Several centuries ago. it was Viswamithra, the great sage who was distracted ‘by Menaka while he was performing a fierce penance. Menaka, ‘commissioned by Indra, provoked him to pursue the demands of his senses. ‘Thereafter, his yogic powers were depleted, Several decades ago, it was Pradyumna, the great artist who was distracted by the beautiful princess, Sucharita Devi, He was working on a beautiful painting of Viswamithra and Menaka. Thereafter, not only he but his painting ‘vanished from history. Now, in the Twenty-First century, Rishi, a Swiss-Banker, set on an ambitious project to pursue his business with Mahendra, a corporate icon. His two other pursuits are to win the heart of his lady love, Snigdha and to know the whereabouts of his dreamy destination - Viswamithra’s painting, All seems to be going fine till Apsara, a beautiful art dealer ofthe city, enters his lie. Can Apsara, the modem beauty, distract Rishi from his project, as Snigdha fears? Wil Viswamithra’s painting prove to be as unfortunate for Rishi as it was for Pradyumna? Read “I Love You, Viswamithra” for interesting answers to these questions ‘amidst twists and tums set in the world of Swiss banking and black money. It is not an ordinary tale about colors of painting, but a true reflection of colors of people in life. oo eee AML APS SET Wh .\21 Pa StL Av WLP) "i. SRINIVAS YANAM: 7 ANBRA —| Love You, Viswamithra Srinivas YanamandraCopyright © Srinivas Yanamandra 2012 First Published 2012 ISBN : 978-93-5087-306-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author, ‘The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. ‘Typeset by. Focus Designs (Office No. 2, 2nd Floor, Sanket Apartments, 1696 Sadashiv Pech, Pune 411030. Printed in India by Ramana Printers F-1,B-16, Vigyanpuri Colony, Vidyanagar, Hyderabad - 500 044, Dedicated to Late (Smt) Sri Lakshmi, my grand mother who introduced the world of mythology to me during my childhood days.Acknowledgements ‘My happiest task is to thank friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who encouraged, inspired and generally kept me enthused with their critical feedback on my first book, "Hakuna Matata - Life is Calling”. The journey of "I Love You, Viswamithra” was smooth and untizing with all their good wishes generally and in particular, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of - Komal Jain (who painstakingly edited the initial three versions of the manuscript), Santosh Wakchoure (the off-set designer, who pushed me forward. with all his energy when I lost hope on this book mid-way), Neelam. Hemrajani (contemporary artist who painted the Viswamithra- Menaka portrait used in the cover-page), Namrata Kale (who provided me the final editing and proof-reading support) and Sri Vardhan (who guided me through the nuances of self publishing). My senior colleagues (Sandeep and Rajesh), my parents (Mallikharjuna Rao and Yasoda) and my brother Ravi & his family provided the right kind of environment which always allowed me to cherish my passionate writing interest. My wife Savitha and my two little angels - Anagha and Ananya, complete the list by being always there with me bearing my mood swings. ‘They are eagerly looking forward for me wo compensate the time I had stolen from their weekends for completing the book.Prologue Several centuries ago, in the Court of Devendra, the King of ‘Devatas “Viswamithra?” asked Menaka again. “Yes, Viswamithra....” Devendra replied curtly. It meant Menaka better not ask any more questions and quickly get going. His call, towering figure was akin to his words which resounded his auth Menaka was confused. She was cursing her stars today. Being a celestial nymph, there was no doube that her graceful dances, ‘meaningful smiles, and electrifying looks, always added glory to the heaven. But today, this very beauty had turned into a curse, forcing her to do something which she was quite apprehensive about, She was worried about the new job chat the King was asking her to perform - to distract Viswamithra from his penance. Originally known as Kaushika, Viswamithra was a valiant warrior and great-grandson of a King named Kusha. While on his way around the country, he had an encounter with the great sage Vasishta's Holy Cow - Kamadhenu - which atcracted his attention. Kamadhenu was capable of fulfilling any wish and, being a King, he thought it was his right to own it from the sage. But he could not succeed in this attempt, given the stiff resistance from /eness.10 I Love You, Vishwamithra Vasishea to give away Kamadhenu to the King. In the event that followed, Vasishta destroyed Kaushika’s entire army, which forcefully eried to take away Kamadhenu from him, by the use of great mystical and spiritual powers. ‘This incident left a deep impression on Kaushika. He realised that the power obtained by penances was far greater than mere physical strength, He therefore renounced his kingdom and began his quest to become a greater Rishi than Vasishta. He took on the name Viswamithra His only goal was to attain the same spiritual power as Vasisheas to become his cqual- a Brahma Rishi. He undertook a severe penance for one thousand years, after which Brahma named him a Raja Rishi or royal sage. ‘After another long penance of ten thousand years, Brahma named him a Rishi, chus enabling him to leave his royal lineage permanently Knowing that he was on his way co attain the next stage of Brahma Rishi stature, Devendra, the King of Gods wanted to test his penance. Devendra ordered Menaka to seduce Viswamithra and distract his attention from the penance. “But...being a Rishi, he might use his eternal powers to destroy ime in case things go wrong” a reluctant Menaka said, as she was not able to muster courage to follow the King’s instructions. She was fully aware that Viswamithra was known for his uncontrollable temperament and often cursed people in his anger, thereby depleting his yogic powers obtained by penance. People feared his temper and prayed that their actions might not get misconstrued by the touchy sage. “This would be the last ime I order you to get on to your job”. Saying so, Devendra left in a huff. And now Menaka did not have any choice. She made up her mind to follow the King's instructions. She Srinivas Yanamandra 11 picked an exquisite outfit and descended on earth where Viswamithra was performing his penance, “Aum” the entire area resounded with Viswamithra’s chant of the mantra, She immediately feared that it was the biggest tisk she had raken of attempting to distract Viswamithra. But at this stage, she could not go back to heaven without fulfilling her task, nor could she risk herself by distracting Vishwamiera, It's the order of the king and it needs to be obeyed, she reflected in her thoughts. Tc was an order to challenge the concentration of the human ‘mind through the mystique of the celestial nymph. Tc was an order to measure restraint when encountered with the irresistible. Te was an order to test the dominance of lust over the wisdom at the mind's crest. ‘And now; she was fully ready to execute the order, She quickly undressed herself and got into the lake. The lake was just next to the place where Viswamithra was performing his penance, In moments that followed, the lake assumed a new glow and brightness with each drop of water competing with other to feel the touch of her gracious body. Her body started adding new life to the water and new energy into the Ashram. Life as though, came to a hale for a minute as she came out of the lake. ‘The moon came out of clouds to curiously check out what was in store for him that evening, ‘Menaka came out with water dripping from every part of het exquisitely crafted self. Each drop was enthusiastically moving from top to bottom of her body and was reluctantly leaving her body glistening. She walked menacingly towards Vishwamitra threatening to break everything he had managed to build so far. Her rhythmic footsteps, delicate waist, fiery eyes made the12 I Love You, Vishwamithra invitation even more irresistible. In minutes that followed, her presence was felt in the surroundings that got translated into an ominous silence, which shattered the concentration of Viswamithra. He opened his eyes finally ‘And ohilf..uthe “Aum” lefe his mouth unwittingly, just a release of air without sound. In almost unconscious state, his legs automatically made their way towards Menaka. His eyes took in her milky bare back and finally concentrated at the most beautiful, slender waist. Knowing that Viswamithra was following her, she stopped and erotically raised her hands, Nobody could have resisted that irresistible offer. Viswamithra. He extended his hand to grab her waist including -And this was the point where this story began, thousands of years ag ooo ‘A.couple of centuries ago, in the Palace of Maharaja of Mysore ‘One summer afternoon in 1892, the Maharaja was engaged in a discussion at his palace with a renowned painter of his time - Pradyumna. “The Maharaja of Mysore, known for his patronage of fine arts, ‘was in search of a huge masterpiece painting from Pradyumna. He wanted to send it to Chicago, to represent his kingdom's enery in the World's Columbian Exposition to be held there. During that period, the commercial veins of trade were not only open for transfer of goods but also for transfer of values and ideas. ‘The British not only influenced the Indian culture but also introduced to the world, much of the artistic treasure that was lying within the boundaries of the sub-continent ill the time. This promoted a lot of interest in Indian art amongst the western world Srinivas Yanamandra_ 13 and Pradyumna gradually became one of the interesting figures with the sort of rare talent that he possessed. Pradyumna, born in a middle class family and raised to the nnacles of glory under the aegis of the Maharaja of Mysore, influenced Indian culture on a wider scale than any artist before or after him. The king was checking modalities of the painting that Pradyumna could make for the king for the Columbian Exposition, “Maharaja, I thought about it for a while when you mentioned it few days back. I will attempt the painting of Viswamithral!! The great Rishi’s life is a curious mix of royal power, divine concentration and human lust. I would like to use the incident of ‘Menaka seducing Viswamithra, under the order of King Devendra, as the theme of my painting,” ‘Maharaja remained silent, He was already aware of the unique style of oil painting of Pradyumna where he took mythological characters and settings to evoke a grand theme suited for a royal life size portrait. His care in depicting the minutese details of costume, background, apart from invoking life into the characters of painting, made him the most popular artist of the region. Pradyumna’s