Choked - Fight Until You Win

The Big Real Estate Plan

Vivek Mathur glanced at his BlackBerry mobile. It was 9:58 am. He was waiting along with his team for the Chairman, who would join them in another two minutes.

He glanced across the boardroom, a large hall that appeared rich with its walls decked up in complete Walnut wood, shining and partially reflecting the interiors along its flawlessly polished mirror-like surface. The room had two doors, opening into the office space on one side of the room. On the other side of the room, it had two large windows, overseeing the exuberant Arabian Sea. Behind the closed window blinds, the sea resonated with Vivek’s mood – building each tide with excitement as it peaked at its crest and anxiously smashed as it dived into its trough. Inside the room, however, a long reddish Mahogany center table seemed perennially calm and happily smiling – it was glowing underneath the cove lighting reflected from the ceiling. The center table was a large one, flaunting its grandeur as it spread from one end of the room to the other. The room could easily accommodate about thirty-five people, but Vivek and his six-member team was seated in one section, closer to the presentation area.

Vivek then glanced at his team, which was quiet at the outset but the nervousness was reflected in their behaviour. One guy tapped the table gently but vigorously fast; another feverishly flipped the pages of his notes as if he were a little boy cramming up in the last minute before an exam. One guy was lost in making circles over the top of circles, not knowing how many he made on the notepad in the last few minutes. Yet another guy sipped some water and gently cleared his throat for the tenth time. 

All of them would love to avoid attending this session, but it would happen once in a quarter. That’s the time when they come face-to-face with the Chairman.

Just when the digital clock on the wall indicated 10:00 am, Gaurav Singhania, the Chairman of Singhania Enterprises walked in with a gait that carried along his confidence and reflected a strong passion for his dreams. As if his goals were constantly before his eyes and his legs would only religiously chase them, his gait indicated a purpose and more than all, commanded respect.

Vivek and team rose from their seats. “Good morning, sir!”

For anyone else this would have appeared like a classroom of boys wishing their teacher. But this was the culture nurtured here – the one that binds the Singhania’s flock in a net of informal rules and restrictions. A few sarcastically relished it as old-fashioned.

“Very good morning, boys!”

Singhania was of average height – maybe five feet and six inches. With a clean-shaven, rounded face, he looked very fresh for the day. While he appeared a little stout, he moved with great agility. At 45 years of age, he still had the same aggression that he had when he was much younger.

Placing his diary on the table and taking his seat in an Italian leather arm chair, he said, “Please, go ahead!”

Everyone else, in the meantime, had taken their seats.

“Sir, let me start with the good news,” said Vivek Mathur, the CEO of Singhania Realty. “We have clinched another deal in Bengaluru. This is a sprawling 20-acre land in Whitefield. As we have planned earlier, this will mark the beginning of our execution of bigger projects in the future,” added Vivek as he looked at Gaurav Singhania with pride.