It was Apr 2nd. Poornima's board exams were over so were the exams of other kids. Summer vacation had started for everyone. The last 2 weeks were hectic for Sreedhar what with review of his business plan going rounds with Sudhir, Tilak and also to Rajasekhar. He had multiple discussions, answering the questions, making relevant changes wherever required and finally it was ready. He had asked everyone including the kids to assemble in the hall after dinner so that he can present the plan to the complete family

" Sreedhar this is business plan beta, what is the need to tell us all this " asked Maheswari

" There is a need Maa. Because we are going to enter the retail segment and you know retail has been Murali Bhaiyya's biggest dream. A dream he has cherished for long say atleast since he completed his 12th. And without you approving this plan I cannot go ahead " told Sreedhar

" Me approving. What do I know about business beta. Tilak and Sudhir have seen it, your Papa has seen it, then what I am supposed to say" asked Maheswari

" You have to say Maa. Because we are not going to drive " Rashee". It is going to be driven by your bahus " told Sreedhar

Renu, Vindhya and Maheswari looked startled at Suman. She was smiling

" Maa, bhabi don't look at Sumanji. She has already questioned me on the specifics. Also I specifically told her not to tell anyone. Actually I wanted it to be a surprise for her also. But then due to time constraint I had to reveal the entire plan to her " told Sreedhar

" Suman if you read the plan, if you questioned him what do you feel about it beta. I want to hear from you" told Maheswari

" Maa it is a very ambitious plan. And if I look at it, for the coming one year it is going to be really tough for me, Vindhya Bhabi and Renu Bhabi as we all will have to put good effort to ensure the Brand gets noticed. But then it is possible if we stand as a family together"

" What I am supposed to do. I have not even gone to college and 12th I just managed to pass. What business I will do" asked Vindhya

" And me Sreedhar what are you putting me into " asked Renu

" Renu Bhabi, Vindhya Bhabi relax. Let me tell you what is the plan" told Sreedhar and everyone stopped talking and listened to him attentively

" Now Maa instead of starting something new, what I am planning to do is take something existing. Start in a small scale. Then expand. If you look Sumanji has managed to get a loyal clientele for her designs. Now people bring their sarees, salwars, duppattas and give it to her to work on it. What I am going to do is take this work outside. By that I mean we are going to buy a space in Kotwal Lane. Already a space noted for it. But instead of just doing work on what her customers bring, Sumanji will have sarees, salwars, duppattas designed and put for sale. And this collection we will call " Rashee" a combination of Murali Bhaiyya's and Anu Bhabi's name.

So the idea is to get customers for this designed sarees, salwars and duppatta. Now what Vindhya Bhabi will do. Sumanji will anyways be busy with doing the designs, Vindhya Bhabi will be the one who will market this. Or rather for starting she will be the sales person in the shop who decides on what to put on shop window, how to attract customers, speak to customers telling them about designs, why owning Rashee will keep them apart from the rest of the crowd etc...In nutshell in the starting she will be the salesperson in the shop.

Now coming to Renu Bhabi. Bhabi you are B com and whom else I can trust the accounts of Rashee. Rashee is going to be a subsidiary of Varma Group and it will have a separate bank account, separate account books and separate balance sheet. So you will start in the cash in shop

So this is the initial set up. But plan is bigger. I expect Rashee to create an impact. That means Sumanji will have people working under her and she will be mostly designing, but work will done by others. I am expecting some of her students from army camp can join us. If she wants she can take couple of people in the starting as she has more work

Vindhya Bhabi can also get 1 or 2 sales girls if we get good footfalls in the shop and she can concentrate more on growing business, checking on oppourtinites for exhibitions in other districts, planning for such exhibitions etc etc or in short handle the complete Marketing of Rashee

Bhabi can also move from cash and start looking more at the bottomline of the business. Can suggest opportunities for cost optimization, better management and in general manage the workforce of Rashee

One more thing Renu Bhabi and Vindhya Bhabi. Both of you will have to learn computer. Renu Bhabi you will have to attend the excel classes we have kept for our finance guys in May. Because slowly but surely all accounting we are planning to migrate to MS excel from books. For you since it is beginning better you start in MS excel itself.

Vindhya Bhabi you will have to learn English and Sumanji will teach you to chat in computer

Vindhya looked perplexed " English is fine Sreedhar. I know to read and write. Will go to some class to learn speaking , but chatting in computer, what is that"

" Bhabi that is the method of interacting with people whom you cannot see, but who will want to buy your product, also people who can be your target audience. Just like we talk like this, computer has things like yahoo to help you chat. After sometime you will get used to it"

" Sreedhar is it necessary to learn to chat. Why it is needed "

" Because Bhabi my target is putting Rashee as the most preferred brand in Bangalore the would be " Silicon Valley of India" . In this city a young breed of woman are going to come up who are not going to depend on their father or husband for buying what they want. A group of woman who know what they want and are on look out for things that cater to the independent , decision making working woman. This women will belong to IT field working in companies like Infosys, TCS, IBM etc... To reach her, you have to know English and chatting"

" If you need to grow business in IT era you have to understand this independent woman and cater to her. The businesses which cannot see this changing scenario, which enters late into this segment has every chance of losing the leadership position. By going for this women early on " Rashee" has a good chance to get noticed completely in South which includes Hyderabad, Chennai and Cochin in addition to Bangalore"

" And Maa now when your bahus are going for work, atleast for the next one year you will mostly have to cater to the needs of children when they come from school. Because all three of them will be needed to completely invest their time in this business before they can do time management.

I have told Tilak Bhaiyya, Sudhir Bhaiyya and Papa that we must cooperate on taking lunch in the morning itself and we should get used to that habit than waiting for warm lunch in the afternoon. It will be difficult initially as we all are used to warm lunches by habit. But to make this successful we will have to make some lifestyle adjustment.

So Maa now it is upto you. Tell me can I go ahead with this plan. Renu Bhabi, Vindhya Bhabi, Sumanji are you all willing to put effort to make Rashee Successful"

Maheswari called him by his side and caressed his hair " You are going to do something path breaking. Why should I stop you my son. I know all my bahus are very much talented in their own way and are capable of taking up responsibilities. Then if my Murali is going to live through this brand, then I want it to run successfully at any cost beta. We as a family will stand together to keep the memories alive of both Murali and Anusree. On 17th it is Murali's Shradh. As per Poornima Anu died on Apr 24th. I had spoken to Dinakarji on what needs to be done for Anu. He told we need to do one sharadh and then one Sumangali Pooja as she died a Suhagan. So once both these are over I will discuss with Dinakarji and based on his suggestion we will start on a auspicious day"

" Vindhya Bhabi, Renu Bhabi what say. I had already spoken to Sumanji and she said she is fine"

" I never thought I will work , but now I am happy if I can work " told Renu

" My Chatting can help business, that's the thing I love to do. You don't worry Sreedhar I will market Rashee" told Vindhya

" So Maa can I pay advance to the space in Kotwal Lane tomorrow itself as we might need to do interiors and all. I am targeting a start in Jun-Jul time time frame" told Sudhir

" Yes beta you give advance and fix the place" told Maheswari . Sreedhar folded his file. He was feeling happy. As everyone dispersed to their rooms Maheswari stood in front of Murali's photo

" Bless your brother. He needs all of it. To bring him out of all the struggles he has to undergo. To complete all your incomplete work. She wiped a tear that was about to fall and gazed at the face of her smiling son as she moved to her room. She knew Murali's soul will be with Sreedhar. They were that close.

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