Chapter 339 Chicken Coop
In addition to visiting various ministers in New Delhi, Ron also held parties and salons in his own villa.
Just as he and Muna said, you have to meet the people you should meet, and you also have to meet the people you shouldn't meet.
Those political brokers and middlemen, who seem to hold no official positions, are often the key to solving certain problems.
Anyone who has been around the corridors of power in New Delhi for years knows that some politicians' associates can act as middlemen. If you want to do something for a politician or ask him for a favor, you cannot avoid middlemen.
They can be party workers or aides to party leaders, relatives of senior politicians, and confidants from the same hometown or caste.
They are pure power brokers, helping entrepreneurs bypass red tape and connect directly with those in power.
This kind of middleman role exists not only in the political field, but also in every corner of Indian society. Their predecessors were called agents.
In the past, in India, especially during the period of scarcity after independence, you had to find an agent to buy anything.
Without them, whether you can buy it or not is another matter, and the final price is often very different.
People grew up in this economic system, and even today, they still feel safer buying things through a middleman who will say, "Leave it to me."
For example, when Sun TV was developing cable TV business in New Delhi, they couldn't find any installers on the market. Even if they found an experienced worker on the street, he would ask Sun TV to contact someone first.
That person is an agent who specializes in this kind of work, just like the pawnbrokers in ancient China.
Such agents are more active in India. They seem to be able to handle everything, from ensuring the smooth clearance of goods to passing the driving test.
It is said that three-quarters of people who learn to drive in New Delhi find a middleman, and the vast majority of them successfully get their driver's license.
In contrast, those who try to pass the test on their own are more likely to fail to get a driver's license, even if they have good driving skills.
Not only that, the middleman will also try to transfer part of the service fee to the person in charge of the exam, and the examiner will often arbitrarily give failing grades to candidates who do not hire a middleman on the exam site.
That way, they'll know what to do next time.
The middleman business even has an invisible price list.
For example, the fee for applying for an identity card is usually Rs 200. The progressive portion of personal income tax is exempted, which is Rs 10,000.
The more complicated the matter, the higher the price. Things like registering land naturally require a lot of money to complete.
Sometimes, if the money is in place, all formalities can be waived.
Even the arms business in India relies on middlemen.
Just because Ron could knock directly on the door of a minister's office in New Delhi doesn't mean he can ignore the middleman.
When you are stuck in a problem and have no idea how to solve it, you might get unexpected benefits from a middleman.
The most important thing is that he cannot be stationed in New Delhi permanently and cannot obtain political intelligence here first-hand.
A network of middlemen can fill this gap and act as lobbying teams.
To put it bluntly, Ron wants to cultivate his own network of relationships in New Delhi, and his strong financial resources are enough to support this kind of political lobbying activities.
Throughout June, he mostly entertained agents from all sides at his own villa.
During his time in New Delhi, Ron was very relaxed, often playing golf on the lawn in the back garden wearing a polo shirt and casual trousers.
The automatic sprinkler system makes the weather less hot and unbearable, and the lush flowers, plants and trees block out the noise of Delhi streets.
He just met with a lawyer from a high-end law firm here. He has no shortage of resources in this area. What's important is that the man knows the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
After swinging two times, Ron threw away the club, picked up the ice drink under the parasol, and started drinking it in gulps.
The weather in Delhi is not suitable for exercise.
"Sir, are the people you make friends with important to your business?" Muna asked from the side.
He had done nothing recently and just chatted with Ron when he met guests.
They didn't talk about business at all, just gossip, which sounded meaningless.
Muna didn't quite understand, he felt that the gentleman's time should be precious.
Ron took the towel from the servant and wiped the sweat off his face casually.
"Their role is only there when they are needed."
“But they are also greedy.”
"Yes, but they only take what they are entitled to."
Muna remembered another business deal that his husband had done a few days ago.
That was about the license, and both parties had reached an agreement over the phone.
Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, and the gentleman had someone hand over the prepared travel bag.
There was money all over the place, and the colorful scene was distracting.
The gentleman prepared an extra envelope. The man took the envelope and left with his bag without saying a word.
A stranger took away the huge sum of money so openly that Muna was even worried that the man would abscond with the money.
With so much money, you can escape to anywhere and live a carefree life.
