If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian

Book Review of If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian

If God Was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian, the author of Devil in Pinstripes, is a thriller on corporate banking. Two IIM graduates Sundeep and Swami join New York International Bank. Sundeep Srivastava is an ambitious banker. He believes the end justifies the means. He becomes involved with Naresh, the Doctor Evil of If God Was a Banker. Naresh, it seems, has ample supply of beautiful secretaries who are ready to bed his clients. Here, Sundeep commits his first act of adultery. From then his banking career takes a meteoric rise to fame. But that is only temporary, because (stereo typically) evil always takes all the beating in the end.

The hero in If God Was a Banker, Swami, an epitome of integrity (and probably also of a stress-induced sterility) stands in stark contrast with Sundeep. He loves nothing but South Indian foods, drinks nothing but carbonated drinks, does nothing but banking. He is so downright boring that probably his subordinates consider him a part of their office furniture. But guess what. He weds the prettiest girl whom Sundeep had long wished to bed.

So these two opposite poles work in this bank called New York International Bank. You can imagine what happens in such situations. They get into bitter rivalry. I don’t mean Swami. No. He is supposed to be above this dirty politics, because he is a ‘Tamil Brahmin’ and because he is a god fearing, idli-loving, fiercely honest banker. He is everything a North Indian Sundeep, who is also a hard drinker and a womaniser,  is not.

I am trying to make you understand this. There was rivalry between every other person in this confounded bank. But Swami was never a part of it. In fact he was never a part of anything particular. Naresh is pure evil. Sundeep is being manipulated by him and  does some shadowy dealings. Sundeep also has an extraordinarily healthy libido. Management soon gets the whiff of it.

Now they wants to fire him (That’s good, because considering what he did, I’d like to set him on fire myself). Swami, quite predictably, comes for the rescue. At this point I was seriously thinking if I should quit reading. But hell, I goddamn paid for the book, didn’t I?

The English is good. The story could be better. The characters are in shambles. A real life character is neither pure evil nor impeccably holy. Ravi Subramanian took this point lightly. As a result the book failed to be The Fountainhead and became If God was a Banker instead.

If God was a Banker is however, excellent for killing time. Buy the paperback from Wheeler before boarding the train. Finish it before you reach the destination. Then present it to some banker friend and completely ruin his career.

In case you are clueless about who the God is: for that you have to read the book.

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