“Abir! I’m here.”
“You really came back? Giving up your studies abroad?”
When I actually returned to India, he was dumbfounded.
Since he happened to be eating rice with egg curry with aachar, I sat next to him and shoveled it all in.
After being in Cairo for a few days, I miss the taste of aam aacher.
“Yeah, because I studied to become rich! I came to the conclusion that making money directly is faster than studying.”
“Truly, life is easy.”
“If you looked at the contracts I’ve secured, you wouldn’t be able to say that.”
“What kind of contract did you sign to make you act like this?”
Abir smirked at my confident expression.
These contracts are worth $250,000.
I slammed the stack of contracts down on the floor.
It was truly the equivalent of a whole book on A4 paper.
$250,000?
“Right, 250,000 dollars!”
“Since it’s about 3.31 per dollar… Gasp! That’s over 7 lakh!”
Huh?
The exchange rate was only 3.31 back then?
I thought it would be around 10 or something.
“You really need over a 1 crore to call it trading. It’s a small amount, but I think it’s a suitable sum for the two of us to start with.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“A small amount? That’s money a salaried worker like me would have to save for 250 years without spending a single penny!”
“How much is your salary? Isn’t it pretty good?”
Abir is an employee of Hooghly Textile, a fairly successful textile company.
It is 300 INR including allowances.
“okay?”
Is a textile factory employee’s monthly salary around 300 INR?
I thought I just needed to multiply the price by about 30, but it looks like I’ll have to multiply by 100!
“It’s a real tricot fabric contract. Gasp! It’s over 500,000 yards in total? W-You must be crazy!”
Abir, who was rummaging through the contract, suddenly trembled uncontrollably.
Judging by your expression, it looks like you’re scared, not excited.
“Abir, are you scared?”
“Hey, have you ever been in the fabric business?”
“I’m planning to start now, right?”
“The export volume is 500,000 yards, and… even the dyeing is all over the place?”
Abir was dumbfounded by my words.
There’s nothing you can’t do.
How much could 500,000 yards really be?
To convert to meters, you just multiply by 0.9, so 450,000 meters…
that’s roughly 450 km.
…
Damn it, it’s like the distance between Calcutta and Delhi.
Even if it doesn’t reach Delhi, I am sure it will reach Cuttack.
I shouldn’t have underestimated it.
P
“You lunatic. Tricot is a complex fabric woven vertically. Even if we run a loom at full capacity for a whole month, we’re lucky at producing 5,000 yards. If you factor in breakdowns or the time spent changing threads, 4,000 yards is the limit. And you think we can produce 500,000 yards? Just the two of us?”
Hmm, I heard that historically, they received orders that a single company couldn’t handle, but was it really this massive?
If the monthly production per unit is 4,000 yards, how many units would it take to process 500,000 yards?
If we assume the deliveries are split into three installments, we just need to produce roughly 170,000 yards per month, so if we divide by 4,000…
What?
So we just need to secure about 50 weaving machines.
What’s so difficult about it?
Fifty pieces of equipment should be enough to cover it.
“Let’s not overthink it. If we can just secure about 50 looms, we can get it done in three or four months of hard work. There must be at least 50 FNF machines in the country, right?”
“Fifty pieces of equipment? What kind of kid’s name is that… Ah, right… Let’s assume the equipment exists. Then, what are you going to use for those machines ?”
“Look at the samples. They are numbers 34 and 77”
I handed over a sample book.
“… Crazy, it’s a Rayon and cotton blend… Are you out of your mind?”
“A blend? Did you mix Rayon and cotton? No wonder it felt soft for a synthetic fiber.”
Abir, who was touching the sample, glared at me as if he were going to devour me.
“If it’s a blend, how many more pieces of equipment do you think we’ll need? Huh? What on earth gave you the nerve to take on a job like this!”
It appears that the equipment utilization rate drops further in the case of a mixed system.
“Haha, we can do it. We’re young, after all.”
I flinched at the look in his eyes, but I felt good.
The fact that he’s acting this aggressively means he intends to work with me, doesn’t it?
Meanwhile, since he used to work at a textile company, he was more of an expert than me when it came to textiles.
“How can you eat after causing such a mess?”
