Am I taking away some of their freedom in return, or giving them greater freedom to pursue their dreams?
As I stepped into the Oberoi in Gurugram, she walked straight towards me with a smile worthy of a toothpaste ad.
'Sir, I am Pooja. May I say it will be your pleasure to have met me!'
Now, I don't deny it brought a smile to my face. Yes, I agree I am well off and may even be called smart or intelligent, but no body will mistake me for a handsome and fashionable man that women drool over. Lets just say, I am an average looking jeans and t-shirt wearing 53 year old brown guy with pepper salt hair.
'Hmm.. pleasure will be an understatement.. but, you must surely be mistaken' I said, as I took a measure of her beauty (maybe around 24, fair skinned, dark hair, sparkly eyes, blue designer bindi, long earrings) and oozing sexuality - light blue translucent sari worn over a darker blue sleeveless blouse with clearly visible white bra straps. oh.. how i wish I could touch that hourglass waist!!
'Ahh.. I am just a tad nervous and fumbled my words, but, I guess to good effect as you did smile!! I actually meant to say, it is really my pleasure to meet you sir. Ramchand Brothers speak very highly of you, and instructed me to specifically take extremely good care of you in every way possible. Please check in sir - I will take your bags.'
Obvious honey trap.. I am here seeking a hedge fund manager to invest $50 million in the Indian markets.. Ramchand Brothers is one of the contenders. They must be desperate. Might be fun to play along, and feast my eyes a bit?
'I rather be a gentleman and take my own bags. Maybe you can get me and yourself some coffee and come to my room?'
I got to my room and was pondering about this when there was a soft knock on the door. I let her in with the coffee tray and settled into the sofa. She bent forward giving me a good view of her curves given her strategically placed pallu, and placed the coffee in front of me.
'Wow, this coffee does taste good. It can't be from the coffee place in the lobby'.
'I requested the chef and made the coffee myself.. I am really glad you like it Sir.'
Lovely woman who makes good coffee.. definitely a keeper!!
'Let me set out your clothes Sir'.. she started heading towards my bags.
'Pooja, please sit down and have your coffee'.
'Sure, sir. Shall I take off my pallu sir - I see you are straining your eyes?' she said with a mocking and inviting smile.
'So, it is that obvious - you noticed me admiring your beauty.. you really are beautiful and sexy - It sure is my lucky day to have met you.'
'Person of your means and aura doesn't need much luck sir - we will swoon.. by the way, I am here for absolutely anything you desire sir.' she said in a soft husky voice while slowly pulling her pallu down.
'About that... I really can't do this, even as tempting as it is. I am rather surprised RamChand Brothers would resort to this. I prefer to see them succeed with their financial and business acumen. I really enjoyed the coffee and sugar (wink). But, I suggest you call them and tell them that I find this unacceptable. I will still give them a chance by meeting them tomorrow as I do believe they are capable.'
I saw her face loose all color and was obvious she had quite a bit to lose here. It is unfortunate she got caught in the middle. An idea formed in my mind.. maybe I can turn this around?
'Actually why don't you tell me your story?'
'It is a pretty normal story of coming from poverty sir. Our parents died when we were young. Our grandmother took care of me and my younger sister with her meager means. I helped her however I could and we put my sister through school. She is smart, studied very hard and passed 12th class with distinction. She also got admitted into a very good college. That's when grandmother died. I had no other means to put her through college, and at my friend's suggestion I became an independent escort leveraging the street smart skills I had, but no education to get a job. I actually didn't mind it and it was earning sufficiently for us to get by, as I was lucky having met a few good men. But, the college dues are unrelenting and increasing. It just happened that RamChand Brothers offered me enough to pay her latest fees, with more help depending on how I did.. and here I am.'
'Umm.. quite unfortunate! Let's do this. Go home today and meet me at the restaurant here with your sister at 7pm.'
The next day I met RamChand Brothers at their office. They were quite apologetic stating 'We really wanted to partner with you to both learn from you and were desperate to not lose your business.. '
'I really want you to succeed on your merits. I will let it slide. Let's start with your opinion on the crypto markets..'
I could see them hesitating.. but, they took courage and said, 'We wouldn't invest a dime in crypto sir. While the Dollar or Rupee retain their value from the strength of the respective governments, crypto purely derives its value from trust of all the people making the market, and hence purely speculative (at least gold has something physical behind it). We rather invest in assets that can deliver future value.'
I was getting impressed with their courage for not falling into fads, but focusing on what delivers value. We continued on multiple investment and hedging strategies and settled on this - Pick the companies that can deliver long term value based on their financial strength, purpose and values, but use derivatives to play on the day to day volatility of their stocks, while always keeping a floor for long term value. I didn't need to think further and transferred the money for them to invest.
With that done, and their happy thank yous, we had lunch. After lunch, I requested a meeting with their real estate expert stating that I needed a private matter to be handled, for which I would pay separately. They were more than happy to introduce me to Sanjay, with instructions that he help me in any way needed.
'Sanjay, I urgently need to buy a 3-4 bedroom, about 3000 sq ft apartment in one of the newer high rises in Gurugram - something not too posh, nor shabby to gift to someone - and I need it by tomorrow 10 AM.'
He was visibly uncomfortable, but managed to say, ' you will end paying a premium sir, as it is extremely difficult to get newer apartments that quickly'.
'Do your magic and show me some options later today'.
Sure enough he called me around 4pm and showed me couple of options. I liked one with a modern chic touch and good lighting, which came to around $600,000. I told him to close on it and bring the keys and a notary to that building at 10 AM the next day.
I came by the restaurant at 7 and liked the fact that Pooja and her sister were there waiting. I asked the hostess for the most secluded booth for dinner. While they arranged the table, I asked, 'So you are the brilliant sister Pooja was telling me about?'