I am a master in India

Chapter 138: Indian Gotham City
"Ron, you need to find someone else at the travel agency. I have to come back."

"Why, don't you really like this job?"

"I should have been there yesterday," Anand said, looking very guilty. "Those two Punjabi bastards would never get away with it. I would have beaten them up, slapped them in the face, pulled their hair, and poked them in the eyes."

"Nonsense, that tall and thin guy is obviously not a good person. It doesn't matter whether you are here or not." Ron hit him mercilessly.

It's not like he hasn't seen Anand's mediocre moves before. Let alone beating up his enemy, it would be a good thing if he could tell the directions after a barrage of punches.

His short stature makes him unintimidating, and it would be almost the same if Vinod came instead.

"At least I'm here and can organize people to be responsible for the security of the electrical appliance factory." Anand complained.

"That's fine," Ron nodded. "You can take care of the travel company for now. I'll talk to you after I find the right person to take over."

The Sur Electric Appliance Factory is not without security guards. Gulish, who used to be the gatekeeper, is in charge of this area.

But Ron was not satisfied with his performance. He didn't emerge from the crowd until yesterday's incident was resolved.

Ron doesn't like sneaky people, so he feels more at ease leaving the security to his own people.

Anand may not be a good fighter, but he is loyal. He is also very prestigious in the slums of the electrical factory, and everyone is willing to listen to his orders.

Ron's bodyguards also planned to find a few people from there first. They were all old people who followed here first and were trustworthy.

Rashid and Amit were good yesterday. They really dared to take on the challenge.

Ever since he heard a lot about the inside story of Mumbai crime from Ajay, he has taken security very seriously.

Who knows if someone would kidnap him because they were short of money to tip the dancer.

He didn't even have any relatives in Mumbai and couldn't find anyone to pay the ransom.

In addition to bodyguards, security also includes cars.

You can avoid a lot of trouble by sitting in the car. Even if someone wants to do something bad, he won't be able to do it.

After arranging the work at the Sur Electrical Factory, Ron made an appointment with Harry, Singh and others at the Taj Mahal Hotel.

"Do you know where I can get imported cars?"

"Oh, this is a little troublesome." Harry gave him a meaningful look.

Ron, who was already familiar with each other, knew that this usually meant relying on smuggling.

India still has very strict controls on imported cars, with tariffs as high as 100%, which is no different from an embargo.

"Why not consider Ambassadors? They're good too," Singer suggested.

At that time, the Ambassador brand car was regarded as the pride of domestic products, known as the "Wheel of India", and was one of the symbols of the Indian automobile industry.

Nowadays, only government officials, taxi drivers and wealthy families buy Ambassador cars, which are real domestic luxury cars.

"I like a tougher style. The Ambassador is too round." This was Ron's only explanation.

The truth is that he doesn't trust Indian manufacturing. What can you expect from him, brother?
If even Hangzhou's mother can have tremors, it's reasonable for a car to lose a wheel while running.

"Which car have you taken a fancy to?" asked Harry, a customs officer with a wealth of experience.

"Ford's Taurus."

"Then you need to prepare at least $3, which is one million rupees."

"This price is much higher than I expected." Ron frowned.

"This car sells for $2 in the United States, but after going through formal channels and adding various taxes, it will sell for at least $5 in India.

I know a car dealer I can call, and $3 is about the lowest price.”

"Okay! I'll prepare the money in the next two days." Ron gritted his teeth and agreed.

It may be a bit more expensive, but at least it is more reliable than Indian cars.

One million rupees, scraped together from travel agencies and Bollywood agencies, was about enough.

If it is possible to keep the money of Sur Electric as it will be used to expand its scale, it should be kept as it will be used to expand its scale.

"By the way, why do you suddenly want to buy a car? You obviously have plenty of taxis." Singer was a little curious.

He had the impression that Ron always took taxis because he ran a travel company and had cooperation with many taxi drivers, who were always available.

"I encountered something recently," Ron recounted his previous experience.

"Mumbai is becoming increasingly chaotic," Singh lamented. "Extortion is happening every day."

"I attended a wedding yesterday. The owner of the wedding invitation changed the venue from the racecourse to an unknown small church."

Harry also began to share his own experience, that he had previously received an extremely luxurious wedding invitation.

The cover is beautifully crafted, decorated with a small Ganesha image, and wrapped in silk. Inside are cards representing different aspects of the wedding, each costing between 50 and 100 rupees.

When I opened the wedding invitation, I found that the location of the main wedding ceremony was hastily written on a small piece of paper and pasted in the most conspicuous place, as if it was changed on a whim.

"They've been targeted by the gangs for a long time," Harry explained. "They're like fat sheep, and the gang members are the wolves."

"How do these gangs know who's getting married?" Ron asked. "Because they first target the caterer, who has the full guest list."

