by Amit Sidham
Second, after a week when the news of FREE OF COST technology sharing was out, it strengthened the belief about GALAXY’s non-commercial intent and nil expectations commitment to environment and Mother Nature.
Third, this move prevented the death of other automobile companies and kept the industry alive.
Fourth and most important, it created a natural pressure on other automobile companies to keep their prices low. Other companies could have formed a cartel and kept high prices to milk the situation. But when GALAXY who had invented the technology was selling cars at low prices, there was no chance for others to sell at exorbitant rates irrespective of demand. An automobile company may or may not be conscious about the environment but no company could afford to risk its image in the eyes of the customers. Customers knew, GALAXY was doing this without profit, so at best other companies could add a small profit before selling. The remotest chance of exploiting the situation and selling at a hefty premium was completely ruled out due to this smart move.
But the analysts could not interpret the much bigger objective behind this move by Samir and Aadi, which was realized only when Samir played his final cards.
When Samir had approached Aadi for inputs on bringing the solar car to market, Aadi had asked him, ‘Can you modify an existing fuel car into a solar powered one?’
Samir had smiled and replied, ‘Yes, I can do that.’
The fastest way to curb automobile pollution was not in introducing a solar car… but in converting existing fuel cars into solar powered ones.
Samir launched a program for the cars that had been manufactured by the automobile company he had acquired.
“Modify your fuel car into a solar powered one,
……………………at just one year’s fuel cost.”
Samir had fine-tuned the solution such that the entire modification could be completed in three hours and…at the service center. It did not require to get the car to the manufacturing plant. Customer could visit a service center where the body of the car would be covered with photovoltaic film and engine modified to accommodate a solar generator and an enhanced battery unit.
The cost for a hatchback after service charges and commissions worked out to Fifty Thousand, which was less than a year’s cost of fuel. Obviously GALAXY had ensured that the government keeps these engines, parts and service cost tax free, making the deal to customers an extremely irresistible one.
Due to this move rest of the companies were also forced to follow a similar model. As expected service dealers of all the automobile companies were immediately booked for four months on the day of launch and with each passing day the waiting period kept increasing by a month.
The real motive behind acquiring an automobile company was not to control the prices of new cars but to dictate terms over the entire industry’s service network.
While the service dealers were extremely satisfied with this unexpected bonus, the automobile industry was not at all happy with this move by GALAXY.
Business analysts praised Aadi and Samir for their approach of sharing technology and thus preventing the industry from dying. But the automobile industry was concerned about growth being impacted on multiple fronts. Replacement of engines by customers meant deferment of new car purchase. Solar engines having lesser number of parts and being more durable meant negative impact on spares sales.
The industry felt it was kept alive not out of GALAXY’s goodwill but for GALAXY to utilise the industry’s infrastructure, industry’s service network. The automobile companies perceived this move as slow poisoning instead of a direct massacre.
Chapter 21
SVELTE FOODS
October-December’ 2016
While Samir was spearheading the automobile business, Aadi was focusing on launching Svelte Foods, the low calorie food range. Using the technology that could separate calories from food, GALAXY introduced a range of low calorie ready to eat meals. Food was prepared after removing the carbohydrates which were the biggest source behind the rising obesity problem, by fifty percent and rest of the nutrients by not more than twenty five percent.
Without the addition of any preservatives the food was vacuum packed like any other ready to eat meals to achieve a longer shelf life. A wide range consisting of different appetisers, curries, flavoured rice, parathas, snacks, pickles, chutneys desserts and combo packs was introduced.
The logic behind weight loss is simple. Either burn more calories than you consume or eat less calories than you burn. Regular exercise works on the first principle and diet plans on the later one. But for people who found either of them difficult to follow, could now lose weight through this easy and interesting option. They could eat all their favourite foods, without compromising on either the taste or quantity. A person switching to this diet could easily lose two to three kgs a month.
A single food type would become boring after a few days and hence a wide range was launched. The product range was later extended to staples like rice, flour and oil for people who preferred to have home cooked meals. The nutrients removed from the food were added to dough and baked into delicious breads by adding different flavourings. This warm and freshly prepared fortified bread solved the nutrition problem of many mal-nourished families.
Best part of this business was that a customer once enrolled became a daily customer for six to eighteen months. Even after that he would continue to have at least one Svelte Foods meal every day to maintain the lost weight.
Adding to the joy of weight loss was the joy of sharing their nutrients, in a way sharing their food with the needy people and helping in eradication of malnourishment. People opting for a subscription model also got a unique benefit of deciding a malnourished individual they would like to support. Every month while they saw themselves losing two to three kgs, they were provided with photos of the individual whom they were supporting.
Aadi started #SvelteHealthTransformation campaign which became an instant hit on social media. Customers shared photos of their shrinking sizes along with the improving health of the individual they were supporting. The campaign spread like wild fire on the internet, firstly because every individual promoting it felt like a brand ambassador, like a celebrity and proudly shared his weight loss and beneficiary’s health gain achievement month on month on his social networking platforms.
