Chapter 314 The Darkness of the Slums

Ron is going back to Uttar Pradesh, but there are still many things to take care of before leaving.

First of all, there was the telecommunications license, which was more complicated than he had imagined.

The Indian government is also completely in the dark about the business model of mobile communications, and many of its policies seem to be a joke.

First of all, the current pilot program is only being implemented in large cities, and license plates are also issued on a city-by-city basis.

Ron called the Department of Telecommunications in New Delhi, where an official told him that only two licenses would be issued per city, and only certain frequency bands would be open.

This is completely different from what he imagined, that once he got a license, he could build base stations all over the country.

Only two per city? Like selling snacks.

This petty approach naturally limits the birth of telecom giants.

In addition, communication between operators in different cities is also a problem, and there is no telling how much trouble will be caused by that time.

The most critical thing is the telecommunications license, or permit, which the New Delhi Department of Telecommunications has turned into a business.

The price is clearly marked: US$6 million per ticket, and it must be paid annually.

The price is quoted in US dollars because several international telecommunications companies have shown extraordinary interest in the Indian market.

After hearing the offer, Ron felt it was outrageous and a complete money grab.

What is India’s current economic level? Does New Delhi’s Ministry of Telecommunications really have no idea?

In the entire Indian subcontinent, only a few tens of thousands of people can afford mobile phones. Their annual phone bills combined are probably only enough to cover the cost of one or two mobile phone licenses.

There is no doubt that it will lose money. Except for big cities like Mumbai, other places will be in trouble.

At least in the next three to five years, this business will not be profitable, and the popularity of mobile phones in India will not be that fast.

Given New Delhi's nature, the license plate price might be raised in two years.

Ron studied the Ministry of Telecommunications' policies over and over again, but only saw the words "pig killing scheme".

Whether they do it or not, they are just coveting other people's dollars and using foreign capital to build their own public facilities.

Damn, Ron is such a noble businessman, not as despicable as the government.

However, he still wanted to get the telecommunications license, but he was not willing to pay $6 million.

It seems that when I go back to Uttar Pradesh, I have to visit New Delhi as well.

No matter what, we have to get a piece of the pie here in Mumbai. It doesn’t matter whether we make money or not. The important thing is to occupy the spot first.

Who knows when the Ministry of Telecommunications will completely relax its policies. Now that we have obtained the license, it will be convenient to upgrade in the future.

After the call to New Delhi, Ron returned to his work on Soul Electric. The staff housing, nearly two years in the making, was finally starting to be delivered.

Some employees got family rooms, and the whole family happily started moving in. There were a lot of bottles and cans, and it was a lively scene.

More people live in single dormitories, but this is much better than living in a slum with seven or eight people crowded together.

On the day of dormitory allocation, Ron also went to the site to attend the opening ceremony of the new residence.

The workers were very enthusiastic and shouted slogans of "Long live the people" loudly.

After the ceremony, he passed by the Kama compound, where Anand was sweating profusely while maintaining order.

"Ron Baba." He ran over from a distance.

"Why is it so messy here?"

"When someone moves out, someone else will move in. There will never be enough houses in Mumbai." He shook his head.

"Those too?" Ron pointed to the illegal slums outside the Kama compound.

Yes, further north of the Kama compound, clusters of slum-like shanties have emerged.

“Alas,” he sighed, “there are developers planning to build apartments here, and they heard about it and came here.”

"It's still early. It might take a year for the construction to start." Ron laughed. Of course he knew what was going on around him.

"It's not just the construction site. These people from the slums serve the residents of Kama Compound. They all know that the workers here are well paid and can afford servants."

"Huh?" Ron was stunned.

"You know, Ron Baba, people in Mumbai love to enjoy themselves. The salary of hiring a laundry worker is not even enough to buy a meal at McDonald's. Now that people have money, they are too lazy to do their old jobs. In Kama Compound, the clothes and hygiene of many families are taken care of by people from the slums outside."

“So the people in the illegal slums are attracted by jobs?”

"Yes, that's it."

Servants hire servants. No, it is the workers who hire servants. They have already completed the class leap.

The former poor people have become the masters, and naturally more people from the lower class will take their places.

India's castes and classes will probably never disappear.

“People have become bad nowadays and the slums are not as pristine as before,” Anand lamented.

"What's your story?" Ron squinted at him.

"There are so many people messing around, it's unbelievable." Anand said with amazement and a chuckle.

