Anupama: A Different Perspective

New Meetings and Old

"Because this man is a terror" said Kinjal
Karthik looked up to see where the voice came from and he saw her. It's was her. He was already standing still but seeing her made him freeze in his spot. All of him froze, he was surprised to see her, not because she filed a complaint to arrest him but just seeing her. Karthik knew he would see her again but he wasn't aware that it would be so soon. Karthik didn't mind being arrested if it made her happy and so he made no arguments or movements. His secretary Sharma was waiting outside, all it would take was one word of Karthik and he would freed instantly but Karthik made no attempts to do so, he didn't want to go against her. He had seen her again and for her he would happily go into the darkest of dungeons and come back with the hope of seeing her once more. His eyes would not move from her face, the same big eyes, the lips, the beauty spot on the corner of her lips, Karthik had to catch himself and shift his eyes but they went right back to her. Karthik was forgetting his etiquettes and looked at her for far longer than he ever looked at a women, he couldn't help it. It was as if she was a magnet and pulled him towards her, he never felt like this before. The police around him spoke, removed his handcuffs and soon left them themselves. Karthik was in a daze, he heard noises but didn't pay attention to anyone's voice. He wanted to hear her again, even if she pointed a finger at him accusingly, he wanted to hear her. Karthik was still in his daze, his eyes moving to her and then him forcing himself to look away before they found their way back to her. Karthik stood calm on the outside but a fiercing  storm played in his heart, he was elated, surprised and so many things on seeing her. Normally Karthik was always composed, calm, he lived in his own world but today it felt like he had stepped out and wanted to be in her world. Karthik felt all sorts of emotions he had never felt in his life before, suddenly a familiar emotion took over, anger. Karthik saw Anuj Kapadia move towards him and he swiftly took a step forward. This was where they stood, apart, away from each other and nothing Anuj Kapadia did could change that. Anuj had made his decision 5 years ago and Karthik will make sure nothing changes between them. Karthik looked up at everyone and slowly looked at all of them before speaking. "Why did you call me? Can we get to the main task?" He said calmly yet his voice booming. "Karthik, I..I. What I wanted to say or what I should say..I'm" Anuj spoke in pieces not sure where to begin. "Talk about business, we don't need to talk about anything else." Replied Karthik curtly. "Sharma" Karthik called out loudly before a slim young man appeared at the doorway rushing in quickly with an IPad on his hand. Karthik out of his hand without looking away and his secretary handed him the IPAd. Within two seconds Karthik pulled up a document on there and began to review it. "While you were gone for around 6 months you handed your companies responsibility to your brother Ankush. Instead Mrs. Barkha and her brother Adhik held the companies reigns. While they were managing your company it has faced losses equivalent to 46% of your total business. Around 30-40% of your investors refuse to invest anymore into the company and immediately demand their initial investment back. Not only have Barkha and Adhik failed to manage clientele and the product resources, they have also failed to report correct numbers to your finance team hence the investors are immediately stepping back and are demanding their money right now. The initial finance report Barkha and Adhik did not submit, when the investors asked for the report a second time, Barkha and Adhik again did not submit and when the investors came for a meeting, Barkha and Adhik did not show up. What a surprise" Karthik concluded while looking at Barkha and Adhik while they looked down embarrassed. Anuj was clearly furious while Ankush stepped away from the two. Barkha tried to make excuses but was clearly waved away by Anuj. "What does all this mean" asked Leela confused "can you explain it so we can all understand"? Karthik stepped towards her and Bapuji and calmly said "sure. Assume you own a sand which shop. You open one and your recipes make great business. For easy calculations let's say you make 1lakh per month, you realize you could open more sandwich places and make more money, but that would require two things: 1- more management, you'd share your recipes but you would need management to ensure the staff and business is being taken care of properly. 2- you would need more money to open the shop. You could either save up and use your own money or you could look for investors. The investors would give you money to open up more shops and also be a part of management to help you manage the new shops, in turn they would take a portion of the sales. That's what Anuj Kapadia was doing until now, the business ran fine, at the end of the year the investors took their money and Anuj Kapadia kept his. Right now the situation is such: many of your shops are not selling sandwiches and you lost customers because the product is bad hence you lost 46% of your yearly money. You don't have money to buy ingredients and make more sandwiches and 30-40% of your investors refuse to give you money for the same reason. Instead the investors want their money back and want to close your shops. So Anuj Kapadia's company lost 46% of its money, 30-40% of its investors and is currently in major crisis" finished Karthik. Baa looked at him with a wide jaw, she was clearly impressed at Karthiks prompt and swift explanation. Anuj stepped forward "how did you find out" he asked hesitantly. "That's not important. What's important is the solution which is what I'm here for. The solution to this problem is simple, I will open a trust which will finance your company. We will invest buying out the investors who want to leave, we will give you the money and resources you need, for a decided share. At the end of the year you can buy back the share and you will own the company once again" finished Karthik giving his iPad back to his secretary Sharma. "So you want to be the owner of Anuj's company" interrupted Paritosh rudely. "Who are you" asked Karthik curtly. "As far as I am aware this doesn't concern you so you should not interfere. I have no need to answer your question but since I've already begun teaching basic MBA topics I'll add one more. The trust will be the owner, there can be multiple investors who own the trust, I will be one of them. And if you can understand basic words I just spoke, Anuj can buy back the shares at the end of the year if he wishes." Karthik turned around to his secretary completely ignoring Paritosh as he looked away rather embarrassed and irritated. Karthik wondered who the insolent idiotic person was and why he butted into Anuj and his matter. Karthik didn't give much thought to him as nodded to Sharma prompting him to give a file to Anuj. "This is a copy of the contract, the finance amount and share percentage is noted, you can read through, sign it if you agree or you can contact Sharma if you'd like to negotiate. I'll negotiate once and after that it's set. I believe we're all done here." And with that Karthik began to leave, not before getting once last look at Kinjal, as he quickly turned around and began walking before Anuj or anyone had a chance to stop him. Karthik was quick and his long strides had him out the door before anyone realized what happened, the rest of the people stood watching as the man left in a record time. Sharma hung around, explaining and talking things over Anuj. Kinjal walked towards the couch as she picked up her purse and things and began to leave. Paritosh tried to walk towards her wanting to talk but Kinjal was lost in her thoughts thinking about the man, Karthik. There was a name to the image and an intrigue to the person. He was kind to help kids but cold to Anuj who he was also helping, he had left like he couldn't leave sooner and before Paritosh or anyone else had a chance to start the same old talks with her Kinjal also left swiftly.