Secondly for the viewers it was content featuring their friends, not a paid advertisement and hence watched, liked and commented with deep interest. Thousands of customers aka brand ambassadors shared their achievements leading to millions of views. This led to one of the most successful campaigns taking the brand to the top of the charts.
With this initiative both the weight losers and the health gainers became fans of GALAXY and GALAXY also made handsome profits in the process.
In less than a year, GALAXY had not just started three different companies but three different business models, each successful in its own way. Automobile business, first ever company working on a ‘not for profit’ pricing model, measuring its success by the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions; PermaCure a centre started with the intention of funding the veterinary institute and along the journey creating a strong local economy and an unmatched Customer Experience; lastly Svelte Foods, a company breaking even in six months and having a healthy profit on its P&L.
While the customers of all the businesses were extremely happy, there was a sect of people to whom this success was becoming detrimental. The automobile industry was already unhappy. The petroleum industry would slowly become redundant. PermaCure and Svelte foods by improving the customer’s health, were going to prove disastrous for the pharmaceutical industry.
‘Success breeds jealousy.’ But for GALAXY success was not just breeding jealousy. It was breeding enemies.
Chapter 22
THE KIDNAPPING
9th January’ 2017
Ritu and Dhara had long ago started living a normal life. It had now been more than a year and a half after Operation Reveal an
d so far they had not had any security threat. They had also got used to the presence of their security robots with them. The robots did not cause any hindrance and most of the times were in an invisible mode.
But something that had not happened so far did not mean it would never happen. One day while Dhara was returning in her school bus, the robot sensed presence of an explosive device near the fuel tank of the bus. Alerting everyone could lead to chaos and vacating the bus in heavy traffic meant risking the lives of children. The robot programmed to protect, took the logical step of diffusing the explosive device.
The device was real, if exploded would have killed everyone in the bus and few people around. But the explosive device was a bait. Dhara went missing during the two minutes the robot was diffusing the device.
Immediately Aadi and the security team at the headquarters received an alert. Aadi rushed to the security room. While the new security head, Raman and his team had sprung into action, Avanish had decided to spearhead this particular operation himself. Seeing Aadi, Avanish got up and assured him, ‘Chief, this was not an attempt to kill but to kidnap her. We will get hold of the bastards soon.’
‘I know’ said Aadi. Aadi was calm as compared to what the situation of a father would have been on knowing that his daughter had been kidnapped. But the calmness in no way meant absence of anger. From the time of Operation Reveal, they knew their families were under a constant threat. Security could be provided but attacks could not be prevented.
Aadi spoke with Ritu. She had left her previous job and had joined the GALAXY group. She was currently heading the IT function at Svelte Foods. Confirming she was fine and not yet aware about the incident, Aadi called her to the headquarters immediately.
Avanish looked at satellite images of the area but unfortunately could not get any help due to the presence of rain clouds blocking visibility.
Shortly, Jivika had rushed to the security room. Running towards Aadi, she gave him a warm hug, as if to comfort him. Ritu arrived at the same moment and saw them in an embrace. Looking at Ritu, Jivika separated from Aadi. Ritu felt the hug to be more than a friendly one and was a bit uncomfortable at the situation in front of her eyes. Aadi saw the discomfort in her eyes and before she could say anything, he had changed the topic.
He held Ritu by both sides and made her sit comfortably. She was still not aware why she had been called. Aadi apprised her about Dhara’s kidnapping episode. Ritu went silent. From the time of the revelation she had been living under a constant fear. She knew this could come to them and while she was prepared to face any consequences herself, she just wished that no harm ever happened to little Dhara. But today, her fear had come true.
Aadi tried comforting her, ‘Listen, this was an attempt not to kill but to kidnap her. Whoever it is wants something from us. Our entire machinery is deployed in tracing her. We will find her soon.’
But Ritu did not speak. Aadi knew words were not going to help. Only way to comfort her was to get Dhara back at the earliest.
Avanish meanwhile had started looking at a different source for clues. A source that had helped them last time in quickly identifying the culprits. The mobile phone network. He looked at the mobile phones that were around the school bus during the ten minute window the incident happened. Number was in thousands. He compared the behaviour patterns of those numbers and found that many of them frequented that route at that time of the day for over a year. Excluding those he was left with a few hundred numbers that were exceptions at that time on that route or had been frequenting only within the last one month.
Following those numbers he found that fourteen of them got disconnected from the network within next ten minutes and in a radius of two kms but in different directions. Of the fourteen he found that twelve numbers had been activated just a week before and the other two had been in use for more than three years. After another ten to fifteen minutes, twenty three new numbers got connected to the network, in the directions these people had been moving. Some of these were at mobile shops and hence would have probably been genuine customers activating new SIM’s.
