The first week passed by quickly and Aditya was sad that he had only more week to stay in Kumta.After that it was back to the daily grind of computers.
The annual village jatre was to be held that week and Aditya went to the temple to check out all the ceremonies.He saw Inchara walking ahead of him all decked up in traditional Indian wear.
"Hi Mam,u are also heading to the temple?"
"Oh Hi Mr Software Engineer,yeah i am going to the temple,have to give all this pooja items to dad,he has been nominated to be the priest to perform the main pooja this time na"
"You know you got to stop addressing me in that way,i get a bit irritated,anyways me also heading that way"
"Oh you get irritated eh,then i got to call you like that everytime" she said with a mischievous smile.
On the way she asked him
"You know any low cost marketing companies who can promote us a bit in places like Bangalore"
"You see our products can be very useful to all the working women there,our ready to eat items are popular in Hubli,Dharwad and some even in Goa,the export business has not taken off that well,but we have not been able to make an entry into Bangalore at all.First the competition is intense there with multiple players,plus retail stores there are not ready to keep our items as they charge a very high cut,the first step is to get the big players to house our products in their stores,for that we need someone who can negotiate,who is local the place there"
"Can you help us out here?" she asked.
Aditya did have some contacts.He was thinking - instead of letting someone else take this opportunity,why not take it himself,start his own marketing cum consultancy firm,he even had the first client ready.The opportunity was too good to let it go.
That entire day he thought over this.The next day he went to Inchara's home.
"Hi !"
Inchara was arranging all the kannada papers scattered all over the place by her dad.Surprising thing for Aditya was that he had never gotten to meet her dad.He had seen him once during the wedding they had attended but apart from that he never got the opportunity.
Moving her loose hair from her face,she turned back
"Hi Mr..."
"Please i beg you" he said.
"Ok ok tell me"
"Remember you had asked me yesterday about wanting someone to negotiate on ur behalf ,i have got someone for you",he said with a sense of pompousness.
"Really so fast,who is that" she asked.
"ME"
"You joking" she asked.
"Nope heres the deal,i have contacts,you want business,how about me becoming a partner in ur company?" he asked.
Inchara fell silent.She was not sure,An inexperienced person to take her business forward,it could ruin the future prospects of her small venture if Aditya failed to deliver.
"I am not sure Aditya,i mean you are a software engineer,you dont have any experience in this field,i dont know what to say" she said trying not to hurt his ego.
Aditya was now desperate to prove himself."Try Me" he said with an audacious tone.Seeing his confidence she asked -
"So how does this work,all the partnership stuff"
"Simple i want 20 percent of ur topline"
"Isnt that a lot?" she asked.
"Not if i bring u the business that i think i can"
"Can you give me a business proposal?once you do that we can formally sign a contract",she said.
Aditya had never done a business proposal before.He promised to mail her soon.Life was getting exciting now for Aditya.
Six months later:
Aditya had proved his mettle.Though he had not yet left his stale IT job,he was getting to use his creativity somewhere.A meeting was fixed with a Senior Store Manager of Future Group where a deal to house their ready to eat products was to be done.Inchara came down to Bangalore.They had decided to meet at the headquarters directly.Seeing her for the first time in a business suit,Aditya was a bit taken aback.She looked different today - all prim and proper.
"Hi looking good boss!!" he said
"Thank you Mr Software Engineer"
"Ah!! its been so many months and u still havent got rid of that tagname for me"
"So all set for the meeting" he asked with his infectious smile.
"Lets do it!!,This is a huge step for our company" she said
"And thanks a lot for making this happen in such short a time"
"Hey dont thank me,i gain when u gain",came a pat reply from Aditya.
The meeting went off very well and within one month the "Inchara Home Products" were there in all Future stores.
Sales were slowly picking up and the products were gaining word of mouth publicity.
6 months later:
IHP was 3rd in the list of the ready to eat category in Bangalore.
Aditya and Inchara were both back in Kumta to celebrate this,also it was Inchara's birthday-so there were two reasons now.
Inchara's favourite point being the beach,both decided to celebrate her birthday in a small way.At 6 in the evening both headed to the beach.
Since the beach would be usually be empty at this time,it made good sense.But to Inchara's surprise Aditya had arranged a surprise party with whatever minimum he could get there.All the workers of IHP were there.There were songs played,guitar strummed by Aditya,drinks gulped down,even the villagers were attracted to this and were welcomed in too.
In the midst of all this Inchara went silently and sat on a rock away from all the noise and hoopla.With wind blowing her hair all over the place,she silently wished her mother was alive to see this all.Aditya came up behind her
"What u doing here?,remembering ur mom?" he asked.
"Yes" she said softly.
"Shed be real proud of you Inchara,that too from a village u have been able to establish this business of urs"
"Aditya,u have helped a lot too"
"You want to dance?" she asked all of a sudden.
"Dance?here with all the people around?"
"Bloody outdated!! the people are far off,whats there in a dance,come" she said.
Mobiles being the new music players,Inchara played all the soft chick songs,while both danced with the setting sun in the background.
"Nice yaar,you dance quite well" she said.
"Yeah actually i am the one who taught Hrithik Roshan his first steps" he said with a wink.
They then sat down on the sand with wind blowing more heavily now.
"So when are you leaving your IT job?"
"Yeah soon,once i get more clients and stabilize a bit more i will leave it"
They had gotten used to each other now.Aditya was trying for more clients and Inchara was trying to set up new infrastructure to produce more products.Whatever small export business she had also started to do better.Their professional and personal chats had become less frequent.Though they missed the emotional high of chatting up,it was BUSINESS.They had to be focussed.
An year passed by with both getting more busy.
Aditya then received a call from Inchara to meet her in Bangalore.
"Theres something we need to talk about,theres someone i want you to meet...........
