“Welcome to Great Eastern Restaurant.”
“I came here for lunch.”
“Of course. Please feel free to be our guest.”
The easiest way for an ordinary person to enter the Great Eastern Hotel comfortably was to say they had come to eat at the restaurant.
On the first floor of the hotel was the Great Eastern Restaurant.
The very restaurant where the East India Company officials sometimes discussed business or celebrated New Year, Christmas and famous for its European cuisine.
It felt strange seeing a Restaurant that would be demolished and rebuilt into one of the iconic heritage sites.
Well it also has a gallery to showcase various artists’ artwork.
I hear this hotel got taken over by ICICI.
I don’t know what that Bastard is doing, taking over all of the European owned business in India so be it Lahore to Rangoon or Kashmir to Colombo.
No wonder this gallery holds this type of Artwork.
I heard from my friends that their grandfather’s friends’ artworks were being sold to foreigners as cheap souvenirs from a backward country, with prices of only a few dollars at this time.
The artists’ true value was being completely ignored.haa…
In the end, cultural industries always rose in proportion to national power.
Isn’t it?
Buying them would probably make money someday, but I needed to focus on my own business first.
“Beautiful paintings, aren’t they?”
“Yes, indeed. They capture India’s uniquely rustic sense of beauty and emotion quite well, especially this piece of work that represents Indian freedom fighters’ fighting spirit.”
I struck up a conversation with a foreigner who was admiring the artwork.
He wandered around sipping the complimentary gallery coffee with the leisurely boredom of someone who had nowhere else to go.
Then again, there probably wasn’t anywhere worth sightseeing.
Compared to the booming prosperity of 1950s Europe or USA, India at this time was practically a barren land..
Even if tourists explored the city, they’d likely find conditions even less comfortable than the Great Eastern Hotel.
Even Indians in the 21st century eventually got bored after a day or two of exotic scenery in Europe or the Indian Ocean and ended up lazing around in resort pools.
“How fascinating. A foreigner understands the Indian freedom struggle.”
“Haha, fascinating? What’s truly fascinating is how people with such emotions can also be filled with such ambition. Foreigners who haven’t experienced Indians firsthand could never imagine it.”
Hm?
Indians filled with ambition?
The way he spoke… It sounded exactly like a predator was savoring a prey or checking the worth of an item.
‘Come to think of it, his look matches the description of what I inquired about.’
The man before me was a sharp-looking young gentleman.
I need to know if he is the man I am looking for, I need to confirm this first.
“Hello I am Rohit Karmakar of Nayara Corporation. Would you care for a cup of coffee? I’d love to hear your insights.”
“Oh? You’re a businessman?”
The moment I handed him my business card, he subtly increased the distance between us.
He looked at me with the caution reserved for traveling salesmen.
“They say if you want to understand economic trends, you need to spend time around the Great Eastern Hotel. I think I finally understand why.”
“Haha, you’re an interesting man. In any case, pleased to meet you. My name is Alfred Goldsmith.”
‘Jackpot!!
I found Alfred immediately!’
Alfred didn’t offer his own card — only a handshake.
It didn’t matter.
I was already thrilled just to have found him.
“So you’re a World Bank officer. You must be working very hard. I hope you’ll help ensure TISCO, IISCO’s complex gets built quickly.”
“…How exactly… Are you perhaps from the Indian Government?”
Alfred’s eyes sharpened instantly with suspicion.
Naturally so.
He handled international loans as a World Bank officer.
His main job was evaluating which countries and industries deserved funding, meaning he constantly dealt with lobbying attempts and bribery schemes.
“Of course not. At my age, I wouldn’t even qualify to hand out business cards in Indian politics. I’m merely a trader dealing in synthetic fibers. I just happened to learn about the government’s plans.”
“Nothing has been decided yet.”
He remained cautious, but my words had clearly piqued his curiosity.
Probably because I’d casually mentioned extremely high-level information.
As of this moment, the Indian government under that bastard had already decided to build the SAIL’s (Steel Authority of India Limited) steel complex with the USSR and now this upgrade plan without fire there is no smoking and was now asking itself: When?
Where?
What factories?
And with whose money?
They had committed to the policy before even securing funding or completing feasibility studies.
Some might call it sloppy policymaking.
But from my perspective, government policymakers under him were surprisingly intelligent and incredibly decisive.
They understood that escaping developing-country status was impossible without the HCI(Heavy – Chemical Industry) complex.
So he probably started with the basics of basic steel.
“They’ll confirm it soon enough. And the World Bank will support it shortly afterward, won’t they?”
I think under him India’s standard procedure will be to decide on a national policy first, then immediately request loans from the various partners otherwise what he is planning to do is this.
Yes, I think this is his plan .
India is now maintaining its Nonalignment policy so even the U.S.
The USSR government would keep its distance publicly while dispatching a World Bank inspection team to evaluate the situation quickly.
Especially after the situation that he did with Burma.
Alfred was essentially the vanguard of that inspection team.
They intended to use him as India’s dedicated liaison.
“Confirmed? Impossible.”
“Hm? You really don’t know? If you send a telex to World Bank headquarters, you should receive confirmation immediately. Strange. Surely headquarters wouldn’t bypass their Indian officer…”
“!!!”
Alfred’s expression twisted instantly.
Regardless of East or West, anyone excluded from matters concerning their own work would naturally feel furious.
‘As expected!
He really didn’t know!
So let’s add more oil!’
For a moment, I nearly shouted, I’m a genius!
I’d spent the entire morning agonizing over one question.
‘Why did Alfred support India’s steel complex so strongly?
Why did he independently send a report to the US govt according to the rumour?
