During their travel Bhargav informed that the issue was resolved and they would probably receive the payment today. When Arjun enquired he explained the details Tharun had told him.
When Arjun heard how Vikram dealt with the unruly kids, he was satisfied. He was starting to like dealing with these both more and more, Tharun was more of an adventurous person and liked to go into new ventures while Vikram had a prudent personality. This explained why he could reach position of president in the union while Tharun needed more experience to deal with certain sensitive issues.
Upon reaching Vijayawada they directly headed towards Mannath distribution center to meet up with Ravi who was more happier to receive them compared to last time. Ravi proceeded to hand the sales data to Arjun while explaining they had already sold entire previous books with a hint of pride in his voice.
Arjun understood where his pride came from, while their deal with the union had a fixed retail price their deal with the distribution center did not. Mannath distributors could price the books they delivered at any amount they could sell at. Understanding this he reasoned perhaps they were selling these books at at least thirty percent mark up.
Although Arjun wanted a piece of this pie too he felt he was being too greedy too early, The union were not yet ready to this job and it was a huge question even if they would accept selling them for small commissions. All in One's were a different case as they gave much more commission, invoking greed in them.
Ravi handed him the cheque of four lakh twenty thousand for the previous shipments and promised to hand the money for the new shipment after two weeks as per their agreement. He informed Arjun that he would inform Arjun if needed any more copies and requested him to deliver the books in the same week as the exams were already nearing.
Arjun was okay with this and wanted him to order more if possible. They bid their farewell and headed towards the union office while Bhargav left to the bank to deposit money into company account as banks were only open for half a day on Saturdays.
Arjun and Karan met up with Tharun in his office who was also much more jovial this time around. When they delivered the shipment Tharun asked for another twenty thousand copies of All in Ones next week.
He explained the kids were very enthusiastic towards this new product where they could access all the subject questions and answers at one place and were continuously asking the sellers to restock as soon as the stocks run out but the union did not have any in stock either.
He gave Arjun cheque for four lakh rupees for the previous ten thousand copies sold as according to their agreement the union had to hand over entire sales amount during sales and Arjun would have to give out their share once the exams were done as it would make things much simpler considering the cliff system they had agreed on.
Tharun informed Arjun that Vikram wanted to meet him but Arjun politely refused and left the establishment. He did not want to expose himself to the wider world yet at least not to these people in their own den.
Right now Tharun gained considerable amount of clout due to this deal and if people got to know they were dealing with a ten year old kid, this respect would go down considerably. Tharun too was happy with Arjun's decision as this was what he wanted.
Arjun and Karan joined at the Grameen Bank with Bhargav and went ahead to deposit the new cheque. Now Arjun finally had eight lakh sixty thousand rupees in his bank account, even though it would not be enough for the beverage machinery acquisition, it was a much better feeling than having only fifty thousand in the bank.
They went to the hotel Ilapuram they usually stay at and booked a single room for Bhargav and double room for Karan and his bestie. Once they got refreshed they went outside to have their lunch. Arjun wanted to try Vijayawada's famous fry piece Chicken Biryani which was very different from Hyderabadi Biryani especially during these times when vegetable oil was not yet popular in India and most special dishes were made with ghee and butter.
Arjun felt this dish was considerably better than in his previous life. particularly with the addition of ghee instead of oil he felt it just hit the right notes. Arjun did not want this and other great Indian foods to be bastardized by the replacement of Vegetable oils and decided to open a proper Indian Restaurant chain once he had some money to spare.
After they were done with their lunch they went to the biggest recruitment agency in the town. When they reached the Nandi recruitment agency the clerk at the desk invited them all with wide smile on her face and started chatting with Bhargav asking what was he looking for.
When Bhargav informed her about wanting to recruit a personal assistant and turned to Arjun for his requirements. The receptionist was taken aback it seems this kid was a second generation heir she reasoned. Arjun mentioned he wanted someone educated at least till tenth standard, from the surrounding area and preferably experienced in dairy industry if possible but this was not a necessity if they had enough experience in other industries.
Due to their unannounced arrival the agency only had around ten profiles which fit their requirements. Bhargav and Arjun started eliminating people with shady backgrounds or not so good track record. They were left with only two profiles after filtration, One was Raj Gopal who was from Vijayawada, had a degree in management and had been personal assistant of three other company owners beforehand.
The other was Lalitha Priya who was from a nearby village, studied till her tenth class and had been an assistant for a poultry farm owner, but the owner had left bad remarks regarding her work ethics.
Bhargav suggested Raj would be the obvious choice when they were compared but Arjun being from the future did not care much about the qualifications but had more emphasis on their loyalty. Arjun had a nagging feeling that this Lalitha had more to the story than what was mentioned in her remarks. When he expressed his choice of wanting to interview Lalitha both Bhargav and the receptionist were taken aback.
They were starting to doubt their own choice after how confident Arjun was in choosing Lalitha over Raj. The receptionist was at least happy as it was rare for people to appreciate women in these days while Bhargav wanted to say something but decided he too would meet her before making any unnecessary comments and get negative points in front of Arjun.
The agency confirmed the interview day with Lalita which was set on the next day and informed Arjun. who was okay with the date and time. Three of them headed towards the movie theatre to watch the newly released movie.
The movie was a commercial one with major faction elements. Arjun was bored by it as he had watched many such movies in his past but it was the not so the case for Karan who came out of the theatre shouting a movie dialogue and patting his chest still excited from the movie experience.
Arjun could see majority of the people had the similar expression as Karan and were hyping up the movie about being biggest hit of the year to the news reporters nearby.
This was a common occurrence in India during this time, most of fans were heavily influenced by their favorite hero characters inside the movies, although they were fictional, most of the normal people could not really make out the difference between fiction and reality. Arjun had a feeling this is where he should start if he wanted to influence the mass public, But movies and influencing people were still too far away for him.
They took their time to roam around Besant road which was famed for it's busy street market and premium shopping center in the surrounding districts. As they were strolling around Arjun saw a designer clothing shop and took Karan alongside him to order their suits. He was starting to feel out of place in the premium places he visits due to his clothing.
Even though Arjun was not an insecure kind and was okay with wearing anything he was given, he knew first impression mattered. They went ahead to get their measurements done and select the color. Karan chose the regular Navy blue suit Arjun went ahead with a Black and black outfit. He ordered two sets for both of him which costed eleven thousand after discount due to their bulk purchase.
Karan and Bhargav were shocked by how spendthrift Arjun was being who was usually very frugal. Bhargav was more so because an adult spending three thousand for a suit might be reasonable as he had already seen Madan do so, but for these kids who'd probably need new sets the next year or perhaps in another six months he felt it was too extravagant.