requirement for models for paintings made the ‘Maharaja apprehensive. He pondered where Pradyumna would find such a model. After an initial pause, Maharaja responded. “Wonderful, Pradyumna, Wonderful! We are there to support you in whatever way you want, But this painting should be the ‘most beautiful oil painting that part of the world has ever seen in the Indian context. Tell me, what would you like me to contribute? Money? Secluded Bungalow for peaceful progress of work? Servants? Tell me Pradyumna, what would like to have?” Pradyumna remained silent for a minute and said, “Maharaja, with a deep sense of gratitude and respect, I must say that I am lucky enough to have your continued patronage. | am no more in14 [Love You, Vishwamichra need of this basic infrastructure... but,.. ‘The Maharaja feared that his apprehension would come true. He looked worried and asked, “Pradyumna, please discuss the issue very straightforward. So, what is that you are seeking?” Pradyumna said, “Maharaja, please don't be angry. I am ready to embark on the journey to produce the world’s most beautiful oil painting. But, I fear that I may be stuck up right in the beginning, at finding out a model who could work for my painting,” ‘The problem of Pradyumna was understandable. For any painting to take life on canvas, the artist's desire for the image is ‘enhanced by the existence of a beautiful model in the setting that the artist is going to paint. But considering the conservative society that India was during the period, it was difficule to find girls who could pose as models for paintings. And if the painting was a romantic one, it was almost impossible to get any models. Pradyumna however had overcome this limitation in his earlier works by usage of models available in pictures of various foreign photography books. His library consisted of several model picture books depicting women, men and children in different poses and ‘groupings including the most romantic and nude settings. ‘These books of classical poses widely served as his substitute for models. Usage of books came in handy for his works. He traced figures fon transparent paper and assembled into compositions for the arework. This method used to bring the closeness and parapher that the composition demanded. But such usage of books had one drawback. The figures normally looked cold, without any emotion, and even unnaturally twisted at times. The feelings were almost always not exactly ‘matching to the context of the painting being worked upon. Indeed almost all attempts at realistic paintings by In time suffered from such flaws. Pradyumna's paintings were no exception. As he was embarking artists at that Srinivas Yanamandra 15 upon doing world’s beautiful painting in a romantic setting, he badly needed a model who could serve as his mental map of ‘Menaka in the portrait, After all, the model for Menaka could not jus be anyone; the model would have to be more attractive than the others, alluring, dignified, regal. After all, she had to be Menaka! “Lwent around the streets and in fact into the most interiors and ‘countryside, looking for girls who could work as a model for the painting. I could have got some street girls to work for the project. But they would lack the majestic look which Menaka was expected to portray.” “So what do you want to finally say?” said the Maharaja feeling perplexed. He still had no clue what was going to come up next. Pradyumna ventured weakly “Ar the risk of being subjected to punishment from you, I venture to say this out, Maharaja. May I request your highness to permit me to take the poses of princess, Sucharita Devi for the work? I beg your pardon, if this is too much to ask for. Buc I promise the most beautiful painting if I could have the request honored.” ‘The Maharaja did not appreciate the request but he remained silent. Ie was a tough decision! The painting had to be the best for the exhibition. On the other hand, the Maharaja did nor want his own daughter to be a model for a painter, but finally he responded after a few minutes of deep thought: “L like your straightforwardness Pradyumna; I will convince the princess for the project and make arrangements. Bur this should be kept confidential and the entire arrangements will be made only in the palace. You will not be allowed to go out of the palace till the completion of the painting....” “And...”, he added as an afterthought, “do not ever forget that the princess is my daughter.” In the weeks that followed, every evening, Pradyumna used to spend his time on the painting with the princess. He used to guide her on the expressions that were required to depict the portrayal of16 I Love You, Vishwamithra Menaka in the painting. These interactions at times used to be more than hours. And in no time, Pradyumna’s creativity coupled with the attention he gave to the minutest of details, impressed the Princess; the way he asked her to give the twitch in the smile, keep the angle of the face; the way he instructed her to keep the hand on her face. ‘As days passed by, the princess and Pradyumna started inching closer towards each other. It was natural that the cmotional closeness between the artist and his model was the starting point for a lot more to come. ‘One morning, the messenger went up to the King’s hall and the painting was unveiled before the King, ‘The King was impressed with the final outcome and was overwhelmed by the grandeur setting in which Pradyumna had painted Menaka and Viswamithra. The painting was a provocative feast co the viewers and was done with utmost precision. The care Pradyumna took in portraying the tenderness of Menaka and her not-so-sure attempt to seduce Viswamithra was beautifully crafted to produce the most impressive snapshot of the Indian mythology. The Maharaja was impressed with the painting and summoned Pradyumna. ‘While the King was immersed in viewing the portrait, he was disturbed by the messenger’s words. “Maharaja, I have to tell you something serious. Pradyumna is not to be seen in the palace since the last two days and even this painting has suddenly seen the light when the servants went to clean up his room.” Maharaja was shocked to hear this. He did not understand at first what he heard. But the next news given by his Minister made hhim realise what might have happened in the palace since the past few weeks in the guise of making a painting, “Maharaja, I was also told that Princess Sucharita Devi is not Srinivas Yanamandra 17 seen in the palace since the last few days’, the messenger concluded. Maharaja remained silent for a while, He was not able to comprehend the fact that someone whom he trusted so closely, had played with him. His face tured colours from white to red, Without turning back and with scathing fury, he immediately ordered the Minister to take the painting away from the palace and destroy it into pieces. Saying so, he went away from the hall angrily ‘The Minister looked at the beautiful painting Pradyumna produced. However, having taste and respect for art, he did not have the heart to destroy the painting. He ordered the soldiers to leave the painting in the attic of the palace. Without his knowledge, his soldiers secretly sold the painting to a cloth merchant from North for 100 gold coins. Since then, the painting traveled several places and won the accolades of public. In the next generations, with the advent of lithographic press, picture images of the painting were widely circulated among art patrons. Ik finaly landed in the hands of a British businessman who came to Mumbai during early 20th century. He planned to carry it along ‘with him to London. Itwas the last known news about the portrait. Pradyumna and the Princess might have enjoyed the rest of their lives together. King might have suffered a heart attack, Minister might have rested in peace without feeling guilty of destroying a masterpiece. Soldiers might have had fun for a few days with the gold coins. However, there was no news of the painting thereafter. Ic simply disappeared from public knowledge. Tewas at the advent of the 21st century, that the painting waiting, ‘0 unveil che most interesting moment in the history of Corporate India. We would only come to know as we go along this story. ooo18 I Love You, Vishwamithra January 27, 2011. Bombay Stock Exchange 12th floor, Mumbai 9:00 AM Mr. Trivedi reached office 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time, There was little traffic on the way and the bus reached the stop earlier. He began his usual chores of starting the PC and getting a cup of coffee. While sipping coffee, he was going through the newspaper and an article on the third page caught his attention The article was about Pradyumna’s painting of Viswamithra and Menaka. Mr. Trivedi read in history books about this painting and hence was keen to read the article. But the alert tone from the fax ‘machine interrupted him, He was quite unsure as to who might be faxing the office at such an early hour. Being in the department to handle all corporate press releases on real time basis, his fax machine received most of the latest news from corporate India to be published on their website, The news he received that day had the potential to shake up Corporate India in general and the software industry in particular for the next couple of years. He left the newspaper aside and rushed to the fax machine wondering what the message could be! On reading the fax, he started trembling. He could not believe the contents of the letter. Before understanding the sensitivity of the news, let us check out the context of the same. To understand the context, we just nced to go back few months into the past and a few thousand miles away from India to UK. Let's go .... ooo Chapter Black ‘Manchester - Booth Street West - November 13, 2009 - 3 AM i acs Te was very early in the morning and the alarm bell rang. Snigdha ¢g0t up from sleep. She looked at the clock and realised thar she had slept only for 3 hours and that too very vaguely, as disturbing dreams kept surrounding her all through her slecp. Ic was a terrible morning for her. She was not at all in a mood to get up, and given a choice, she would have loved to just lie there on the bed, doing nothing at all for the next 24 hours. Mentally she was exhausted and physically she was completely tired. But she had to catch an international flight to Mumbai. The flight was at 6:00 AM in the morning and she has to be at the airport two hours before. ‘She went to the bed lamp and switched it off. A sudden darkness surrounded the entire room. It just resembled the state of her mind - dark, hollow and gloomy. A dull pain crept over her. She reluctantly got up from bed and proceeded to the washroom to freshen up. She closed the door and put on the lights and looked at