Chapter 21: Market Winds
The birth of Galaxy Electronics was no mere corporate footnote in Vikram's grand vision. To him, it represented the beating heart of India's industrial future—an entity whose gears would hum quietly behind the country's march into modernity, wielded not in the open glare of innovation but in the subtler language of careful, plausible progress.
He was under no illusions about the risks. If anyone suspected the true origins—the out-of-time blueprints, the whispered system knowledge—his empire would collapse into scandal and suspicion. No, the rollout had to appear organic, as if India's own sons and daughters were winning these battles with talent and drive alone.
Recruitment – The Spearpoint
By noon in his Mumbai headquarters, the flow of talent files was relentless. Mark II had orchestrated a quiet nation-wide headhunting process: stacks of brown envelopes bearing neatly typed CVs, final-year dissertations, and portfolios—each one a product of careful filtering. There were top-ranked engineers from every IIT, each chosen for proven hands-on ability as well as creative audacity. ISI scholars with advanced statistical modeling experience, perfect for designing logic circuits and early microprocessors, were targeted with offers that invoked national pride and creative freedom.
Below them were polytechnic technicians, practical experts who could wire, solder, and troubleshoot with the intuition of old-world artisans. Finally, Mark II sourced signals and air force veterans, men and women who understood discipline, secrecy, and the need to work without public accolade.
Public announcements were off the table. No "India's First Silicon Valley" headlines, no giant walk-ins. All contact was through personal references, closed-door interviews in guesthouses, and letters hand-signed by professors or, in some cases, senior ministry officials—many now carrying newly "adjusted loyalty" from Vikram's subtle hand.
Each candidate will believe that they are joining a patriotic, forward-thinking division of DreamWorks. No one will know just how startlingly advanced the projects awaiting them truly are.
Facilities – Open Above, Sealed Below
The factories themselves will blend seamlessly into the 1970 landscape. Paperwork listed their purpose as "manufacturing electrical fans, radio sets, and general-purpose mechanical appliances." Bureaucrats would tour the public floors and see neat rows of fans, radios, and tape recorders—assembled on benches in airy, brightly-lit halls.
But down below, behind double-reinforced doors and discreetly guarded entry points, will lay the true engine room: temperature- and humidity-controlled laboratories; imported German ESD benches and isolation cubicles; a handful of imported oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and transistor testers.
Here, under maximal discretion, India's first consumer arcade gaming systems will be assembled, crisp as mahogany. Quartz wristwatches for professionals and railway staff will take shape, outpacing noisy mechanical imports. Early video cassette recorders, built as much to government documentary standards as for future public use, hummed in locked cabinets.
Everything will be documented, everything plausible—yet nothing will give away the decades-ahead DNA at work.
The Import Web
The final piece was logistical—which will be orchestrated by Mark II through a snarl of offshore shell companies registered in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Colombo. For those crucial "missing" components—precision quartz, LED displays, advanced tape heads—orders will be placed under vague headings, split into batches, and paid for by "parts suppliers" apparently exporting to dozens of developing nations. Every shipment will arrive through major ports, manifested as spares and repair stock, never enough in any load to arouse suspicion.
A customs officer would find nothing amiss. To them, the growing sophistication of Indian goods was simply technological osmosis, not a controlled step-change.
The Circle of Influence – DreamWorks Ecosystem
The real coup lay not just in discrete product launches but in creating a closed loop of influence.
- Galaxy Cinemas would screen films—mostly produced by DreamWorks Studios—where heroes wore Galaxy watches or caught villains using gadgetry that mirrored upcoming product lines Arcade machines would appear in cinema lobbies, drawing crowds before and after showtimes.
- DreamWorks Press would serialize children's comics featuring young inventors or spies, each solving mysteries with tools modeled exactly on real Galaxy devices. National contests would invite kids to visit their nearest cinema for prizes and walk away with a demonstration of Galaxy hardware.
- In coming years, radio spots and then TV segments (once DreamWorks TV was established) would saturate the public imagination further.
