Chapter 3: The Dark side of Life

Following the abrupt encounter with Tiger bhai, Mr. Brahma realized that the NGO's owner would not take it lightly and that an incident would eventually occur. Despite this, he had to exercise caution and returned home by using a regular bus.

Additionally, he kept his family in the dark about the unexpected meeting with Tiger bhai since he didn't want them to worry, but fate had other plans.

Mr. Brahma is a married man who has Mrs. Arundhati as his wife and a son named Bharat.

Upon arriving home, he showered and got dressed before the three of them ate a straightforward but delectable dinner of hot daal, which is lentil soup served with white rice, posto bora, which is a dish of poppy seed fritters and French fries, as well as an abundance of salad and curd.

At the dinner table, they also had time to talk about each other's days. Brahma asked Bharat about his schooling and studies, and he also asked Arundhati about her day. By learning about each other's whereabouts, the three of them went to bed early because Tuesday was the following day and they had to leave for their respective jobs early in the morning.

Next day Mr. Brahma, his wife and son woke up at their usual time of 6 am in the morning and did their usual morning chores.

Then Bharat went for his school and Mr. Brahma went for office as usual at 7 am since it takes almost one and half hours to reach office due to the heavy traffic of Rajgarh Town and also he had to report a bit early then the reporting time of 9 am of the official start of the Business hours.

Mr. Brahma arrived at work at 8.45 a.m. in somewhat cloudy and rainy weather. He then proceeded to set up his workspace and resume his duties of analyzing IPB bank clients' transactions for any unusual activity in order to prevent money laundering.

Just when he was going through a critical set of transaction records and was only ten minutes into his usual schedule he was summoned by the boss.

Mr. Brahma was taken aback, wondering why his boss had called him in so early given that he hadn't finished his first report on the transactions. Normally, he would meet with his boss after lunch, having finished the midday report, to talk about the plans for the investigations and how to carry them out.

He knocked on his boss's cabin door and entered.

Boss said: "Please take a seat, Mr. Brahma."

Mr. Brahma acknowledged and sat down before replying: "Thank you sir. Please tell me if there is some urgent work which needs to be addressed."

Boss said: "Yes, this matter is indeed urgent. There is an escalation in your name which has come to my notice that yesterday you have denied an esteemed customer of our IPB bank to lift the block from her account. She holds high value assets and makes transactions worth millions daily from her account. Do you know how much profit our bank makes from those transactions?"

Mr. Brahma was surprised by the attitude of his boss since previously his boss had never talked to him in this way.

Mr. Brahma calmly said: "Yes sir I understand that the bank does make a lot of profit from her transactions however she was making payment to this Non-Profit Organization which has a history of indulging in illegal activities in the past and also we have found a link with one of the sanctioned countries through her account so as per the bank policy we had to put a hold on her account which cannot be unblocked until all prerequisites for the condition is met."

The Boss gave Mr. Brahma an irritated glance and remarked: "Mr. Brahma you have been a long standing employee of the bank, having worked with us for nearly twenty years, servicing our clients. You are a kind man and an honest worker, but doing too much of this is bad for you. As you can see, when we first joined the bank, you and I were at the same rank. However, after twenty years, I was promoted to regional head after taking advantage of the bank's policies to give our customers what they wanted. In exchange, I received numerous expensive gifts from customers, praise, and promotions, but you are still stuck as an ordinary auditor at the bank. After working for so long, I assumed you would finally realize that, occasionally, it's necessary to set aside moral principles and accept the possibilities we have in order to further the interests of our family but you are still the same. Since I've known you since our first day of work together twenty years ago, I called you today not as your employer but as a friend instead. I understand that you have a wonderful wife and a boy in school to take care of, but it has hurt me to watch you struggle for so long at the same level without making any progress. Hard work and honesty don't always pay off because sometimes you also need to let go of inhibitions and make the most of your circumstances. I know you still disagree with me, but even though I've already told you this before and you don't seem to be listening, I can't let you continue doing this now. This time, I'm under a lot of pressure from upper management, so we have to open the account and let her finish the transaction with the NGO to spare you the terrible consequences and preserve the bank's reputation."