her face in the mirror. She noticed that her face had almost lost20 1 Love You, Vishwamithra all the grace. Darkness, she thought, had its own beauty - it never allowed you to see yourself. She put off the lights again only to think of Rishi. Rishi was her boyfriend and she used to enjoy his company a lot and ic seemed as if hours would become minutes, and minutes would become seconds in his company - Einstein’s theory of relativity at work. This was true till yesterday until the fateful event happened in her life, to hes, and co them, She was still not out of the shock that she had undergone yesterday. Her heart asked her to cancel the flight but she knew she had to go to Mumbai on an official work and her boss Mahendra would be upset if she missed that. She didn’t want to mix up personal things with her office work, Beep Beep. ‘The mobile phone rang with Rishi’s face flashing on her phone. He had to pick her up from her flat in the morning as he too was joining her to Mumbai. She did not want to answer the call. To avoid the call again, she switched off the phone. She was working for Mahendra Daspalla - a very famous South Indian industrialist who had set up his sofeware company Nirvana Plus in Hyderabad. It grew from employing 250 workers to 45000 workers and had established offices all over the world in less than a decade. Mahendra was very well networked professionally, socially and politically. It was these political connections that had won him several projects from Andhra Pradesh Stare Government, both those related to technology and those relating to real estate. He used to ‘manage the real estate projects through his brother’s company. One of the projects which Mahendra took up was the prestigious Andhra Pradesh’s government’ adult education project through networked schools, which won several laurels for increasing literacy levels of the state. He was also credited significantly for changing the face of Hyderabad, with his new sofware mini- townships that were being set up all throughout the state. The political connections grew while working on this adult education project and that made him interact with the Ministry of ‘Tourism of the state, who initiated a project co revamp the tourism image of the state. In lines of the Incredible India campaign of the Government of India and God’s own Country campaign of the Government of Kerala, Andhra government mooted a. proposal couple of years ago - - to shape up and project the city as Cultural Hub of the South, Critical to this mission was the establishment of the Pradyumna ‘Art Museum, a mega Rs, 500 crore project, aimed at hosting around 500 masterpieces of Indian Art that were now lost in the history, as a great tool to attract art tourists from across the globe. Snigdha had been working on the project for the past ewo years. Based at Manchester and working all over Europe she was in search of Indian Art paintings that were worth purchasing for the Pradyumna Art Museum. She was glad to have got into the right kind of job - especially while she could maintain international work standards and work for an Indian company in a field close to her heart. She had been a very efficient worker at office and had won, accolades from Mahendra, who often complimented her for her performance, Work was her passion, her love, her life - until she met Rishi. Rishi became her topmost priority in no time - but, of course, she did not allow work to suffer though, she personally squeezed her time to spend with Rishi. ‘Are and paintings were a part of her life since childhood and pursuing the Master of Arts from Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, given a professional touch to her favorite passion. She could so easily immerse herself amidst paintings and if it was a painting pertaining to Indian art, she wouldn't mind going without22 I Love You, Vishwamithra food for days. Ie was while working on this project for Mahendra that she met Rishi - a Senior Client Banker, from Bank Prime Suisse, a Swiss Bank having its office in Manchester. Within no time, they became good friends and to a large extent, more than mere friends. In fact, if things would have gone well, they were contemplating to tie a knot soon, ‘Things seemed co have been going well initially until Apsara Pandit came into the picture. A well known Art Dealer of the City, she caught complete attention of Rishi in no time, for her vatied knowledge on paintings. While Apsara was basically a professional colleague of Snigdha, slowly she also became a personal friend of Rishi. Though she trusted Rishi, it was confusing for Snigdha to understand who was trying to seduce whom, when she was with Rishi and Apsara. ‘Though Apsara was elder to Rishi by eight years, no one could really guess her age. Her appearance could deceive the viewet easly. In the company of Apsara, Rishi always lost his complete self and if the topic was paintings of Pradyumna, his interest knew no boundaries. Snigdha was also a great fan of Pradyumna paintings. She liked females in the old mythological paintings, as they exhibited a curious mixture of erotica, innocence and traditionalism. Apsara had lots to share with Rishi about the oil and canvas paintings of Pradyumna. Rishi had several doubts with regards to the minutest detail of the paintings. Snigdha, at times got puzzled about this - as by nature he was a banker, but seemed deeply interested in paintings done by Pradyumna. Drr....a sudden taxi sound from outside brought her back to present. She saw from the window a taxi entering into the street and could easily guess Rishi had come to pick her up. She did not want Srinivas Yanamandra 23, to go with him. She immediately switched on her mobile and texted him - *Rishi, please don't embarrass me further. Please proceed and will join you straight at che airport. Please dont create a scene here in my house right now”. She looked into the window to check whether Rishi got the message. ‘The taxi stopped for a while and Rishi got our of it and waved his hand at the window towards Snigdha and gor into the raxi again, Few minutes later, her mobile flashed a message from him ~ “Snigdha, I know where things went wrong and for God's sake try to understand me. There is still a lot you need to know about me.” “Ahi!” she could only sigh on seeing the message. She, sure, had to know a lot more about Rishi. She thought it was a hasty conclusion co even consider that Rishi would be faithful, erustworthy, and loyal. Deceit struck her in her face when she found Rishi in a compromising state with Apsara yesterday. She could not make out how Rishi could get into an affair with Apsara, It suddenly made her remember the story of Viswamithra - as she always failed to understand whar sort of minds men are made of - to lose their senses on secing the flesh of a woman? When a sage with thousands of years of penance could lose his selE-control in a split of second on seeing the ravishing Menaka, then Rishi was surely no exception. A man of ewenty first century ‘was certainly more prone to such loss of senses. Even, ironically, Pradyumna, the artist who painted the theme of ‘Viswamithra and Menaka also lost his sheen and glory as a painter and disappeared in history after running away with the Princess who worked as a model for his painting. What a pitiful bargain, he chose in life~a woman at the cost of his career? Snigdha felt she had probably been right. Men cannot be faithful. History had many examples but she found an example of her own. She winced at the thought. While continuing her thoughts, she gor freshened and packed24 I Love You, Vishwamithra up everything for the journey. She had already ordered for a cab while returning home last night. She noticed a message dis ‘on her mobile that her taxi had already arrived. She locked her room and came down with the luggage in her hand. The taxi driver took the luggage from her hand. He was a Pakistani national and a known face for Snigdha. Originally from Lahore, he moved from Pakistan to Manchester and settled as a cab driver. “Good morning Karimbhai” Snigdha wished him as she got into the black cab. “We need to rush faster; we have only half an hour to go.” She started adjusting her hair looking into the mirror. “Don't worry madam, I ensure you won't miss the flight. Even if you miss the flight, I will cake you to Mumbai in this taxi. Just relax”, said the taxi driver. layed Karim switched on Arabic songs as he started the taxi and hummed along the way. Rishi too liked to listen to Arabic songs, she pondered. Rishi again came on the top of her mind. Was she behaving little too much of making an issue of one nightstand of Rishi? Was she expecting too much of honesty from a man of ewenty first century? Or probably intimacy on an emotional level could not be compared to what Rishi had with Apsara. At the back of her mind, she still fele hhe had not cheated on her. Her mind said “Yes, you are not cheated’, while her heart said “No, you have been’ ‘What was irritating the most to Snigdha was that Rishi got hooked into the game all because of the painting that was purchased for the Muscum. Since the time the painting was bought from a private collector, Rishi was craving to study the painting and keen to meet Apsara as it was in her custody. ‘Was painting just an excuse or was it that really Rishi was interested so mu paintings? IF it was painting, what was so special about this painting to move Rishi so close to Apsara? Srinivas Yanamandra 25 Snigdha seemed to be clueless regarding this. She was aware that paintings really have a kind of an emotional impact on people who are madly in love with them, What worked so much with paintings that makes them objects of illusion in minds of people? She got puzzled at times. “To her, the most influential aspect of the painting was the colour combination. While perceptions of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. For instance, generally black color is not just a colour to express protest or grief but is also associated with intelligence - doctorate in black robe. In fact, it seems black clothes make people appear thinner. On the contrary, as most of us would know, white colour is associated with purity like wedding dresses and cleanliness - remember the doctors in white coats. Blue is associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty - may be the reason for it to be chosen for most of the uniforms. And people surrounded by yellow feel optimistic because the brain actually releases more serotonin - feel good chemical in the brain - when around this color. But too much yellow is also dangerous as it is the color of flames. Babies cry more in bright yellow rooms and tempers flare more around that color too. But she loved pink as it was the colour of romance, love and gentle feelings. In