The Dream - Part 1

The skies seemed a stretch of pale blue for miles and miles.. his eyes still picked up the small patch of smog, barely visible and hovering around at a distance. His gaze was so intense, the sun seemed to push for cover

The board outside his office read "Chairman and CEO" ... just like it did, the last 30 years.

Scorpsus international was one of the biggest corporations in the world. It built retrofitted chimneys, exhaust pipes and incinerators .. technology that allowed the world to sustain itself inspite of a prolonged use of high and low grade fossil fuels. At its helm was a visionary who had single handedly driven its growth.

The board outside his office also read "Veeru Ambarish".
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Wheeeeeeee ...

The sound of the pressure cooker's whistle woke him up. This was unusual for his high standards... he was usually the first up ... reading the paper, screaming at kalyani for his coffee and work clothes ...

Raman was a top ranked IIM grad and an independent financial analyst. His career began with a bang. An investment in a little known company seemed to be more than beginners luck when it struck oil off the coast of Ghana... it further turned out that the company was a holding company of British Petroleum. The investment grew more than 300%. However just as his aura was building, the oil platform exploded and the company's license was cancelled. Raman did not suffer financially, he had sold his shares just a few day earlier to invest in a new venture.. however his clients lost heavily and they noticed the unfairness.

When oil prices started to rise, Raman saw an opportunity that many missed. There were these small fuel transportation companies who were doubling their profits criss-crossing the globe. He staked what remained of his reputation and convinced many to invest as he bought a front office shipping company and leased a rusting tanker to transport underpriced crude from Iran into the United States. He bypassed import restrictions by exploiting weak regulations and by cleverly rerouting the tanker through Qatar. He wasn't a safe strategist he thought to himself, he knew the market better than most people, he could take the risk .... it would work ... It worked until pirates struck and the entire operation was swept under the carpet to save himself from counting bars ...

Being jinxed wasn't a very favourable title for someone who primarily dealt with other people's money. The recession added to his woes.
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Kalyani married Raman, in the summer of 2006 .... he was just the sort of person she wanted, caring, loving, intelligent.... but by the end of 2008, the Raman she knew had disappeared. Stung by his lack of success at work, Raman started believing in acute forms of astrology, divine intervention and soon enough began forming equations that took into consideration the position of the stars, planets and dalal street. Kalyani understood why her husband had changed but she wanted him back. Her desperation took her to the feet of her kuladeivam (god) where she cried day and night... all she wanted was a happy life with Raman, not the money .. just those happy days.
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Raman felt his head hurt slightly .. he saw the time ... it was past 9 am. He strode into the bathroom, washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He then blurted out a set of unconnected words that seemed to be stuck in his head - "Fortune 500", "Scorpsus or Scorpion International", "France" "Clean air", "plane crash". He began remembering a dream.. a dream that saw the planets and the stars aligned, a dream that saw god providing him something, a solution to his problems. He thought to himself "Rama all this is nonsense... your dreams never come true"

He went out ... got his cup of coffee and the paper from Kalyani who though surprised at her husband's deviation from protocol , did not risk questioning him and withdrew herself to the kitchen.

The headlines screamed "Air France jet crashes over the Atlantic - over 200 feared killed"