Speaking without showing emotion, Mr. Brahma replied: "I apologize, boss. You already know that I am a trustworthy person who will never compromise on my core values. I don't want that type of favor if it means sacrificing my integrity and doing unethical activities in order to advance professionally and get wealthy."

Boss said helplessly: "You still have time to change your mind. I understand that you are a stickler for your convictions and will not accept any kind of favor, but things have changed in the past few years. If you refuse to allow transactions and do not unblock the account, you will face harsh repercussions. Your son and wife will also suffer as a result of your decision, which will not be in your best interests. Although I am not requesting that you condone any unlawful behavior, I am certain that you won't. To avoid having to fire you and to keep our firm running smoothly, all I'm asking is that you turn over the case to your colleague, whom I have set up, and go blind for a little while."

Mr. Brahma said with a calm expression: "Boss I am sorry I cannot be oblivious to this situation since this case has come to me first so I have to complete my job honestly with full devotion as I have already sent mail and reported it to the International Audit Group (IAG) so I cannot do anything on this."

Boss said impatiently: "What!! You have already reported it to the IAG team. Why didn't you ask me before reporting it? Now no one can save you. I was only being nice because of your family till now since I had interacted with them and knew them well and wanted you to concede so that they can be saved, however now because of your imprudence you have to face the consequences with your family."

Mr. Brahma could only listen to what his boss said as he did not have any authority over here and saw himself getting terminated. Then he went to his desk, collected his things from the locker and left for home dejectedly.

When he reached home Arundhati was surprised to see him so early and got worried if he was sick since she knew that her husband never came back from office so early and used to work with full devotion and passion.

Arundhati asked: "What happened darling? You returned from work so early today was there a holiday declared in the office or are you unwell in some way."

He couldn't immediately respond to his wife's inquiries after being fired from his job and returning from it since he didn't know how to respond to her at this point because he was feeling so guilty. He was frustrated with himself since he did not know how he will provide for his family now and being incapable of looking after your family is a feeling which no man wants to experience ever. His son was still studying in class twelfth how he will support his son for his higher studies. As the only provider for his family, he felt helpless and thought his life had come to an end. He also felt that he should commit suicide, but how could he die when his parents had instilled in him from an early age the belief that hardships in life are simply tests of fate and that one should persevere and carry out good deeds?

So after much pondering over the situation he decided to tell his wife the hard fact since in the end the truth will be out in the open and his wife will come to know so he calmed himself and said to his wife: "Arundhati I have to tell you something."

Arundhati said: "Yes! Darling."

Brahma was unable to control his emotions and said restlessly: "Arundhati I wanted to let you know that I lost my job today and that I'm now a devastated man."

For a while, Arundhati was worried about what might happen, but she quickly got over it since she always trusted her husband and understood that, at this point, he was mentally broken and that she needed to support him no matter what.

Arundhati calmed herself and said: "Dear husband, I understand this is a difficult time for us; however you do not worry I am sure we will come out of this situation together."

Brahma was grateful to his wife for believing in him however he knew how dire the situation was as he thought in his heart: "The unfortunate issue is that I have been blacklisted by them, which means I will never be able to work in banking sector again and will have to find another employment. All I'm concerned about is how we're going to pay for everyday bills. There is also Bharat's school; he is just in the twelfth grade, so we need to figure out how to pay for his educational costs."

It was fortunate that Bharat wasn't home just yet because he wouldn't want to show his son his broken shelf. However, he couldn't express his concerns to Arundhati because that's what men do—they always stuff their worries deep inside their hearts and never tell their loved ones about it.

Brahma said with a determined expression: "Yes, sweetheart, don't worry; we will soon get out of this predicament; it's just a matter of time."