her view, pink was the most calming of all colors — often the most dangerous criminals are housed in pink cells as that color drains the energy and calms aggression. A sudden red colour traffic light before her taxi ended her thoughts and she noticed that she had reached airport. She quickly got the suitcase out of the car and gave the taxi driver the fare. He said, “See we are on time”. She thanked him and proceeded towards the check-in counter. Her thoughts continued as she noticed the red colour of the vehicles near the airport. Yeah, Rishi’s favorite color is Red. Red is26 I Love You, Vishwamithra the color of energy and when someone needs to draw attention, it is better to use red. It is often where the eye looks first. Its associated with movement and excitement Snigdha remembered that Rishi’s usual attire for attending a client meeting was a red tie with a navy blue suit and white shire. He said it just added the right amount of energy to catch the eye. She quickly got into the check-in counter line, completed the formalities and got the boarding pass in her hand. The flight was departing at the scheduled time She finished the formalities in about ten minutes and was now all set to board the flight. Except for the fact that her eyes were still in search of Rishi - But her heart did not like this fact to be believed. Pretending to be ignorant of the surroundings and keeping herself engaged, she quickly grabbed a cup of hor cappuccino and proceeded towards a corner seat in the lounge. She was disturbed by the person who sat near her silently after few minutes. She got her face out of the book and realised it was him - Rishi. “Good Morning, Snigdha...” Rishi broke the silence first. She did not wish him nor responded to his smiling looks. Instead she immediately stood up and proceeded to the boarding gate. “L am sorry Snigdha for whatever happened last evening, But it was something unusual and I will let you know the complete story once we return from India. That part of my lifes story that you should know about. I will not hide anything from you” Rishi started pleading as he continued to walk with her towards the boarding gate. The queue slowly moved towards the boarding entrance. Snigdha did not respond to Rishi. In order to further avoid ‘embarrassment in public, Rishi stopped further talking to her. ‘They both reached their seats and kept their hand luggage in the cabin and fastened their seat belts. The air hostess served fresh lime Srinivas Yanamandra 27 juice with a cheering smile and wished chem a great journey ahead. As the flight started departing, the aithostess demonstrated the safety tips. Snigdha always wondered whether people really remembered all those things while they were in areal state of panic. Yes, we may tend to learn and understand so many best things in life. Buc the irony is that when it is time to implement, we are not mindful of them. For instance, in a relationship, she always learnt that openness ‘was crucial and open dialogue between partners strengthened the relation, She herself had told Rishi that whatever situation they might face between each other, they should openly have a dialogue first before forming their opinion about the other person simply based on what they see. But why was she herself not allowing Rishi to narrate his version of the story now? She seemed to have no answer to this “The flight got ready to takeoff. Snigdha looked into the window and observed the beautiful landscape of Manchester which added pleasantness to her mind. Or was ita calmness she was facing before a storm? She was still unsure of this. Rishi, while closing his eyes, was not actually sleeping. He was also trying to understand how things were shaping up with him personally and with Snigdha in the last few days. He could pretty well understand Snigdha’s feelings and appreciate the confusion she ‘was going through about his lust cowards paintings. He resolved to clear this confusion at the earliest. He adjusted himself in the seat for a comfortable sleep and slowly got lost into his thoughts. The inded in his thoughts. ‘The flight was scaling new heights every few seconds and his thoughts were like the clouds outside the plane - looking like a events of last two years quickly re- beautiful sky from earth, but actually manifest into a deep mystic cloud when you go amidst them in plane. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his thoughts. oooChapter Blue January 2, 2009 London Eye surroundings “HP hey say thar a man who is tired of London is tired of life, and they are nor kidding” said Rishi as he proceeded along with a delegation of Chartered Accountants to view the London Eye along with Mr. Sharma, Mr. Sharma was the customer of Bank Prime Suisse and Rishi, his relationship manager. Mr. Sharma was a practicing Chartered Accountant and a partner ofa leading audit firm in Hyderabad, He was now heading a delegation of South Indian Chartered Accountants on a professional tour to UK. This tour was a part of the networking activities members from time to time. A total of 30 CAs joined Mr. Sharma on the tour. Though the CAs on their first impression appeared co be maintaining low profile, their professional neework was so vast that they dealt with who's-who of the South Indian business, film and political circles the CA Institute organises for its Mr. Sharma was an old customer of Bank Prime Suisse and got introduced to Rishi, couple of years ago. Rishi not only treated Mr. Sharma as his customer, but also leveraged on his network for new clients. Mr, Sharma had an investment consulting business for his Srinivas Yanamandra_ 29 clients, whose details he kept referring to Rishi. To promote a new investment product, which his bank had launched recently, Rishi had organised a tour for this CAs. The biggest attraction that Rishi planned for everyone in the team that day was the London Eye. London Eye is a giant 443 feet tall Ferris wheel situated on the banks of River Thames. The wheel carries 32 sealed and air- conditioned egg-shaped passenger capsules. Each 10 tonne capsule holds 25 people, who are free to walk around inside the capsule. ‘The delegation was busy in enjoying the aerial view of the City of London from the glass windows of London Bye Rishi explained to them further the details of the Wheel, “The wheel Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Pais, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look over on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. Thar'’s the beauty of it itis public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London”. “Mr. Sharma, So how is life at Hyderabad? Hope you are doing well. Enjoying this spectacular view from the Wheel?” Rishi started cool conversation with Mr. Sharma. “Yes Mr. Rishi. I was actually wondering why we can’t construct a similar Wheel in Hyderabad. I think there is something the “Tourism Ministry can seriously do on this front. Ic is a huge revenue opportunity, I suppose for the city and for the country.” “You are hundred percent correct, Mr. Sharma” Rishi replied, “after seeing the visitors attraction towards the London Eye since 2000, even the Chinese had their ‘Star of Nanchang’ Wheel built in 2006 and a similar wheel came up in Singapore in 2008. At some point in time, I heard news around constructing a similar flyer in ‘Mumbai too. I don't know the latest news though” “[ am organising a two day conference at the Hyderabad Branch of the CA institute on the Environmental Audit. I have invited the30 I Love You, Vishwamithra Minister for tourism of Government of Andhra Pradesh for a round table discussion with new generation entrepreneurs, I will try to see how we can push in the idea of the same in Hyderabad with their tive” said Mr. Sharma. “I think it will be a good idea, especially, when the Ministry is working really well towards building up Brand Hyderabad as the Cultural Hub of South India. Through the partnership with local industrialists, I think we are not far from having these world class attractions even in our own cities” Rishi agreed with Mr. Sharmas proposal. Mr. Sharma looked really interested in the discussion, He replied, “Yes. Projects of this stature will be possible only through the support of corporate houses. For instance, the Government had recently initiated a mega project of constructing a world class museum, to showcase Indian Art, through the “Pradyumna Art Museum”. Mr. Mahendra Daspalla, CEO of Nirvana Plus Software ‘Company has been spearheading this project” ‘There was a silent glow in Rishi’s eyes on hearing the news about the Pradyumna Art Museum. He fele that his avatar of Tourist Guide paid him rich dividends. He now could use Mr. Sharma for a possible meeting with Mahendra and to find a possible client in him. He had been waiting for this for quite some time. However, he did not want to exhibit his intentions immediately to Mr. Sharma. “Well Mr. Sharma, we will now proceed back to the Hotel. 1 hope the team has enjoyed the day. I know you have a long day ahead tomorrow. Hence you all need rest. I will meet you at the evening session”. Saying so, Rishi lead the delegation back to the Horel. ooo Srinivas Yanamandra_ 31 Ac 5 pm sharp in the second half of next day, Rishi met the delegation at their Hotel Conference room. As soon as they all gathered, he directed the team 10 a separate room. The room had arrangements for a two hour Wine Tasting Session. There were around 10 tables covered wich white cloth. Vintage wine bottles were scattered throughout the room. The atmosphere ‘was light and engaging. As soon as the delegates occupied the seats, Rishi started the session. “Hello friends, for the next two hours, you would be taken through the world of wines. I am sure everyone would enjoy participating in this session” Everyone seemed quite interested. Most of them used co drink at social do's but none had ever attended a formal wine tasting session. “As i is commonly said, Jesus’ first miracle was to convert the ‘Wedding Water into wine, He did this at a wedding party where there occurred a shortage of wine to guests. All Hindu deities (Devatas) also used to drink the Soma Ras (the celestial wine). So wine drinking does have an ancient history dating back thousands of centuries”. ‘Wine trivia is considered to be the hallmark of a wine tasting session. Apart from the trivia, tasting sessions use selected, benchmark pairs of wines, thus guiding the participants on how to taste, what to notice and what to look for, while drinking wine. Ie helps them to perceive the true taste of wine. Rishi continued, “We all drink wine. Like any other interesting subject, knowing more about it through a tasting session adds value to wine drinking. Learning about its variety, its specialised use of ‘words - the rules