I'm a Master in India

Of course, Ron had also thought about indulging in the life of a master, but it wouldn't work.

His hometown was in Uttar Pradesh, a declining Brahmin family in the countryside, where he could easily throw his weight around.

But in Mumbai, he was just one person, and nobody paid him any attention.

If he wanted to truly sit at the table as a master, he needed to first establish himself.

Ron was currently working hard towards this goal, but the tasks at hand were numerous and complex. First and foremost was personnel expansion, and many work processes needed to be streamlined.

This was the foundation of the company's operations, and he had to personally oversee it.

"Anand, how many people do we have now?"

"Thirty-five! Enough to form three cricket teams," Anand said, his face filled with a sense of accomplishment as he held the list.

"Immediately weed out those with a bad reputation, and try to pick those who speak English and are quick-witted."

"No problem, they can't escape my eyes. I even know the color of their loincloths!"

Anand personally oversaw this matter. He had been around here for many years, and his inside information was more accurate than anyone else's.

"By the way, I need two young people with good looks and fluent English. Do you know where to find such people?"

"Uh… maybe the children of some of our people could work, but it's best to go directly to the newspapers to advertise."

"Advertise in the newspapers?"

"Yes, there are so many newspapers in Mumbai that even I can't count them all. People in India who can read like to read newspapers."

Ron stroked his chin. This was indeed a good idea. Moreover, advertising directly in English newspapers would even eliminate the need for an English test.

"I'll be going to the newspaper office soon."

"Don't worry, Ron, I'll take good care of things here."

Victoria Terminus was crowded with people coming and going. Even though it was already June, the number of foreign tourists showed no signs of decreasing.

One of the benefits of the rupee's devaluation was becoming apparent, with international tourists flocking to India to spend money.

This was undoubtedly good news for Ron and his team, and it also strengthened his idea of opening stores here.

That was also his purpose for coming here today. He had an appointment with a senior administrative official of the train station.

"Wait, Ron." Just as he was about to leave, Anand grabbed his arm furtively.

"What's wrong?"

"Those two foreign women…" His eyes gradually became lecherous.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I wanted to ask you, is being with them very special? I've never dated a foreign girl, I'm just very curious…"

Ron disdainfully slapped his hand away, "I've been busy with company matters these past two days, how could I have time to see them?"

To prevent a repeat of Iqbal's incident, Ron had directly contacted Rajesh's superior police officer yesterday.

That was the police chief of the Fort area. When they met, he didn't mince words and immediately threw 50,000 rupees in cash over.

The other party stared at the bundles of rupees, as if he had seen an Indian woman without a sari, and even his speech became stuttering.

What was the concept of 50,000 rupees? A senior judge of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi earned less than 20,000 rupees a month.

He was just a small district police chief, where had he seen so much money? He had received bribes before, but they were not even in the same order of magnitude.

So, without Ron having to say it explicitly, the other party immediately slapped the patrolman who was on duty at the train station that day.

The rest was a matter of course. In the future, there would be at least two patrolmen on duty at Victoria Terminus, and no one would cause trouble anymore.

If there were, the patrolmen's batons would be faster than Ron's actions.

In India, nothing could be done without money, and today was the same.

Entering Desai's office, Ron placed the luggage bag in his hand at his feet.

The other party glanced at it thoughtfully, and then picked up a few documents on the table and looked at them.

"Mr. Sur, you want to renovate an office in Victoria Terminus?"

"Yes, I noticed that there are many vacant storage rooms opposite the platform, and I want to rent one of them."

"But this is against the rules, those were the former manual service windows."

"They are not needed now, are they?"

"No, no, this won't work." Desai shook his head quickly.

"Okay, I can pay some fines for this." This was the code word for bribing officials in India, and Ron was already familiar with it.

Desai closed his mouth and didn't speak, his eyes slightly glancing downwards.

Ron got up, took the luggage bag from his feet to the table, and then opened the zipper and turned it upside down, emptying it completely.

Whoosh, bundles of 100 rupee cash rolled out. There were too many, and some rolled to the edge of the desk and were about to fall to the ground, Desai frantically catching them.

Clumsy, he was putting out fires everywhere, his elbows filled with scattered rupees.

Ron smiled.

"100,000, I can choose the place I want. After the completion, I will pay another 20,000 rupees in rent every month."

"Don't write the rent into the formal contract."

"Deal!"

Click, click, click, a few stamps were stamped, and Ron got the license.

The 20,000 monthly rent he promised became 1,000 rupees in the contract. As for where the remaining 19,000 rupees went, everyone knew.

That's how things were in India, and no one would find it strange.

Even in Maharashtra, many people, including civilians, admired corrupt officials. They believed that if you didn't think of ways to make money, you were a complete fool.

For this reason, the locals also had a special name for those upright officials, "Panvalkar."

Its original meaning was a kind-hearted and morally upright person, but it also implied naivety and being easily deceived.

In contrast, those who knew how to bribe were called "Buddhi," meaning cunning, but also implying maturity and no longer being naive.

The meaning of these two words is really interesting when compared and contrasted.

No wonder that Gandhi's daughter-in-law would exclaim, "This is India, what can you do with it?"

Holding the license, Ron left the office contentedly. He had spent tens of thousands of rupees in the past two days, all using that black money.

Why could India's black market account for half of the legal economy? Corruption was also one of the behind-the-scenes drivers.

Once outside, Ron was about to choose his favorite place, but after walking a few steps, he noticed that Anand seemed a little unhappy.

This was a rare occurrence. Ron had never seen Anand's face lack a smile.

"What's wrong?"

"A foreign bastard ruined our business."

"Who?"

"Look, that one over there."

Following his gaze, Ron saw a white man in his forties with two strands of walrus mustache.

He was wearing a Western cowboy hat, and judging from his appearance, he looked like a Harley motorcycle rider.

This guy made no secret of his dislike for Indians, contemptuously dismissing every peddler who tried to approach him.

At the same time, he was endlessly telling the people around him about the various incidents in which Indians had tried to cheat him unsuccessfully along the way.

"Do you know why their cars are called 'Tata'? Because the car makes a 'tatata' sound when it's driven."

Whenever it caused laughter, he would proudly share his haggling experiences. In his eyes, all Indians, including Anand, who had just solicited customers, were hateful liars.

This kind of tourist was a thorn in the side of foreigners, and their travels were a game of "the more stingy, the more successful."

Ron didn't have any particular feelings about him at first, but the other party was now affecting his business.

"Did you find anything when you talked to him just now?"

"Likes to swear, has a bad temper, doesn't seem like a good person. Oh, right, he smells like marijuana."

"Are you sure?" Ron's eyes lit up.

"One hundred percent, I've smoked hookah too, it's very cool."

Ron waved his hand, then looked around.

Yo, Rajesh and his team are on duty today, isn't that a coincidence?