He started telling Ron some gossip about the slums, about a guy named Santosh who was a complete silver stick.

The man claimed that he treated his neighbor Raj's wife as his sister, and the other party also called him brother, and every year he went to ask for a colorful rope to ward off evil spirits and tie it on his wrist.

Raj and his wife trusted Santosh and allowed him to enter and leave the house freely, but they did not expect to let a wolf into the house.

One day, Santosh accidentally discovered that Raj's wife was having an affair with a doctor neighbor. He threatened to report both of them and forced Raj's wife to have an improper relationship with him.

From then on, Santosh would wander over to Raj's house in the mornings and have sex with the woman he called "girl".

At two o'clock in the afternoon, I went to the temple with my mother to perform a ritual and pretended to recite scriptures for an hour.

There is nothing gentle about this kind of sexual relations in the slums. When they occur, they are not only concealed but also full of bestiality.

When a woman is insulted in the slums, she often has to swallow her anger and endure it.

As Anand said: "She always felt that family disgrace should not be aired in public."

Therefore, the perpetrators are more unscrupulous and they specifically target vulnerable groups who will not, cannot, or dare not expose them.

What kind of gossip would others have? How would the man, unable to protect his wife and daughter, feel when he was bullied and ridiculed? When they discovered the truth, most of them remained silent.

Ron knew the slums were messy, but he didn't expect them to be this messy.

"That Santosh has slept with so many women, but he's not open about it. Could it be that he's also very handsome?"

"Not at all," Anand shook his head. "He's a cripple who hasn't even graduated from elementary school. He works as a security guard at a shopping mall."

But he was good at talking. He would go to a woman's house every day and sit there chatting.

He chatted with the husband, his wife, and their daughter.

He only talked about what they wanted to hear, gradually became familiar with them, and then chose the right time to take action.

“So I was a little nervous seeing him coming in and out of our house,” Anand admitted.

The short and fat guy had no idea that he was not good-looking and had also raped many housewives.

If we really talk about hunting for love, he is even more outrageous than Santosh.

Sex in the slums is wild, disorderly, and can happen anytime and anywhere.

As Anand was vividly describing the strange things happening here, Rajiv ran over and said that a man was beating his wife and he was worried that she would be beaten to death.

"From Kama Compound?" Anand asked.

“No, outside,” Rajiv pointed to the illegal slum.

"Ron Baba, do you want to go take a look? That place is under our jurisdiction now."

"I'm here, you go do your thing." Ron waved his hand.

He had already seen a group of people gathered not far away, not far away enough to be heard from here.

Anand, Rajiv and their companions walked quickly across several sewage ditches and came to a row of small houses. The small houses were just a few steps away from the outskirts.

A large crowd of onlookers had gathered outside a small hut. As they approached, they heard pitiful screams and the sounds of punches and kicks coming from inside.

Anand saw Rajakannu standing near the hut and without saying a word he struggled through the crowd and came to him.

"What's going on?" Anand asked in a stern tone.

"Joseph is drunk," Rajakannu replied angrily, spitting in the direction of the hut. "The bastard has been beating his wife all morning."

He looked down on such people. In the past, he was willing to get injured in order to move his pregnant wife from the sidewalk to the slums.

Later, it was Ron who recruited him, which allowed his wife to have a decent home before giving birth.

"All morning? How long?"

"Three hours, maybe longer. I just arrived and the others told me about it, so I sent someone to inform you."

Anand frowned, unhappy. It was true that he liked housewives and used cable TV to hunt for women, but he still thought he was a good man.

He took good care of Frieda, and the children grew up healthily and brought a lot of money home.

He doesn't like men who beat their wives; it's a sign of incompetence.

"Joseph has beaten his wife more than once or twice. Why didn't you stop him?"

"I" Rajakannu was speechless, but felt aggrieved, and looked down at the stone ground under his feet.

He was filled with rage and on the verge of tears.

"I'm not afraid of him! I'm not afraid of any man here! You know, but they are... She is his wife."

The slums are densely packed and crowded, with residents living right next to each other. The most intimate sounds and movements of life can be heard by neighbors at all times.

Like people elsewhere, they are reluctant to interfere in other people's family disputes, even if those disputes turn violent.

Especially for women, it is even more difficult for irrelevant men to interrupt.

Anand didn't care about that and immediately asked Rajakannu to open the door.

At this time, new shouts and beating sounds were heard in the house, followed by even more shrill screams.

(End of this chapter)