of the game so to speak - will mean that you get even more out of the wines in your glass. As you will be able to make more sense of its great variety, you can also discuss and share its pleasures with more confidence”32 I Love You, Vishwamithra ‘There are international certification courses that provide necessary skill sets for organising a wine tasting session. Most of the senior professionals abroad gain experience by attending these sessions, But, like Rishi, only a few perceive it as a favorite hobby, engaging guests during professional and social gatherings. “Today's objective for Rishi was more than mere entertainment. He had a business proposal in mind, which he wanted to discuss as participants warmed up. He pretty well knew that a lot could not only happen over a cup of coffee, but over a drink too. “Do you have any questions to ask?” Rishi wanted to be sure thac everyone was with him before he proceeded. He was holding a glass of Whisky in his hands. “Throughout this session, you get the chance to select 5 wines from a list of 8 put on your table. As you go on tasting, you can receive expert guidance from me on their taste” Rishi explained to the audience. He then proceeded to the core of the session where he elucidated the five S steps to taste the wine. On his instruction, the first bortle of wine was served on the glasses on all tables. “The first step is to See the glass of the wine. Just tilt the glass away from you and check out the color from the rim edges to the middle of the glass. It’s the first indicator of the quality of wine”. Rishi starced demonstrating the same. “Then Switl - ile your glass a bit - look again, is there sediment, bits of cork or any other floaters around the tip of the glass? An older red wine will often have more orange yges on the edges than younger red wines” Rishi went into the group and helped participants do the swirling in a gentle way. “The third step is to Smell - This is critical in properly analysing a glass of wine. To get a good impression of your wine's aroma, swirl your glass for a solid 10-12 seconds. This helps vaporise some of the wine’ alcohol and release more of its natural aromas. A wine's Srinivas Yanamandra 33 aroma is an excellent indicator of its quality and unique characteris ‘The participants never thought that there was a lot to wine tasting than mere spending time gossiping with friends during king. Each step was so interesting and exciting that they were absolutely enjoying the session. Rishi continued, “And now Sip - Start with a small sip and let ic roll around your mouth. There are three stages in this step - the attack phase, evolution phase and the finish phase. In the ateack phase, the initial impression of the wine will form on your palate. The evolution phase and the wine's finish phase refers to how long, the flavor lasts after itis swallowed” Rishi guided the members to enjoy the beauty of each step in a professional manner. “The last step is to Spit. That is to get the wine completely out of your mouth. This is a necessary step before you can taste another brand of wine so that you can enjoy the taste of the other brand afresh. In fact, the corners of this room have spittoons. You can use them to spit and come back to take your second wine tasting experience” Rishi explained the audience and ended the tasting session for the first type of wine. “The session was liked by one and all. Towards the end, when all types of wine were tasted, Rishi requested for a feedback. ‘One of the participants remarked, “I wish we had a similar session for tasting Hyderabadi Dhum Biryani. How to smell it, how to see it, and what drink to have as a combination while eating ete”. Everyone in the room busted out into a laughter. Rishi responded. “Well I think this is a fair point. Until you attend a tasting session, you will obviously not appreciate the difference between tasting and drinking. You are right. We Indians can take a cue from this tasting session and create something unique for our food and beverages. I was actually discussing a similar point ‘with Me. Sharma yesterday”34 I Love You, Vishwamithra ‘The delegation understood chat there was more than just a wine tasting experience in Rishi’ talks. He was sounding like explainiag an unbelievable opportunity to them. Everyone was now listening to him with rapt attention. “See, the beauty ofa tasting session is that ie will develop a knack of tasting wines and convert it into a habit. The more the habituated people are, the more aesthetic they become in terms of drinking. Social drinking then becomes a collection hobby - and just like collection of paintings, people also tend to collect rarest of wine bottles at their private bars. This may be just for the self estecm of possessing something of aesthetic value. Just like paintings, wines also derive value as they become old and ako because their supply is limited. Ifyou see, a bottle of wine will fetch you an appreciation which can beat the best of the investment of an investor in equity or a ‘mutual fund scheme. So you can consider wine as a comparable asset class to that ofa share ora mutual fund. Then you can actually multiply your investments in no time. Like for instance, purchasing a wine bortle now at low price and disposing it at higher price in future and enjoying che margin.” Rishi paused for a while, Participants got tuned to Rishi on financial aspects of wine bottles. It was completely a new world which Rishi projected before them. They never expected that wine bottles could be an alternative investment option for parking the surplus funds available with them. “The complication, however, is chat, as an individual, we will not know which bottle to purchase, at what price, how long to preserve, and when to sell. However, if anyone does not know which share to invest in, they turn to mutual fund. He relies on an asset manager for investment. Similarly, we too can turn to the wine asset manager for helping us get the best out of investing in win: And friends, this is how I wish to take this opportunity in Srinivas Yanamandra 35 introducing you a wonderful investment product, which you can explain to your Indian customers to invest in - an investment into a Wine Fund managed by the number 2 vineyard in Scotland,” ‘Wine Funds are investment companies, which are established to invest in fine wines with an objective of steady, high capital growth. ‘The funds collected from various investors are invested in top wines from many different regions, All administration including fund valuations are periodically done by independent valuers of international repute. Investors are required to contribute to the fund initially and periodically they get to know how their investment is moving, ‘Towards che end of the period, they can unlock their investment value when the investment management company sells wines in the outside market at a higher price. After deducting the fund charges, the returns are distributed to the investors. Rishi made a presentation on explaining the wine fund investment opportunity. This is a product distributed by their Bank to its high end clientele. Rishi is the sales manager of the product. Rishi wanted the CAs to publicise the product in India amongst their clientele and convince them to make investments into this product, He had a huge business target to achieve. This is the reason why he had chosen to entertain the delegation and introduce them to the wine fund, He knew quite well that a lor of high net-worth Indian clients typically invested abroad based on tips from theit CAs. ‘The session continued till about 9 pm. Rishi ensured thar the wine bottles ordered for the day were fully utilised by them. Each participant had been provided with enough material to convince their clients for investments into the wine fund. He also collected contact details of all CAs to follow up with them subsequently. The CAs were very happy with the entertaining as well as informative interaction they had had with Rishi and36 I Love You, Vishwamithra thanked him and his Bank for an excellent reception. “Thank you very much Mr. Rishi’, said Mr. Sharma, “The session was very interesting. I am sure everyone will convince their clients to invest into the wine fund.” Rishi replied “Mr. Sharma, Indeed the pleasure is mine, I am glad to have met you personally and also request you to connect me to Mr. Mahendra Daspalla. I want to see if he can become a client of our Bank. I know of his good rapport with you.”. Rishi also mentioned to the participants that they could earn their commission on each referral by chem to his Bank. He also never lost an opportunity to convert an acquaintance into a possible necwork. In fact, he perceived every professional he encountered - not just as an individual, but as a representative of necwork. Get introduced to one individual and his entire network is yours-Rishi believed this premise to the tee Mr. Sharma assured him that he would get connected to Mr. Mahendra and mentally estimated the commission he could earn out of making his clients invest in the Wine fund. Rishi thanked hhim and left che Hotel after wishing all the participants a nice week ahead. ooo Ie was couple of months since Rishi met the CAs on their study tour to UK. He now moved from London Office to the Manchester di of the Bank on becoming Senior Client Banker. “So Rishi, can you meet me in my cabin ten minutes from now?” William Scott, Rishi's boss called. “Hey, Rishi. I just called you in to compliment youof the wonderful job you have done with regards to this months target. You managed to exceed your wine fund target. Congratulations” jvas Yanamandra_ 37 Mr. William Scott said to Rishi as he rolled his eyes over the MIS on the monthly sales undertaken by his Senior Client Bankers. He wwas very happy as this achievement on Rishi’ part could be marked as one of the milestones of his Manchester Division. Mr. Scott had been repeatedly chased by the head office to push through the Wine Fund product since last couple of months. Being, the recession times, it was very difficult for him to get in rouch with any high end clientele and seek business. However, Rishi was able to tap the Indian clients through referrals from the CAs with whom he had developed a professional association during the last few weeks. Each of the CAs could in turn convince their clients for investment into wine fund and that helped Rishi in achieving his business target. “This calls in for a big celebration right. Rishi?” said Scott ine fund commitments Rishi was very happy about the news of and was glad that he could meet the expectations of his boss. Scott ‘was considered to be a task master when it came to demanding the performance against sales targets. “Well, I don’t really mind going in for a big celebration