“How can a guy get scared before he even starts? Don’t worry, this is going to be a huge success. You just have to do exactly as I say.”
It was a huge success in history as well.
Considering that Grandfather accomplished something of this when he was just starting out in the workforce, it seems he was no ordinary person.
I am no ordinary person either, so naturally, shouldn’t I succeed?
I will surpass him.
“Give it a try. Let’s see how well you manage it.”
First, as soon as you get to work tomorrow, submit your resignation letter, and use the rent from your apartment here to set up an office for me.
“Yeah, throwing in a resignation letter is every salaried worker’s dream. Using the office like your own apartment is okay, too. But what are you going to do next?”
“Set up a company called Nayara Corporation, and borrow some money from the bank using this contract as collateral. You can borrow at least 5 lakh , right?”
“… Yeah, it’s really easy. Right?”
“It’s not easy, that’s why I’m asking you. Who else would I trust?”
Abir seemed to calm down slightly at the look in my eyes.
For now, he probably just wants to try helping out.
I could somewhat understand the sentiment of grandfathers for staying together until the very end.
“Right… I guess I’ll have to give it a try. Then what are you going to do?”
“What do you mean, what do you mean? We need to find a factory to produce it.”
If you just find a partner company to entrust the work to, that’s all there is to it.
“Pfft, a guy who hasn’t received a paycheck much because he’s been studying is looking into working at a factory?”
“Did you ever imagine that a guy who’s barely received a paycheck would land a huge contract like this?”
“…..”
Abir became speechless.
Of course you wouldn’t have anything to say.
“I can do it. So you can too. Register the corporation and borrow some money.”
“If I do that, will you make me a manager?”
I’m the boss, you’re the department head.
“Fine. Mr. Rohit . I’ll grovel and do exactly as you say, so please help me get ahead.”
“You’ve already made it big. You were born with good luck with people, and I’m telling you, your financial luck is going to explode from now on.”
I spoke so confidently that he finally seemed to calm down a bit and smiled, showing his gums.
He rummaged through the cupboard and brought out the leftover Beer.
“If you’ve started a business, you should toast. Don’t you agree?”
“For the Nayara!”
“For!”
Abir and I celebrated the start of the business with half a bottle of beer and chicken as a side dish.
Our Soaring era has begun.
***
“go for it!”
“go for it!”
As we left our rented room, the two of us clenched our fists at each other.
The fellow will be frequenting the bank, the scribes’ office, and the registry office for a few days.
I guess I should go to Dunlop?
Dunlop in the 21st century is a place with workshops that have died, but it is now 1948.
Baranagar’s Dunlop is the only place near Kolkata that could be called an industrial complex.
It is a place where over a thousand factories of similar size are concentrated, and since they gathered there organically, it could be considered the first privately funded industrial complex in history.
All thanks to Dunlop.
I thought we could tour the factories equipped with FNF looms, calculate the production volume for each, and distribute the quantities accordingly.
I took a bus to Dunlop.
Was this place called Dunlop More or baranagar busstand in this era?
As I got off the bus, a scene reminiscent of the streets of Baranagar’s from a past life unfolded.
In one space, there were chimneys spewing thick black smoke from early in the morning, people moving carts loaded with things, people already lighting up welding sparks, a woman delivering a plate piled high with ‘Chai’ as if such hustle and bustle were part of everyday life, and people filling their breakfast by scooping egg curry with rice.
If I had a smartphone, I would have liked to at least take a picture, but it wasn’t the time for that.
I diligently wandered here and there, hoping to find a sign like XX Textile or XX Weaving.
Sunanda chemical Fabric
How long had I wandered?
As I went deep into the alley, I saw a sign for a fabric weaving factory.
Since the word ‘synthetic fiber’ is a synonym for chemical fiber, it seemed like the factory I was looking for.
But guess what?
Although there was a huge crowd, it was a completely different situation from the lively morning assembly.
“Don’t come in! Get out!”
“Aren’t you the ones who should get out of the way? This factory is already ruined. Everything here belongs to the bank! Do you understand?”
“I don’t know anything about that! If you even touch a single fingertip of anything here, either you are dead or I am dead!”
At the entrance of the factory, three or four young men were tightly chaining themselves and swinging clubs.