Avanish kept a track on them but primarily focused on the other numbers. He got certain clues. Numbers that had got disconnected were in pairs or groups. And even when they connected to the network, they were in close proximity of each other, which meant some of them were on a bike and others in a four wheeler. The ones in the four-wheeler were important, as the perpetrators would not take Dhara on a bike? Or would they?
They could make Dhara unconscious, pose as a family and sitting her in between, they could try to escape. The five phones that had got disconnected in the presumed four-wheeler, nor their replacements connected back to the network. This meant if Dhara was in the four-wheeler, there would be another vehicle preceding them, guiding the way for them. What was startling was, one of the bikes as in two SIM’s had taken a U turn and were taking a route that crossed the school and went in the opposite direction.
‘But why would they?’ thought Avanish. ‘Knowing, there would be a traffic jam in front of the school due to the situation. Or could it be a planned move? A person or vehicle moving towards the crime scene had a lower chance of being suspected.’
If the perpetrators were smart, Avanish was even smarter. He was able to think how they would have planned, how they would have thought under given situation. His mind could run different hypothesis faster than his security systems could run their simulations to analyse the patterns and data. The bike in the direction of the school now became the prime suspect for Avanish, others ranked lower.
Within minutes invisible choppers had reached the spot and were following all the suspects. They could easily be intercepted but Avanish did not want to take any chances. Till now all these moving in different directions were still suspects. Nothing had been confirmed yet. Intercepting anyone of them would mean game over for the perpetrators. But if the hypothesis went wrong, if Dhara was not with the intercepted one, it would alert everyone and knowing that, it could be a risk to Dhara’s life.
Meanwhile Aadi had silently been observing everything. His mind had also been thinking on same lines as Avanish but he was not interfering in Avanish’s work, like one would expect a disturbed and impatient parent in this situation.
Avanish got the live video feed of all suspects through the choppers following them. As expected tailing the bike was an SUV, maintaining a gap of fifty to hundred metres. After fifteen minutes the SUV left the main road to enter a village and came to a halt after another ten minutes in front of a granary. Guards at the main gate were holding guns, unusual for a granary but apt to guard a hideout. Few guards could be seen keeping vigil from the windows. There were another eight SUV’s in front of the granary. So the place could have around fifty to sixty people.
Two men and two women got out of the SUV. One of them was carrying a small girl in plain clothes in her arms. They quickly entered the granary and the doors closed as quickly as they had opened. But in the brief five seconds, it was confirmed. The small girl was Dhara. Ritu, Jivika, Avanish and Aadi all had been observing the screen.
Avanish was wearing a headset for communicating with the choppers. He spoke, ‘Tiger four, reach to location of Tiger 2.’
‘ETA, two minutes’ was the reply.
In two minutes the chopper reached the place and another screen threw up the video feed of the granary from an adjacent side.
Avanish turned towards Aadi, ‘Chief, situation demands for a C blast. Since it involves Dhara, need your permission to go ahead.’
Aadi thought for a moment and in a very soft voice, almost like a whisper said, ‘Confirmed. Go ahead.’
Ritu was confused. Had she heard the word blast? Even before she could speak, Avanish had issued orders on his headset ‘On the count of THREE…TWO…ONE…FIRE.’
The next moment, the screen which was showing the entrance of the granary showed green coloured laser beams, a foot apart from each other, emanating from the chopper and targeted toward
s the granary at a height, just inches below the ceiling. Other screen showed similar laser beams, red in colour emanating from the other chopper, on the adjacent side. The intersection produced a deafening blast and both the screens were filled with smoke.
‘Nooooooooooo’ screamed Ritu, closing her eyes with her hands. She started screeching. Aadi took her in his arms but she started banging her fists on his chest. ‘My Dhara,’ she said weeping inconsolably.
Chapter 23
KIDNAPPING: THE AFTERMATH
Meanwhile, Police had reached the spot and the school. The bus with the explosive device was seized. All the other children had been brought back to the school in another bus. There was a big crowd in front of the spot and the school, trying to capture the action on their cellphone cameras.
Parents of children of that bus had been informed and requested to come to the school and pick up their wards.
Police took the statements of the driver, conductor, transport incharge, Dhara’s class teacher and the principal. But they knew what they were doing was just a formality. No one had forgotten what had happened to the attackers and the planners, after the attack on Aadi. By the time the police would have finished lodging the FIR, the case would possibly be over at GALAXY.
Back at the Headquarter
Ritu was inconsolable till finally Aadi raised his voice. Once she was silent he spoke, ‘I am sorry Ritu. In the pace of things, I missed explaining you what this blast was. I can understand your situation but believe me, Dhara is fine. The C blast or the Comatose blast is not lethal, it is only intended to make everyone, the captors and the hostages unconscious in such a situation. The beams penetrate through any surface - glass, wood or walls and the intersection of the red and green beams creates a dense gas that encompasses and fills the targeted area instantly, making everyone inside unconscious. Our warriors who are immune to this gas, then enter inside, rescue the hostages and give them the anti-dote to bring them back to consciousness. Look at that,’ said Aadi pointing towards the screen.