for Wine Fund target achievement, Scott. But I am sure you remember the promise you have made, provided I achieve the Wine fund numbers for the Division?” “Yeah, man! Don't you worry. I will speak to Charles from the Product team and ensure that you ate also given the target to sell ‘Arc Funds.” Scott replied. Just like wine fund, Art Funds too were investment products where the underlying investment was in art masterpieces managed through professional art galleries, art dealers and distributed by fina tions like banks. The Art Fund market, similar to the Wine fund market was slowly picking up numbers in the global landscape. Rishi was keen to get the art fund marker space and since the insti38 I Love You, Vishwamithra time he had heard about the Andhra Pradesh Government's art Muscum to be managed by Mahendra Daspalla, he was pushirg Scott for the art fund distribution mandate, He wanted to meet Mahendra and convert him into a client for his Bank. He knew it would be a chip in his armor, So he started playing his cards patiently. Initially he won the confidence of Scott through Wine fund distribution, got networked to Mr. Sharma and. finally made inroads into the foray of Mahendra empire. “Arc Fund is altogether a different ball game, Rishi. We need to approach the product in a more thorough manner and you need to be trained first in the art marker space. So concentrate on getting some basic knowledge on the art investment by visiting art galleries like the Manchester Art Gallery” Scott advised Rishi. Rishi was happy to hear this. He thanked Scott and left. ooo Chapter Green [ee 11 pm. Rishi finished his dinner and was working on the monthly performance note to be submitted to his Head Office, He had almost finished the note and had started browsing the Internet for more information on Art market. Initially, he glanced through the Manchester Art Gallery website, The information there made him understand the nuances of the art market. He further got more material from the web with regards to art as an alternate investment class. ‘As he browsed further, he logged into his Facebook account. He was a fan of Facebook more so because it had helped him locate his, old school mates. Before taking up any business proposal, he scanned through Facebook for any possible networking options. In fact, he gor in touch with Mr. Sharma initially through the use of Facebook. He browsed through the CA institute Tinks on Facebook and got to know about the study tour of CAs from Hyderabad to London. His hands now quietly started using che option of friend-finder in Facebook. He was looking into the groups associated with Manchester Art Gallery. ‘After minutes of searching, he could narrow down his list to a few employees from the gallery. He further spent time to boil down40 1 Love You, Vishwamithra his search for any Indian name he could get in touch with, at the Gallery. ‘And in few seconds, a photograph appeared on the Facebook page that he was browsing. He could not blink his eyes for a few seconds as he saw the photograph. In the photograph that caught Rishi’ attention, the female was looking sideways as if she was reading a book. The face, which was clearly visible from only one side, seemed to have been dominated by the reddishness of her cheek. This was further elevated by the pink colour dress she was wearing. The photo was shot against a dark background, so that the face was well exposed. The female had a pierced nose that added to her grace. The sparkle of the camera-flash on the nose ring appeared cute in the photograph. All these elements looked elementary if one had to assess the cheer of her smile. It was a besotting smile and Rishi was awestruck as he saw the photo. He could not help but press the button “add friend” almost in a trance, It is normally said that children always look great in photograph. ‘The reason is very simple - Its because they inadvertently follow most of the rules of being photogenic. ‘They are relaxed, having no worries or tensions, are playful and genuine in all the emotions they express. So the best poses for the photographs are the ones that bring out the child in us. AA person with a phorogenic face will be the one who is playful, shuns inhibitions or fears and projects a happier, fan-filed side of himself or herself. The profile picture of the female Rishi was looking at, qualified for all the essential elements of a photogenic face. It made Rishi to further go through the profile. Her name was Snigdha and she was currently working with Manchester Art Gallery as an intern, ooo Srinivas Yanamandra 41 “Snigdha Gupta, age 24 years, Indian by birth, Masters in Arc Business, and currently working as an intern at the Manchester Art Gallery” read out Mahendra from the resume in his hand. Te was Mahendra Daspalla who was interviewing her at Manchester for assisting him in the Pradyumna Art Museum project. He was accompanied by a renowned art dealer from the city - Apsara Pandit “Yes sir. Good morning and very glad to meet you” greeted Snigdha with all cheer on her face. That came in naturally to her “And Good Morning to you to you too, Ma'am” she greeted Apsara, Being a project close to his heart, Mahendra used to manage the set up on his own until recently. It was a mega-Rs 500 crore project and involved arranging of around 500 Art Masterpieces that represented Indian Culeure and tradition. All chese paintings were done by internationally acclaimed Indian artists in the past. ‘At various points in time, these were declared as National Art ‘Treasures. But many of these had gone out of India during British rule, Efforts taken by any government to bring all such treasures back to India have not been all that successful. The project was therefore taken up by Ministry of Tourism- Government of Andhra Pradesh and was currently under the chairmanship of Mahendra. The Government had encouraged this through the new Public-Private-Partnership route for all. stare governments large projects. Since inception of the project, Mahendra spent several hours personally and ensured that each masterpiece selected for the ‘museum was original and enhanced the image of the Art Museum. Professionally, it was an important project for him as it got his own image enhanced as a national icon active in the Government and business circles. For this purpose, he had to travel to all major art fairs. Finally he thought it worthwhile to have his office set up at Manchester. Soon42 I Love You, Vishwamithra i became his overseas hub for the proposed Art Museum. London is one of the international centers for the art market with its vase art related commercial establishments. However, Mahendra did not like staying in London regulatly. He was the Chairman of the Indian Wing of the alumni association of University of Manchester. Hence he considered it convenient to have an office at Manchester. Through this office, he could club his alumni association visits to Manchester along with his visits to London for finalisation of his art deals. ‘At this office, he was assisted by Mrinal Deshpande who managed the entire administrative affairs. And there was Apsara Pandit, che art dealer who helped in identifying the Indian Are master paintings which could form a part of the Art Museum. “The price that an art work commands is always subjective and more so in case of a collectors’ edition. This is because the collection art isa matter of individual's aesthetic perception and the esteemed feelings of a collector. Precisely this is the role which an art dealer plays -understanding and managing these aesthetic aspects professionally - in the entire value chain of Art marketing. Art dealers keep in touch with the auction houses regularly and this represents the actual market place where the transactions are finally frozen, Internationally, there are two renowned art auction houses - Christies and Sotheby- which joindy capture the complete att auctions annually undertaken actoss the world. In order to ensure that there are enough human resources to manage this 300 billion USD industry, the Sotheby auction house has promoted an instieute of art, which has offices at London, Singapore and US. Snigdha completed her Master of Arts from the Institute's London Campus and was currently working as an intern at the Manchester Art Gallery as a part of the final certification process for the course. Srinivas Yanamandra 43 As the internship was finally coming to an end, she applied for a job at Mahendrals Manchester division, through an advertisement she saw in the local newspaper. Mahendra was personally managing the office work through Mrinal and Apsara all these days. However, at Hyderabad, recently is software firm had scaled up. He had also started undertaking ‘mega projects with most of the government departments in Andhra Pradesh. This had kept him very busy of late. Hence his attention towards the project office at Manchester was slightly taking a back seat. Out of the targeted 500 art works, so far they managed to collect only 150 masterpieces through various purchases at art fairs and through auction houses. Mahendra was pressed for time and was not able to get personally involved in the selection of remaining masterpieces. Snigdha was being interviewed for taking over part of the operational work ftom Mahendra. He considered it crucial as the art museum was formally proposed to be launched very soon. “So what evinced an interest in you to pursue art market as a career option?” Mahendra asked Snigdha while taking a sip of black coffee. He offered her some coffee too. Snigdha politely thanked hhim for the coffee and replied,” Sir, in my view, art is a basic form of communication - a form of visual communication. Just as a beautiful landscape inspires a poet to pen down a verse, just as a gets inspired with a soothing sound of a waterfall and composes; likewise an artist picks up his brush and colors a barren white canvas to express his thoughts and feelings. Art is a medium through which an artist indulges in fice expression of endless ideas and concepts.” [As she answered, she looked at Mahendra and Apsara, just, to gauge the reaction on their faces. She noticed that Apsara was very attractive and her outfit added charm to her personality.44 I Love You, Vishwamithra “Art can also be quite therapeutic to unwind oneself and it can also be converted into an excellent hobby. A painting can create warmth, disturb the very soul or bring happiness in one's life. To me, studying are and paintings is studying human life in its most aesthetic sense.” Snigdha concluded. ‘Mahendra was impressed with the response. He believed that a point where passion meets profession, a person's commitment to the work results in a quality output. He found Snigdha co be passionate about her work. “And for the project