"Are you wondering why he didn't take the money?"
"Yes, sir." Muna nodded.
“This kind of thing hardly ever happens in India.”
"Why, sir?"
"You'll know the answer if you walk around the streets of Delhi, especially Old Delhi."
Munna has not only been to the streets of Delhi, he has also been to the malls.
But since the gentleman said so, he decided to go and take a look.
Old Delhi is connected to New Delhi, so you can treat it as the old city.
If New Delhi represents the bright, modern side of the city, then Old Delhi is its other side.
It is full of things that modern society has long forgotten: rickshaws, ancient stone buildings, and herders.
But on Sundays, there's one more thing.
If you keep pushing aside the crowds that gather here all the time, pass by the men who are cleaning other people's ears with rusty iron rods, pass by the men who are selling small fish in green bottles, pass by the cheap shoe market and the cheap shirt market, you will come to the famous Daryaganj second-hand book market.
Muna liked it here, but he knew he wouldn't find the answers in the used book market.
So he continued walking until he passed behind the Gama Qingzheng Temple and stopped.
It was a market where poultry were sold.
Hundreds of gray-white hens and brightly colored roosters were crammed tightly into wire cages, huddled together like parasites in a stomach, pecking at each other, shitting on each other, and fighting for breathing space.
The chicken coop stank, the stench of feathered, terrified flesh.
A young butcher was sitting on a wooden table above the chicken coop, smiling as he showed the customers the freshly chopped chicken and chicken offal, which was greasy and covered with a layer of dark red blood.
The roosters in the coop smelled the blood from above and saw their brothers' entrails scattered around. They knew it would be their turn next, but they made no effort to resist or escape from the coop.
Muna suddenly understood that this country was like a chicken coop, trapping the fate of those people.
Look at the Delhi street behind him, a man is riding a rickshaw, pedaling hard, with a large bed or a dining table tied to the rickshaw behind him.
This is a deliveryman who delivers furniture to people's homes every day. A bed can cost up to 5,000 rupees, or even 6,000 rupees. If you add chairs and coffee tables, the value of the items on the truck is 10,000 to 15,000 rupees.
A man comes to your house on a three-wheeler and brings you this bed, dining table and chairs. This poor guy only earns five hundred rupees a month.
He unloaded all the furniture for you, and you paid him in cash, a thick stack of bills as thick as a brick.
He put the money into his pockets or shirt, or simply stuffed it into his underwear, then rode his bike all the way back to his boss, without touching a single cent, and handed the money over to his boss!
The money he handled was equivalent to his annual or even two-year salary, but he would not pocket a single rupee.
Every day on the streets of Delhi, you can see a private car driver driving a car with no one else in it but a black suitcase on the back seat containing one or two million rupees.
The driver had probably never seen so much money in his life. If he took this money, he could go to the United States, Europe or anywhere else and start a new life there.
He could go to the five-star hotels he had always dreamed of but could only admire from the outside, he could take his family to Goa or to England.
Despite this, he still delivered the black suitcase to the place where his master asked him to go, placed it in the place designated by his master, and would never touch a single rupee inside.
Why?
Because Indians are loyal, honest and trustworthy?
No, it's because 99.9 percent of Indians are trapped in chicken coops, just like those poor chickens in the poultry market.
If it is a small amount of money, this chicken cage theory would probably be a different matter.
Never test your driver or servant with a one or two rupee coin, as he is likely to keep the money for himself.
But if you put a million dollars in front of a servant, he won't touch a cent of it.
If a black bag containing a million dollars was left in a taxi in Mumbai, the taxi driver would call the police before nightfall and deliver the money to the police station.
Because he was not supposed to take the money and he couldn't take it away.
Of course, whether the police will return the money to the owner after calling the police is another matter.
In this country, a master can safely hand over diamonds to his servants!
Surat is the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing center. Every evening on the train leaving from here, you can see many servants of diamond merchants. They carry suitcases full of cut diamonds to be sent to someone in Mumbai.
Why didn't these servants take the suitcase full of diamonds? They were not Gandhi, they were just ordinary people. But they were trapped in the chicken coop. The loyalty of servants is the foundation of the entire Indian economy.
Amazing Indian Chicken Coop!
(End of this chapter)
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