'.... so, given your numbers have been on and off,' Sameer took a pause to clear his throat, 'I can't give you as fat a bonus as I would've liked to. You'll get what you deserve.'

I nodded more in resignation than understanding. If this had happened ten years ago, I would've quit right there. But given I'd become more old than experienced, had a fatter salary and a family too, quitting wouldn't be wise. And so, I decided to take it with a pinch of salt. Sameer handed me a sealed envelope with my pay revision and bonus letters and a beautifully engraved wooden box before leaving my office.

Now, no one gives away boxes to employees, but Sameer and I have been friends for a while. Only, he chose to wed his profession while I thought intense flirtation would do. Soon, he rose one level and then two and before I knew, had become my boss. Thankfully we managed to remain just ourselves and didn't let work come in the way of our friendship. Until now - what else can it mean when you are handed a box with a bag of peanuts during a performance review?

Sameer, you must know, was a bit of a prankster as a youngster and even years into our work life. And then dropped the habit - maybe he realised it would impede his ascent. And given I was a long-time accomplice, I knew this wasn't a prank, but a cleverly disguised scheme. He could tick me off with this and then claim it was a prank played on his childhood friend that wasn't taken in the right spirit. Wow!

I stormed out of the office and walked all the way home. All the walking and the fleeting images of my wife and children made me give up the temptation to bludgeon him. I sat in front of the computer to let Sameer know in a more civilised way that he ought to have treated me with dignity. There is only so far you can go even if you're friends - no, all the more if you're friends. And he gave me Peanuts. 

For a long time, Peanuts is all I could type and imagine. I walked up to the window overlooking an abandoned housing plot that now was a mini-forest. A monkey - perhaps with its own banana issues - looked at me with eyes that begged for food. He needs the peanuts more than I do. 

'Peanuts are for monkeys, Sameer. You should've kept them,'  I texted him and flung the bag of peanuts towards the monkey. He leapt evasively, inspected the bag and proceeded to devour its contents. Even as I looked on, the monkey picked up something shiny from the bag and flung it at me. It was now time for me to take evasive action and I failed. The object hit my forehead, leaving a bloody gash. I picked it up and flung it back at the monkey which deftly evaded it an disappeared. The shiny object fell into the thicket below.

Just then, a message arrived - 'which is why I gave it to you. Did you check inside by the way?' I hadn't and thought reading the letter would help. It didn't and made it worse - my bonus was a car that I had been ogling at for a while. Its key was hidden in the bag of peanuts and now lay guarded by snakes and rodents.

It wasn't to be my day, maybe because I was bent on letting my bonus hurt me one way or the other.