yeah. it was money that drove us apart.

He is balding, exceedingly well dressed, and given to laughing in an abrupt shriek.

And he is also extremely suspicious of me.

And I find myself nervously waiting for him tonight. Wondering if as usual I’ll let him down. Or will he be happy when I produce my last year’s Form 16 A with the flourish of a child whose showing her father a report card full of A’s.

He calls. My heart lurches.

“ I’m sending N. I’d also like you to know that N will be handling your case from now.  I will be there in the background, but N will be your contact person.”

My heart sinks to my bangkok chappals. I know what it means. My CA has finally declared open war on me.

It started with the incredulous looks he used to give me.

“ What you lost your form 16? The duplicate copy?”

Then the way he recoiled with horror.

“ You have not made any entries in your cheque book? Not even a single one?” (at this point he dropped his head in to his hands)

Next we proceeded to cold looks.

“ See, without your co-operation it’s like trying to navigate a ship with the help of a camel.”

The fact that I burst out laughing and told him I had also lost my pan card, probably only added to the strain in our relationship.

Of course, I never thought it would come to this. That he would ignore me. And then, just pass me off like some discarded housing society file to N.

It hurt.  But at 10.30 pm on 30^th march, as N chases me to my house to sign my tax return, I suspect our relationship is now beyond repair.

My CA secretly wants to dump me.