculty was very good
and knowledge gain was huge.
Anita: You seem to speak less,
and to the point. It seems like you are withholding something from me. Did you have
a girlfriend or any affair in the college? Or are you forced to marry someone
else? You can trust me that I won’t say it to anyone and in fact help you out
with this thing.
Sai keeps mum, takes out his
laptop from the bag and boots it up. He keys in the password and whiles the
windows boots up, looks towards Anita and says:
Sai: I actually wanted to speak
something with you. But I actually do not know how to start. I even don’t know
what you would think of me when I say it to you. I did not want you to
misunderstand me and hence I chose to pick my words carefully. I would like to
show you something and hope you understand what I am thinking. It may appear
like some jargon at first, but I tried to keep it nice and simple. Here is a
ppt which I made for you to look at. I wanted that all things between you and
me should be clear from the start of our relationship itself.
Saying this he turned the laptop
towards Anita and clicked on slide show. The only thing which one learns in an MBA course is to make PowerPoint presentations, which Sai unfortunately did learn very well but forgot to learn where not to use it. Anita started reading through it and
at the end of the ppt, there was a sense of fury in her eyes, her body was
shivering and suddenly there was a huge sound, and all the people in the café looked
around to see what had happened. As you might think, it was not a slap, but her
throwing of coffee glass on the floor in rage.
She stood up and taking big steps
marched out of the lounge. Sai was there, sitting alone in the café, with
everyone staring at him – some in apathy, some with sympathy and some with
curiosity. The meeting was called off and Anita and her parents left Sai’s home.
Now you must be curious what this ppt had in it. So I have attached it in the next post for your reference. There was also an excel model which he had created,
but could not present it to her. I have also attached the excel model in the next post.
Story Continued.......
(Dowry Calculator - ppt and excel model)
