New Delhi, May 26 -- Bertie was in awe of his batchmate Sid, who after the gruelling two years on the banks of Sabarmati, had the motivation to do another MBA from an Ivy League college. When they caught up recently, Bertie took a while to reconcile the Sid who drank copious amounts of happy water of dubious parentage with the Sid sitting in front of him who was rolling the 'r' when he asked for water. The r-roller Sid, unsurprisingly, works for a bulge-bracket investment bank where he advises bulge-bracket private equity firms on what to do with their bulging portfolios.

"In the thick of it, ha, your Ivy alma mater?" Bertie ribbed Sid, expecting a Hindi expletive in response. Instead, Sid nodded and said in a low tone, "The man is after...