The Serious Business of Nonsense

April, 2000. Worli, Mumbai.

I had been gunning for this job for years. Actually, not the job — the boss. Meenakshi Madhvani finally gave me a break. One condition: keep the client, keep the job. Lose the client, lose everything.

First presentation. I decide to wear a saree. I want to look like her.

I am not used to wearing a saree.

Mid-presentation I step on the pleats. Then again. One by one, quietly, my saree begins to fall apart. I am at one end of a long conference table. Nobody can see the floor. I keep speaking.

The presentation goes beautifully.

When it is time to leave I whisper to MM and direct her gaze to the floor. She doesn't miss a beat. Chanda, wrap up here and join me at reception. To the client: your time is precious, I'll walk with you to your office.

She walked him out. I gathered my saree off the floor.

Twenty five years later I tell this story and everyone laughs. I laugh the loudest.

Not because it wasn't terrifying. It was. The wanting was real. The fear was real.

The joke is only as good as the pain that came before it.