This story is about a terrifying encounter between one of the world’s most senior management consultants and one of the world’s scariest wild animals.

The action began a couple of weeks ago when several hundred partners at Bain headed off on a “leadership quest” to India, led by the firm’s new boss, Bob Bechek. Quests, as we know, are perfectly normal for Bain chiefs: Mitt Romney, who used to run the firm, is on one to become president of the US. Yet Mr Bechek’s quest is even more ambitious in that it aims to get a whole load of clean-cut consultants to understand India.

Thus the entire top brass of the firm came to be assembled in New Delhi, from where they broke into little groups. Mr Bechek and a couple of others went traipsing out into the middle of nowhere, and just as they were inspecting this corner of Britain’s former empire, the empire struck back. Or rather, a wild buffalo struck back.