Marketing costs thus vanished into the efficiency of synergy—each branch selling the other, consumer loyalty deepening with every positive interaction.
Finance – Dancing with the Market
By late afternoon, Vikram settled onto his balcony, a teacup in hand. The 1970 air was smoky, full of bustling life, with the hawkers below hawking chop and chai, their calls blending with the clang of bicycle bells and rumble of Bombay buses.
Today, however, he was particularly content. As sunlight filtered through his window, he picked up that morning's business newspaper and studied the Bombay Stock Exchange's Top Gainers list for April–September 1970.
His portfolio had outpaced even his boldest models.
📈 Bombay Stock Exchange – Top Gainers (April 1, 1970 – September 30, 1970)
Rank Company Price Change (%)
1 Birla Jute ₹32 ₹51 +59%
2 Bombay Dyeing ₹87 ₹135 +55%
3 Fort Gloster ₹41 ₹62 +51%
4 Larsen & Toubro Engineering ₹142 ₹210 +48%
5 Assam Company ₹23 ₹33 +43%
6 Tata Steel (TISCO)₹165 ₹230 +39%
7 Century Mills ₹76 ₹104 +37%
8 McLeod Russel ₹28 ₹38 +36%
9 Ahmedabad Advance Mills
₹64 ₹85 +33%
10 Hindustan Lever ₹155 ₹200 +29%
📰 Market Notes (September 1970)
• Textiles & Jute Surge: Strong export orders and favorable raw material supplies have pushed textile and jute shares to record highs.
• Engineering Boom: Government infrastructure spending lifted L&T, while steel demand boosted TISCO.
• Plantations Rally: Tea export prices firmed on strong Soviet and UK buying.
• Thin Trading Volumes: Gains were amplified by relatively low trading volumes.
Vikram leaned back in his chair, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. His gamble had paid off.
He is currently very happy and elated because of his decision to invest all his extra cash into the stock market.
He had invested more than ₹200 crore of surplus capital into the stock market — carefully, deliberately, and in batches. The results were staggering. In just a few months, his portfolio had surged more than 20%, translating into a profit of more than ₹45 crore.
It could have been more. In another era, he might have used leverage or margin loans to amplify returns. He could have even used his subtle memory manipulation skill on certain bankers to unlock more capital. But this was the 1970s — a time of strict financial regulation and a relatively small market.
The total valuation of the Bombay Stock Exchange hovered between ₹6,000 and ₹7,000 crore. Pouring in too much money too quickly would distort prices and turn the entire market into a one-man show. Instead, Vikram played it like a master musician — letting the notes build, never rushing the crescendo.
His buying had done more than lined his own pockets.
More than personal gain, Vikram understood the knock-on effect: his institutional-scale buying had juiced the market's confidence, bringing in new retail investors as confidence surged among traders and investors, pulling in fresh capital from all corners. The overall market capitalization had swelled by over ₹800 crore, crossing the ₹7,500 crore mark for the first time.
Vikram folded the newspaper neatly and set it aside. The numbers were promising — but this was only the beginning.
He made a quiet note to himself. With the coming East Pakistan crisis—election chaos, civil unrest, and later, war—there would be an inevitable market correction. Public panic and institutional selling would drive share prices down. Having already primed Mark II to track crisis signals minute by minute, Vikram would quietly liquidate much of his portfolio in October–November, waiting until the lowest dip before buying back even larger positions, potentially doubling his gains.
***
Looking down at the city, Vikram saw not just crowds and commotion, but a machine—one where every cog, every counterweight, was already shifting at his design.
His competitors would think they were riding a wave of Indian innovation. His investors would believe it was the global demand cycle. Only Vikram knew that, quietly and invisibly, a single hand was guiding all tides—pacing the winds that would soon sweep through every market, every home, every theatre, every paper, and every city center in the country.
And when the next dawn crashed over the skyline, even greater changes would be waiting just beneath the surface.
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