FROM CHARMINAR TO CHINA

said. Dad also expressed his appreciation.

  ‘Do not worry! However nasty the situation might be, I am well equipped to fight the case. I have studied Dr. Deng’s litigation in detail and I could conjure up at least ten errors in the case. Obviously the case will not stand. This is not worth a trial. I have dealt with nastier cases and trials before and I could win this case hands down’, Liza enthused.

  Mr. Thomas also reassured Dad that they were in command over the situation and that he had nothing to fear. Except that this legal strain could prolong for some time, there was nothing that could not be worked out.

  ‘I am also trying to think out of the box and to look at the problem from another perspective and am all out to bail you and Sekhar out of the predicament my dear friend,’ he said.

  ‘Regardless of how nasty the situation I am grateful that I have friends such as you who are determined to see me rise above this gutter and to offer me a hand’, my father told them.

  Meanwhile dozens of people milled about, or looked for seats, or chatted nervously with their eyes darting around. Michelle sat with me on a wooden bench in the far corner of the room. Across the room there were some chairs and tables on which were seated the lawyers flanked on their sides by their apprentices. Further straight ahead on a raised platform was a bigger table and a bigger chair. After what seemed like an eternity the judge arrived. Everyone in the courtroom stood up as a mark of respect for the position of the judge. I stood up too and closed my eyes in silent prayer with such deep sincerity as I had never prayed before. The judge took his seat and everyone in the room followed suit. One after the other the case number along with the plaintiff’s name as well as the defendant’s name was being announced by the clerk. Finally with the number 242 Dr. Deng Vs Reddy Sekhara was announced. My father was co-accused in the petition. Ms. Liza Ku escorted both Sekhar uncle and father to near the clerk’s desk. The judge simply looked at both the plaintiff and the respondent parties to the petition and slotted the reading of the said case to the same date of the next month. Seated on the far end of the court room on a wooden bench I was chewing on my nails. I rushed outside to where my Dad was. Ms. Liza Ku and Thomas too were discussing with him.

  ‘At this rate we could easily wind up languishing in Chinese jails on this case for another three years,’ Dad was telling them. This is hopeless Thomas, cannot we find a better and a speedier alternative.’

  ‘I will do what I can and I promise you that it would be nothing that could be sneezed at! I only need to twist some arms. I will be right back with you’, Thomas said grimly.

  Dad and Reddy Sekhar uncle were escorted back to the jail. Thomas was worried. Time was crucial. He worked feverishly on the petition that night trying to think of the best solution to the problem at hand that would ensure a speedy solution without taking up much time. He called up Dr. Deng and impressed upon him that Reddy Sekhara as well as my father were just employees who were doing part of their job. They are completely ethical to begin with. He also told him that since he also belonged to the same pharmaceutical business he was well aware of the intricacies of dealing with the trading practices. He laughed at the incriminating evidence. ‘Dr. Deng here I am a partner with powerful people who are also politically well connected. I have other options of talking to my perfectly competent lawyers who without doubt or suspicion know how to turn any case to get the desired verdict. I have made some powerful friends in the business and they will be happy to support my campaign. It just takes a phone call from me. Also he as well as, quite considerable count of his clout of business friends were willing to stand testimony against him and then there was always the danger that he would be ensconced in deeper trouble for bad business practices if word spread in the business circuit and that he himself would make double sure that it would just be that way. Hence it would not be wise on Dr. Deng’s part to not antagonize so many people in the business circuit. It would be better if Dr. Deng agreed to an out of the court settlement. He snapped his fingers. Just like that I will have the most powerful politician in these parts handle these things for me and I assure you Mr. Deng I will bloody well ensure that you will be in a soup. Dr. Deng as I can see you really have no campaign strategy, no plan, so why not open up on why you are doing this so that I may see if we could work this out to our common benefit provided you withdraw the case pronto!’