that you are getting interviewed, are you aware of the key requirements?” Apsara chipped in. “Madam, as I understand, the Pradyumna Art Museum is first of its kind project in the Indian history. It is an attempt to make Hyderabad proud of possessing an Art Museum that isin the league of international art museums. And to ensure this, it should not only host the collectors’ editions of Indian master pieces, but should equally represent the culture and heritage of India. And more importandy, we need co ascertain che authenticity of the work before it gets placed in the Museum.” Mahendra moved a bit forward showing interest in the response Snigdha had given. He had a slight mischievous smile on his face while questioning Snigdha. “How will you ascertain the art work is a genuine one?” ‘Are forgeries are the most common criminal frauds in the art world. There could be three different ways in which an art work can be subjected to a fraud. Firstly, the copy of the original masterpiece can be created fraudulently by another artist. Secondly, there can be additional attributes (such as having a royal patronage) ascribed to an original art work, which are not genuine, to increase its market value. A third form of art fraud is upfront sale of a fake piece, not ever painted by the artist, as an original one. Srinivas Yanamandra 45 Snigdha replied, “We need to obtain the Certificate of Provenance of an artwork before we freeze on the purchase transaction. This will ensure that the art work is not a forged one. Ic helps in assigning the work to a known artist. A documented history, as established by this Certificate, can be of use in proving, the ownership. The most important work of an art dealer or auction house is ensuring thar the provenance is of a specific professional standard.” Shigdha answered precisely and in correct manner. Mahendra seemed to have been impressed with her answer. “Well said. In fact this is precisely where I requite your support. While Apsara can manage the technical work, I need someone to take care of these administrative aspects a little more seriously, and before the art work is sent to India.” ‘Apsara interrupted Mahendra by asking Snigdha a question, “Tell me one more thing. What do you know about Indian art?” This is the key question which Snigdha prepared for the interview the most. She immediately responded. “Indian Arc is the technical term used for the art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC co modern times, Voluptuous feeling and a strong sense of design is also characteristic of Indian art. For foreigners, Indian art may seem overly sensuous but they appreciate the refinement gradually.” While she was saying this, she scanned through Apsara’ physique and couldnt resist herself from appreciating the well- groomed Apsara in her thoughts. She could mentally place her in the league of the most beautiful artistic females portrayed by Pradyumna in his paintings. Snigdha continued her response, “Indian art also intertwines with the cultural history, religions and philosophies. Are was a patronised subject in India irrespective of religious, social, political and cultural contexts, Hence Indian art takes various forms starting,46 1 Love You, Vishwamithra from ancient rock and cave art forms to medieval art forms such as Mughal Art, Islamic Art, Buddhist art to the contemporaty Indian art.” Snigdha confidently answered to all other queries of Mahendra, More importandly because being an Indian, she understood the importance of the project personally. Mahendra finalised her candidature for the job in his mind after this particular response. He pulled out a paper and rechecked his interview assessment with the material contained in the paper. “So you are a regular user of Facebook? I liked reading your wall post comments on Indian railways, apart from Indian paintings; quite interesting” praised Mahendra. Snigdha was confused. How come Mahendra had a loole at her Facebook details even before meeting her? She did not understand, Her post on Indian railways was during the time she had visited India for a recent holiday. “What's on your mind?” This question is asked by thousands, and answered almost ten times a day by any regular Facebook use: Several employers now use social networking sites, such as Facebook to screen potential candidates for a position. This topic is steadily becoming a major concern in the business world, Although cited as unethical, sereening through Faccbook does offer important inputs on an individual's personality. After al, i is a placform which boasts of a toral population in terms of users, comparable next only to India and China in size. In the report, which Mahendra was referring to, there was a complete analysis of Snigdha, based on her writings on wall posts, quality of language used and timings of the posts and the emotional values involved. Each of these aspects offer some inputs to the assessment of the person which complements the HR person’ interviewing process. Luckily for Snigdha, the repore had been positive, which made Srinivas Yanamandra 47 Mahendra to go ahead with her candidature for the post. “The next few minutes were spent in understanding Snigdhais internship experience, her additional interests and hobbies and her family background. Mahendra and Apsara finally confirmed her appointment. They introduced her to Mrinal and requested him complete the formalities. Snigdha thanked Mahendra and Apsara and left the room along, swith Mrinal as he directed the way. She was extremely happy, as that was the last day of her internship and she could now join the new job immediately. Mrinal led the way to his cubicle to complete the appointment formalities. “You have a smile comparable to Mona Lisa” said Mrinal as he arranged the papers and offered a seat to Snigdha. “Js it? Thanks for che compliments. But I am sure you should know further about Mona Lisa painting before comparing a lady's smile with hers” Snigdha was in a mood to explain something to Mrinal. By the sheer look on her face, he was a bit startled as to whether it was a right thing to compliment her in the first place. “There is mote ro Mona Lisa than her smile” Snigdha continued as she started filling the papers given by Mrinal. “Mona Lisa’ facial expression shifts depending on where you focus your gaze. If you ook at her eyes, you may find her smiling. But if you shift your gaze to her mouth, the smile disappears.” Mrinal looked confused. He did not expect that Mona Lisa painting would have such a strange background. Snigdha continued. “Our human eye has two distinct regions. The central region sees objects in detail, identifies things & colors, reads fine print, ete. The peripheral region sees shadows and light, motion, black and white, etc. Normally, the central vision will not see the shadows48 I Love You, Vishwamithra captured by the peripheral vision. Hence, we will never be able to catch Mona Lisa smiling by looking at her mouth.” Mrinal immediately pulled a magazine from his desk. The ‘magazine contained a photograph of Mona Lisa. On looking at the picture closely, he was convinced with what Snigdha was saying, Only when he moved his eyes around Mona Lisa face, he fele the flickering effect, that is, the intermittent smile and not when he focused his sight on her mouth. “Leonardo da Vinei was able to accomplish this using the Sfamato technique, in which layers of paint are added on top of one another to create subtle changes in shading” concluded Snigdha and handed over the papers to Mrinal. She shook hands with him, thanked and bade him goodbye. He was still in a state of surprise as he lingered on to the details of ‘Mona Lisa painting, Snigdha let for the Manchester Art Gallery to complete her last day formalities. ooo Chapter Orange “(Rongratulations” said Angela when Snigdha told her about her Ce job at Mahendra’s division. Angela was one of the other curators at the Manchester Art Gallery. Curators are content specialists at heritage locations like museums and galleries. Theirs is the most basic job in the Art World, It opens the window to the most experienced professions if cone is seriously considering the art market as a career option. “Thank you very much, Angela”, Snigdha replied and took a chair in the canteen at the ground floor of the museum. She was very happy to have been selected. While she was a bit sad to leave the gallery, the excitement of working for a prestigious Indian project was making up for her low feelings. Afterall, che law of nature says that in order to start a new venture, one must leave the old behind, she thought with a grimace. “And so, you will be busy whole day preparing for your relieving formalities, right? Bur before you do that, let me tell you that there is a gentleman, probably an Indian, who is waiting for you since ‘morning. I told him that T could guide him through the muscum, bur he seemed more interested to go along with you.” Angela winked and grinned. “Handsome guy, so just try your luck! You may be lucky enough50 I Love You, Vishwamithra to find your new date and new job on the same day” Angela laughed and left the place, showing S was waiting. ha where the gentleman Snigdha finished her lunch and proceeded to the waiting hell to check out the visitor. He was alone in the hall and she could Iecate him quickly. He was tll and handsome and had a beautiful smile. He was in a navy blue suit, with white shirt and a red tie on it. He was looking extremely professional. Seeing Snigdha he stood up and extended his hand for a handshake. “Hi I am Rishi, from Bank Prime Suisse” said Rishi with a pleasant face. He found Snigdha’s face to be prettier than what it appeared on Facebook last night. “Yeah, Mr. Rishi. Welcome to the Manchester Art Gallery. How may I assist you?” Snigdha started a formal conversation with Rishi “Lam here on a small study visit. I am working on an art fund project for my bank. I am therefore interested in taking a tour of the gallery to get a feel of the art world” Rishi replied. Snigdha took him around the most beautiful portraits hung on the walls of the museum. With Snigdha around with him, he felt like watching two portraits at the same time - one without life on the wall and one with life nexe to him. Rishi found her to be well-mannered and decent with a touch of Indian culture, making her slightly differen from the ladies of the western world. While her accent depicted her stay in UK, the Indian references in her talk made him feel chat she was well read on traditional aspects to, “So Mr. Rishi, where are you basically from?” asked Snigdha, casually to pass on the time while he was taking notes on the painting details, “Vizag. Do you know the place? Also called Vishakhapatnar in Andhra Pradesh? I am originally from that place, but got settled