"Then how do the gangs select the fat sheep from the list?" Singh also became interested.

"It's simple, through the building contractor, each household's servants, and interior designers," Harry shrugged.

Ron also had to admit the fact that after the bombing, the number of young people involved in gangs increased sharply.

This riot destroyed the livelihoods of many people. With nowhere else to go, they no longer cared about anything else.

The police in Mumbai are surprisingly incompetent, and the gangs are growing stronger and stronger, becoming one of the masters of this city.

"See those guys in the corner?" Harry winked suddenly.

Ron and Singer turned their heads and saw five or six men eating and drinking rudely, completely ignoring the strange looks from the people around them in the hall.

"That group of people are gang members. They don't have to pay for their own bills. The table next to them will pay for it."

At Harry's reminder, Ron and the others noticed that the family at the next table was constantly looking at those people. They looked nervous and pale.

"This is the Taj Mahal, why didn't that family resist?" Singh frowned.

"They can either pay up or say goodbye to the new Toyota that drove up to the hotel."

Harry has seen a lot of this kind of thing. These thugs are not seeking money, they just want to enjoy a service at the Taj Mahal.

If they weren't in gangs, they would never be able to come to such a place in their entire lives.

Anyone who pursues fame and fortune in Mumbai uses the Taj Mahal Hotel, a fortress that symbolizes imperial splendor, as a benchmark for their aspirations.

Because like them, the Taj Mahal Hotel was born from humble beginnings.

After the founder of the Tata family was humiliated by the Watson Hotel next door, he vowed to avenge his past humiliation, and he did it.

Thus, the Taj Mahal Hotel has become a symbol of self-improvement.

But not everyone belongs here, and the restroom near the hotel lobby is a perfect place to test a person's self-esteem.

In theory, anyone who is well-dressed can enter the lobby to cool off or use the restroom.

But you need to be confident from the inside out, so that you can sit on the luxurious sofa and in the magnificent bathroom without showing any shyness under the gaze of the top Arab tycoons, charming socialites, doormen and cleaners.

If you don't firmly believe that you belong here, how can you convince others?
Of course, the gangsters don’t care about these things. As long as they have been here, they will have enough to brag about when they go back.

They will be regarded as legends in the slums: Look, those guys have been to the Taj Mahal Hotel, they are so arrogant!
Just as Ron and the others were secretly observing, several policemen suddenly came in at the door.

The leader was Ajie, who also spotted Ron. However, he didn't come over. After nodding, Ajie went straight to the hotel front desk.

Under the guidance of the lobby manager, Ai Jie walked towards the gangsters. They had lost their previous arrogance and fled in shame, shrinking their necks like mice seeing a cat.

It turned out that the lobby manager had made the phone call secretly. After all, it was really unsightly to let the thugs extort money in broad daylight in the hotel.

The family at the next table thanked Ajie profusely; they had been targeted before even entering the hotel. If it weren't for Ajie, it's hard to say what would have happened next.

Not only them, but other important people in the hotel also stood up to greet Ajie.

The recent coverage of Ajay in the Bombay newspapers has been even more intense than Ron's. He has made remarkable progress in solving the bombing case and is said to have apprehended over a hundred suspects.

The elites have always been enthusiastic about people like Ajie who can truly protect their safety.

But Aggie didn't stay for long. He walked straight to Ron and sat down, attracting everyone's envious glances.

"That group has been arrested."

"Who?" Ron was stunned.

"The people who kidnapped you," Ajie said, taking a sip of his iced coffee, "even uncovered a counterfeit money ring."

Harry and Singh pricked up their ears. As officials, they didn't often hear the inside story of such big news.

Aij explained that the counterfeit notes were printed at a printing factory outside Babayang Islamabad, and that a few templates were used to produce hundreds or even thousands of fake rupees with the image of Saint Gandhi.

The fake rupees were then transported to Kathmandu and then to various parts of India by rail or road.

Once they enter the country, some people will exchange them for small-denomination real banknotes, or mix them with real banknotes to turn them into cash for transactions at markets or spending in bars.

The torture of the two Punjabis made them reveal the entire supply chain.

As expected, the mastermind behind this is the Daud Gang. According to Ajie, he will soon be in big trouble.

Because he was also involved in the bombing, the Indian government will take real action once there is enough evidence, even if he is in Dubai.

The counterfeit currency incident also made Harry and Singh quite emotional. They said there were rumors that the Reserve Bank of India would no longer handle 500-rupee notes.

The proliferation of counterfeit 500-rupee notes has seriously affected the operations of businesses.

This reminded Ron that from now on, all of Sur Electric's business would use the bank payment system.

Although the tax you have to pay is a little more, it is better than counterfeit money.

Not long after returning home, Kavya called again and wanted to write a report about Sur Electric.

(End of this chapter)