In front of him, others were standing in a standoff, presenting seizure notices and official documents.
At a glance, they looked like bank collection officers and auctioneers.
The police were nearby, but they were just frowning at the awkward situation.
It was a scene I had seen countless times during my childhood.
The bankrupt factory went to auction.
The employees were driven out onto the streets with no way to receive their overdue wages.
Typical of the 50s.
I don’t know why the older generation called this the era of romance.
At that time, bank loan interest rates were over 25%, and private loan interest rates exceeded 40%.
The economic situation at the time was such that if a factory owner made even a single misstep in financial management, he would plummet straight into ruin.
This is likely the reason why factory owners at the time fell into all sorts of foolish acts such as fraud, smuggling, intentional bankruptcy, and gambling.
It was a time when people said that one had to be willing to do anything, whether it be bribery or illegality, as long as it made money, to be qualified to be a boss.
“Get out of the way and don’t get hurt! Do you think the boss who went bankrupt and ran away will come back just because of this? We’ll have to put it up for auction to pay the overdue wages.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Are you sure I’m the only one who’s been ripped off like this? Once we win the auction, those bank bastards will take it all and just toss us a mere 100 or 200 rupees! Bring us our wages! They’re delayed for a whopping three months! Bring us our money! It’s not the bank’s money!”
The young men resisted by swinging iron pipes.
He had chained himself up and locked the factory door, so even the bankers and auctioneers were unable to do anything about it.
After standing in a standoff for days, the young men looked no different from skulls.
If things continued like this, I felt like I would die of malnutrition before I received my overdue salary.
“This is your final warning! Put the pipe down and get out of the way!”
“Give me my money back! Pay me first before you arrest me or whatever.”
Everyone, let’s eat and then fight.
I raised my hand and intervened.
“…Who are you!”
“Get lost, you irrelevant jerk!”
When I butted in, everyone was furious at me.
“Ma’am, here’s some ‘thanda’ for everyone!”
Yes, sir.
Regardless of the tense atmosphere around me, I ordered from a passing vendor lady.
The woman was just as tenacious, so she didn’t care about the atmosphere.
She swung through the alley and instantly brought a tray piled high with .
“What are you doing! Aren’t you taking the lassi!”
Ah, yes.
Yes.
Instead, she screamed, telling me to help take down the tray of Lassi that she had brought.
The bank employee was also scared and grabbed the tin tray together.
“What are you guys doing? Aren’t you going to drink ?”
“No, no. I… I will drink!”
Do you give me extra cream too?
“A lot… a lot.”
Even in this type of business, you have to be quick-witted.
Since the woman know that I will be the one who would pay for the lassi, she quickly did what I wanted.
In a somewhat chaotic atmosphere, people received a glass of lassi each, and the commotion naturally subsided.
“How much is it, ma’am?”
It’s 2 rupees per glass.
That makes it 16 rupees in total.
I gave her a total of 20 rupees.
Thank you for your hard work.
You don’t need to give me change.
Oh my, the young boss is so generous.
You’re going to be a big success.
Please gather the dishes in one place.
The woman, who had been gruff until now, showered me with kind words and then vanished in a flash.
“I hear that a lot. We’re all just trying to make a living, so fighting is fighting, but first things first, we have to eat.”
Th…
thank you.
Perhaps because they were starving, the young men at the factory buried their noses in the lassi and started shoveling it up.
The iron chains bound to the body looked pitiful.
“Look here. I’ll eat it since you gave it to me, but this isn’t a matter for a passerby like you to get involved in.”
No, it might be a matter worth getting involved in.
“What are you talking about?”
The bank teller interrupted, but I continued speaking without taking my eyes off the young men.
“I am an exporter. I went to Egypt for synthetic fabrics, but I didn’t know this factory would go out of business. This is a factory that weaves using FNF equipment, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Yes! That is correct. All 10 units are FNF equipment.”
Oh, there are as many as 10?
This factory had 20% of the equipment I wanted.
It was quite a large factory, bigger than it looked.
That’s definitely fucking tempting…
[I will upload chapters of this book on Wednesday and Sunday schedule,per day one chapters, but yes, as it’s early phase of this book sometimes I will drop more than one chapters on those schedule date]