Page 20 of 12 Years
The waiter arrived with our food just then.
‘Everyone is so fit in this restaurant. Including you,’ she said.
‘Thank you. Ever since I stopped working fourteen hours a day in office, I’ve had plenty of time to work out.’
‘I wish I had your life,’ she said, sighing.
‘You can. Just quit your job, give up on this mega-paying career and do something impractical and pointless, like stand-up comedy.’
‘Comedy isn’t pointless. It makes people laugh. It makes them happy. And that’s the entire point of life, isn’t it? To be happy?’ Payal said.
‘Wow. Never saw it that way,’ I said, taking a bite of my salad.
‘I invest rich people’s money to make them even richer. That, one can argue, is pointless,’ she said.
‘Thanks. I don’t feel so bad anymore. You’re quite the capitalist philosopher, aren’t you? Evolved thoughts for such a young age.’
‘Well, I’ve been told that I’m quite mature for my age.’
‘By whom?’
‘Akanksha, my best friend.’
‘Ah yes, the one who ditched you at the last minute yesterday.’
‘Oh, someone listens.’
‘I try,’ I said, smiling.
We ate in silence for the next couple of minutes.
‘Speaking of making rich people richer, you want to discuss the ESOPs?’ I said, pushing my plate aside.
‘Yes, I do,’ Payal said. She pulled out her laptop from the tote bag. Then she took out a notebook, a set of printouts and two pens. How can girls store so much in their handbags?
She opened a spreadsheet on her laptop and turned it around so the screen was visible to both of us.
‘I hid the company details, but here is the ESOP structure. These printouts have more information,’ she said, sliding the documents towards me.
‘Okay, let’s see,’ I said as I scanned the spreadsheet.
I spent the next hour working with her. In between, we ordered two rounds of black coffee. I modified the spreadsheet, adding a few new rows and formulae.
‘And that’s it,’ I said. ‘This is the value of the ESOPs.’ I turned the laptop screen towards her.
‘This makes sense,’ she said a minute later, going through the spreadsheet. ‘And the ESOPs are worth almost twenty-five per cent of the total shares in the company.’
‘Yes, a quarter of the company.’
She looked up. ‘Thank you, Saket. This is incredibly helpful. I almost feel like calling you Saket sir.’
‘Please don’t. I don’t need any more reminders about my age. Even this morning, some college kid at the gym said, “Uncle, are you done with the cable machine?”’
‘That’s all right,’ Payal said, unable to suppress her laughter.
‘The dude was twenty years old. And a giant. Bodybuilder type.’
‘I’m also twenty-one. Maybe I should also—’ she said, but I interrupted her mid-sentence.