  Dr. Deng shrewd business man that he was, understood that the odds were not in his favor and agreed to withdraw the case provided he was guaranteed of the supply chain order with Dr. Rajesh’s company for the product that they had come to take the audit for. Thomas said he would call him back. What followed was a flurry of phone calls to father, some stern talking to Dr. Rajesh the chairman of father’s company.

  ‘ This case will become heated and attract a lot of attention since it involved trade between two countries and also the parties to the case involved persons belonging to different nationalities.’

  This case was bound to attract media attention both in China as well as in India and then it would none be the better for Dr. Rajesh as the closure of the case through an amicable settlement would become almost impossible. Moreover it was quite possible that Dr. Deng was in the process of gathering information that might be damaging to the interest of Dr Rajesh. Thomas convinced him too of the benefit of an out of the court settlement as eventually if the case stuck ground Dr. Rajesh stood the risk of his licences being cancelled and as Dr. Deng was willing for a settlement it was beneficial to all concerned to close the case.

  ‘My ultimate mission here is to clean up the case to the benefit of all concerned without trashing justice’, he said.

  Thomas prevailed upon both Dr. Deng and Dr. Rajesh to the point of forcing them to arrive at speedy compromise or face the threat of disrepute for bad business practices. Thomas’s wise counsel ultimately prevailed. He then called Ms. Liza Ku to arrange for the withdrawal of the case by Dr. Deng as both the parties to the case had agreed for an out of the court settlement. Thomas had rather aggressively assumed control over the situation. After what seemed like a treacherous week and after so much deliberations that followed thereafter there were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self congratulation because we had eventually survived this pathetic power play among two chemical giant companies through sheer determination and the dogged pursuit of compromise. The ordeal was finally over and Dad jumped like a little boy grinning from ear to ear while Reddy uncle smiled happily with enormous relief and fell down upon his knees and raised his hands up in a moment of silent prayer. I prayed too to thank god for having got us out of this disaster that was to be. Thomas had brilliantly executed the defense.

  This was only one part of the ordeal that was through, albeit the most excruciating one. The second one was to get the two parties to the conflict Dr. Deng and Dr. Rajesh to the negotiating table to try and formulate an agreement or a compromise to the satisfaction of both the warring parties concerned. To me it looked more like a class conflict in which the have not’s were inevitably drawn into and made the scrape - goats. We were lucky to have a messiah like Thomas to intervene in the affair and bail us out of the seemingly sticky situation out of which perhaps we could never ever hope to come out. For the first time I began to understand or think about Karl-Marx’s philosophy or the class struggle. As the proletariat we were drawn into a web of twisted interests of the capitalist class spawning international borders in which we felt hopeless. Whatever political system Mao had envisaged for China he had the interest of the majority of the population in mind. He protected the proletariat class from the capitalists, from exploiting the workers or the proletariat and appropriating and amassing the surplus wealth created by the workers. I could feel the indignity my father had to survive at the hands of the two pharmaceutical majors who did not think twice about ruining the career, even the entire life of two unsuspecting individuals just for their narrow trade interests. What was hurting was the fact that Dr. Rajesh was so insensitive to the plight
of a couple of his employees trapped in a foreign country who had been working with him for the best part of their lives.

  It was just outrageous! The basic lack of concern for the welfare of his employees who had been true to him could not be digested. Where was the security element then in the lives of the poor working class. If by some twist of fate they were gripped by some misfortune then God only save such hapless people.

  Thomas arranged for the meeting of Dr. Deng and Dr. Rajesh after four days in Beijing. Dr. Deng was clear that he wanted the supply order with Rajesh Chemicals regardless of whether the sample was approved by the production department. Initially the production department had detected the impurity level at three percent and had recommended that the purchase order could be placed with Dr. Deng if the impurity levels could be brought down. That is they were expecting ninety-nine percent purity levels in the raw material. Dr. Deng was bargaining for this factor i.e. the purity level to be scrapped from the agreement and wanted that his consignment be accepted regardless of the purity levels in his consignment. Now the tougher