Convincing his parents went much smoother than he had initially anticipated, perhaps it was due to entire village being in a buzz upon learning about the deal between Arjun and Madan. This made his parents immensely happy while also boosting Madan's popularity among the crowd. It was only now that Arjun understood how multi pronged Madan's approach was, perhaps this was why he readily offered 30 thousand rupees, an alarming amount for a simple idea during those times but considering his growing popularity in their village and nearby villages it proved to be more than worth it for a upcoming politician.
Still they were stunned when they heard about his plans to buy a small scale printing press spending almost all the money he had earned couple of days ago. They tried a lot to convince Arjun to save his money and spend cautiously but Arjun was stubborn and unwavering in this aspect. He had to hurry up and make as much as possible in the upcoming years to prepare for the gold fest after all. They could only feel slightly relieved once he promised his endeavors would not affect his studies. They too felt it would be a good learning experience for him.
The next two days went uneventfully, still he had to deal with weeping Saritha whenever she remembered her brother was travelling to the nearby town to have fun without taking her, to which he could only coerce her slowly and promise to bring her lots of goodies to satisfy the little girl's appetite.
Arjun woke up early on Saturday and ran away once he was done with his breakfast, he knew if he waited for his sister to wake up she would make ruckus again. Karan was still asleep by the time Arjun reached his home, He had to wait another 2 hours for Madan and Karan to get ready. It was understandable that Karan was tagging along considering both his best friend and his father going to the nearby town how could he not tag along. By 10 once everyone was ready Madan, Bhargav, Karan and Arjun began their journey to Vijayawada in Madan's old style jeep, although it was nothing spectacular, it was reliable and more importantly fitting to a grassroots politician's image.
The journey from Manginapudi to Vijayawada was almost 3 hours long even though it was only 80 kilometers away owing to the muddy and bumpy roads back then. During their journey Madan once again asked Arjun about his plans for coming along with him.
Arjun explained about his intent to purchase a small scale printing press. As he learned about this Madan was genuinely surprised, it was the most optimal time window to purchase printing press with the upcoming exams window and the local elections after that, He got interested too but did not show it on his face.
Instead he remarked about having a couple of friend's in the printing industry which was quite normal considering he was an upcoming politician and as the saying goes a politician and media can never be too far away. News paper and local papers being the main source of information transmission to masses during these times it was imperative for a politician to have connections in the printing industry. He suggested Bhargav to take Arjun to meet his media friends once they reached Vijayawada to which Bhargav readily agreed.
As they were passing through the green fields ready for harvest Arjun felt a great sense of rejuvenation, especially with the great air quality every breath felt refreshing. He had never experienced such feeling for over 15 years. It gave him more motivation to get things going faster. Meanwhile Madan and secretary were busy discussing politics, Karan bored out of his wits started bickering with Arjun. Arjun pulled back from his reverie had to bear with his friend's endless rant. He could only pray for them to reach earlier as he felt bickering with a 10 year old kid was quite demeaning to himself although he himself was 10 years old too.
As the closed in on Vijayawada signs of violence on the street slowly increased. This period was quite turbulent in the Vijayawada area because of various factional issues. The signs of destruction slowly increased as they neared the town even more. At first it was only a couple shops shut down but slowly they started to notice broken windows, shutters tore down, destroyed statues and burnt vehicles. Karan was visibly alarmed by this point and started worrying about their safety meanwhile Arjun started thinking about the reasons for this destruction and whether this was a bane or boon for his new venture.
Madan and Bhargav being the elders were more comfortable, after all they were travelling on the jeep with the ruling party flag on it's helm. If someone was still stupid enough to attack them they could only owe it to their bad luck.
People on the roads some who were still engrossed in their anger wanted to stop them but once they noticed the flag they slowly backed off. Amidst such tensions they finally reached Vijayawada. Bhargav straight away drove them to Hotel Ilapuram which was the most expensive hotel in the surrounding districts. International luxury chains like Taj or Marriott were yet to enter this town although it was a very important commercial and transport hub for entire southern India during these times.
As they parked their car and entered the reception, the receptionist gracefully approached Madan and enquired "Welcome sir, single or double room". Although Madan was able to understand he was uncomfortable in conversing in English, such being the case Bhargav wanted to reply but by then Arjun had already taken the lead and replied "Two double rooms please, also could you make sure one of them to have Air conditioner and fridge inside, this was already what they had discussed prior with Madan and his son sharing the A.C room while he and Bhargav would stay in the non-A.C one". All the four people were suddenly stood there shocked noticing how fluent Arjun was in conversing in English. The receptionist quickly recovered and went on with his procedure. He asked for a one day deposit of 250rs which Madan promptly handed to him.
Arjun was quite thankful for Madan in this case as the 100rs was almost 0.5 percent of his entire net worth at the moment and him spending such amount would be quite illogical. Once done with the procedures they carried on to check their rooms meanwhile both the adults started complementing Arjun about his fluency in English to which he was quite bashful while accepting their prices. It was quite a coincidence for him to speak over at the reception but noticing the pause he felt the need to intervene while also showing off his flair in front of the adults. You would never know where opportunities would come from and Arjun felt it was a necessity to make the adults aware of his linguistic capabilities.