What exactly was written in that report that made the World Bank approve the loan so quickly?’
In the end, I’d reached one conclusion:
There must have been internal friction between him and other intermediary bosses of his at World Bank headquarters.
Think about it.
How often would some mere dispatched field officer independently send reports directly to the ?
Surely there were countless superiors above Alfred at World Bank headquarters.
Which meant he’d sent that report fully prepared to risk his career.
“No wonder headquarters never replied to my reports or sent further instructions…”
“What kind of report did you submit?”
“A comparative report evaluating which and how those two can support the full ecosystem and how they would be most suitable for the investment. But there’s been no response… so I sent a report directly. Ah, what am I saying…”
Alfred had accidentally revealed confidential information to me.
It was only natural.
He’d been carrying all this stress alone.
The moment someone finally asked, his frustrations spilled out unconsciously.
“Why even compare? The answer is obvious .”
I continued speaking as though I had no idea it was classified.
“…And how are you so certain? Do you even know which zones are under consideration?”
“If I were you, I’d probably be comparing Bombay, Calcutta, United Provinces,Madras, and among those, is the obvious choice.”
“W-What?! How do you know all four? Even the Indian government hasn’t finalized—”
He was genuinely shocked.
Naturally.
If what I am thinking is right he probably want to localised the all of the railway locomotive it’s parts its components to localised and the loan to IISCO and TISCO, it’s all points towards the locomotive manufacturing complex.
“How? Well, considering available land, industrial water access, port infrastructure, transportation, and electrical supply, there are no other realistic candidates.”
“Incredible. Then how did you conclude Calcutta is optimal?”
“Yes, because for no other reason that the Asansol-Burnpur-Durgapur belt can supply coal and iron ore to Jamshedpur and Burnpur,. Industrial water can also be drawn easily from the Ganges”
“How do you know these things…”
“Because it’s the most cost effective, and at this time the government will always choose for highest probability and cost effectiveness.”
“Gah!!!”
“Even excluding land prices, the basic utility infrastructure costs would probably be that way and this cost effectiveness….really… .”
“…”
Alfred was beyond shocked.
He was speechless.
For me, though, this wasn’t difficult.
I was merely repeating debates that should be become common knowledge
“To be honest, Mr. Alfred , you’d already chosen yourself, hadn’t you?”
“Forgive me for interrupting, but I just remembered I have a meeting.”
“You must be busy. It was an honor meeting you.”
“Honor is too much… but thank you nonetheless.”
Alfred had grown so wary of me that he used a meeting as an excuse to leave.
But I was satisfied.
I handed him my business card.
After all, although he was a World Bank officer, he’d effectively been isolated by his World Bank colleagues from other countries .
And for good reason.
The World Bank is not fully under US control, so to fully control the World Bank and to spread their soft power they need to launch IDA, they need this type of local insight now.
In other words, the U.S.
officials to the World Bank prioritized understanding who is beneficial for the U.S.
government, and whom the US govt politically wanted to support rather than objectively comparing developing countries for World Bank sake.
At this time, India is in a limbo situation in the rank.
Because Europe is now in full reconstruction mode.
Even Japan ranked higher simply because of its geographic proximity to USSR
Of course, this was before America fully entered the Vietnam War.
I already knew what history would reveal:
The Vietnam War would change everything.
And that’s the only chance that can give serious wings to this country.
We have to catch that before the Middle East Oil boom, even if we don’t get profit from the Korean War, we have to squeeze the last bit of value from the Vietnam war.
‘Alfred, don’t forget my business card.
If you follow it, you’ll become a World Bank executive overnight.
If you don’t, I can’t say anything!’
As Alfred walked away, I silently projected my desperate thoughts toward the back of his head.
Great Eastern Hotel, Third-Floor Office
The moment Alfred entered his office, he pulled out a thick stack of documents.
It was the site evaluation report for India’s future locomotive complex and hydropower and thermal power complex.
“Basic utility infrastructure costs… here it is.”
After searching through the index for quite some time, Alfred finally found the relevant data.
…
“Good God!”
Alfred nearly fell backward in shock.
The numbers Mr.Rohit had quoted were almost identical.
He’d even predicted construction costs exactly.
“This is impossible. These figures were calculated by our teams”
These weren’t numbers someone could casually estimate on an abacus.
They’d been produced through complex mathematical models by our teams.
This perfectly matched Mr.
Rohit’s explanation.
India didn’t even possess proper sufficient equipment yet.
That’s why they are getting capital goods from UK
But how could he have perfectly identified them ?
“Incredible. What was the company name again? Nayara Corporation? But for a synthetic fiber exporter…”
Alfred pulled out the business card he’d casually tucked into his inner pocket.
Below the name was an office address.
Absurdly, there was no telephone number.
Well telephone is expensive at this time even in the U.S.
Thinking that was all, he flipped the card over.
「Israel War → Inflation Risk Hedge」
“Israel War… inflation risk hedge.”
The moment he read those words, Alfred’s entire body trembled.
As an economist, he instantly understood the implications.
“This man is a genius! A genius!”
Alfred absolutely had to find Rohit.
He wanted to hear more.
No — he needed to hear more.
If he could simply organize Rohit Karmakar’s foresight and report it properly to the U.S.
government, he could gain enormous benefits.
He hurried down the stairs and searched the first-floor gallery and lobby, but Rohit Karmakar was nowhere to be found.
He had already left the Great Eastern Hotel.
‘I kicked away fortune with my own feet.
Damn it…’
Alfred grew desperate.
‘Rohit Karmakar… he said he was into synthetic fiber exports, right?
Then maybe he went there…’
Alfred rushed to his car and sped out into the streets.