in Srinivas Yanamandra 51 Hyderabad. I am here in UK since the past 4 years.” Rishi responded. “Yeah, I know Vizag; one of my colleagues at my college is from there. She tells interesting stories about the place” she smiled as she said this. Rishi interrupted her, “Interesting things...? Like what? I always know Vizag to be peaceful and serene with its beautiful beaches and pollution free roads? What are other interesting things you know about?” “Hmmm - She told me that earlier in Vizag, the Mental hospital ‘was beside the University and the Bus Stand was beside the Central Jail? That way it was easy enough for people in one building to jump the walls and get into the other, when needed?” Snigdha busted into laughter Rishi could not resist but to join the laughter. Though this was factually correct, he never thought it the way she portrayed the combination. “Well said, I agree. This is hundred per cent true. Your friend seems to have a funny bone like me” said Rishi encouraging the talk to move to a bit next level. He was enjoying her company. They moved along the way and watched the paintings. She explained to him the background of each painting and the historical relevance associated with it. Rishi had several questions as he wanted to understand how an art collector's mind worked before choosing a painting for private collection. In fact, most collectors visit museums either 10 update themselves on the works of best artists of the times. They take curators’ help in terms of establishing the credentials of an art work. Several other collectors also come to muscums to donate their ‘works to muscums in memories of their previous generations or to show their patronage for this aesthetic cause. “What apart from the business sense drags you to the paintings?”52 I Love You, Vishwamithra Snigdha asked Rishi casually. “I like the patience levels of an artist in getting the minutest details correctly on an artwork. In a way itis more than a mother giving birch to a child. In childbirth, the conception is usually a moment of pleasure. Mother faces difficulty only subsequently at the carrying and delivery stages. However, an artist has to manage the emotional burden even at the conception stage. There is no one to help him during that stage and he has to work alone. Once well conceived, the burden still continues ill the thought is well portrayed on the canvas.” Snigdha liked the concept of equating painting to a stature more than childbirth. She smiled and looked at Rishi while he continued talking. “Moreover, I admire the conception process while watching some of the Indian paintings. They are very difficult to be conceived by the artists, unless they are real champions of mind. It is a difficule task, given the plethora of material to be finalised mentally - costumes, designs, surroundings, interiors - before the painting is poured on the canvas. I am not too sure but there also seem to some difference between the colour combinations berween westerners and Indian artists.” Snigdha found his observation to be quite impressive. She explained, “Yeah Me. Rishi, you are right. Well let me explain this way and when you find me boring, please tell me. Usually when it comes to the topic of colour, I cant resist giving a lecture.” So saying, she tucked away a strand of hair falling on her face sideways, behind her ear. Rishi’s gaze was on that loose strand when Snigdha gave him a questioning look. He immediately concentrated on what she had just said. “No problem, please go on” encouraged Rishi, He found the conversation with Snigdha all the more interesting as she was gracious in her looks and conduct. Srinivas Yanamandra 53 “Usually colors are of two types - primary and secondary. Primary colors are those which cantt be produced by mixing other colors. These are red, yellow and blue. But there are three other colors - orange, green, and purple - which are secondary ones, which are formed with the combination of primary colors. Orange is result of the combination of red and yellow. Green is derived from yellow and blue; while purple is derived from blue and red” Rishi found the discussion to be quite informative. He had always examined the colors people can add to life bur not what they 12 for Snigdha, as can use on canvas. He felt a feeling of admir she continued her talks. “This primary color combination of Red, Yellow and Blue is normally considered relevant for paintings or for mixing dyes ‘Absence ofall colors is White on the canvas. The combination of al the colors on the canvas gives the Black color.” Snigdha continued. Rishi felt chat he could go on chatting with her endlessly. It seemed that paintings were a passion for her and he was also quite in need of a guide who could hold his hand and direct him through the ocean of art world. “Further, to derive a painting, one needs to know not only about the primary and secondary colors, but also about their values. Values are of two types. One is called tints - the effect of mixing white with any color, like pink isa tint of red. And the second one is called shades - the effect of mixing black with any color, like maroon is a shade of red.” Rishi stopped walking and started staring at her. Normally, he never allowed a person to continuously talk for more than 5 ‘minutes, but Snigdha proved to be an exception. Not only her beauty but also her explanations held him breathless. He felt very strongly about continuing his interactions with her in future too, both professionally and personally. “There was a strange feeling of warmth that surrounded Rishi as54 I Love You, Vishwamithra she still continued her talk. So far he thought there was a purpose bchind his visit and Snigdha seemed to be a tool to achieve that purpose. “And finally from the context of painting, we also need to understand the difference beween Warm colors and Cool colors. Red, Yellow and Orange are considered warm colors, given theit representation of sunlight or warmth. Colors like blue, green and purple are considered cool colors, given their representation of pleasantness; a feeling of being surrounded by cool and peaceful things. Western artists largely use the theme of cool colors. However, warm colors largely dominate the paintings of Indians, mostly like Pradyumna’. Snigdha finished. Rishi appreciated how Snigdha gor into the topic of colors to answer his question regarding the differences between Indian and ‘Western paintings. He also became attentive upon hearing the name - Pradyumna. Rishi immediately asked - “Pradyumna? I mean the great Indian artist who was patronaged by Mysore Maharaja? One who painted the portrait of Menaka and Viswamithra?” There was a sudden excitement in the voice of Rishi and Snigdha could immediately notice it. She could understand that as she too was a big fan of Pradyumna’s paintings. “Yes, I am talking about the same artist, Pradyumna - the one who used oil paintings for depicting Indian mythological characters as the theme of his masterpiece works. I am a big fan of his paintings’, replied Snigdha, Rishi remained silent and seemed to have lost in his thoughts Somehow Snigdha could make out that he was thinking about something in particular. It appeared to be a serious thought process. He moved restlessly for a while, as he murmured Pradyumnas name and appeared to be in totally different thoughts. To bring him back to the present, Snigdha interrupted Srinivas Yanamandra. 55 thoughts “Hey, do you know another important thing? Just like oil paintings, there are several latest developments in usage of various mediums for paintings in recent times. For instance, artist Chris Ofilli used Elephant Dung as paint material and won Turner Prize in 1998. And there are several artists who specialize in Dirt Painting or using dirt as painting material.” Rishi immediately got back from his thoughts and laughed, as, he heard what Snigdha had just said. He had read last night about these latest paint mediums. He remembered another medium which attracted his attention during the study - Semen painting - or using the male body fluids for painting. He was stunned to nore that a German artist by name Martin von Ostrowskis recently opened up his exhibition for visitors where he depicted almost 30 paintings which he created with his own semen as paint medium. What interested Rishi in this story was not just the paint ‘medium but his meneal calculation of how many orgasms the artist has to undergo to complete his paintings. Even if he considers 40 cjaculations for one portrait, roughly the artist would have had around 1000 such episodes to make his journey to the exhibition in about 3-4 years. Truly a hard work, Rishi sighed and also thought about the amount of technology set-up that must have been required to store the semen for sometime. Snigdha noticed the silent smile on Rishi’s face and asked him for a reason. Rishi politely diverted the topic and went around the tour. As soon as they finished the tour, he went to their administrative office and wrote a cheque for a decent amount as donation to the Museum, He thought about the status of an art patron, and how much value it would carry in Snigdha’s eyes and also considered that this move on his part would lead to more frequent interactions with her.56 I Love You, Vishwamichra “Thank you very much Snigdha, I am glad to have learnt so many things from you today.” He said as they shook hands. “I have heard that out of 20000 daily visitors to Louvre Museum, around 80% come to see the painting of Mona Lisa and nothing else. I am not quite sure how far itis true, but it seems that the Museum had a separate entrance for such users who are interested in seeing only that painting. But I am sure Manchester Art Gallery also derives these credentials soon, iffa person like you is here for some more time as curator”, he said taking a chance to appreciate Snigdha, Snigdha instantly could not understand what he was saying. As she slowly comprehended the compliments, a smile appeared on het face and she thanked him and retorted, “Not for more time, though! I'm quitting the Gallery” Rishi was disappointed, as she did not comment on where she was joining and felt thac asking het about it on the first meeting might look like he’s coming on too strong. Snigdha, at her end, did not repeat the story she mentioned to Mrinal in the morning. While Mrinal appeared to be rude, she really enjoyed the company of Rishi, although there was no reason she could think of che same. It was the first time they had met. She sure, felt that she wanted to meet him again. ‘As Rishi proceeded to the exit, Snigdha went back to her desk and continued her work. During the day when she was online, she opened her Facebook account and found the ‘Add Friend’ request of Rishi, She smiled and immediately accepted the same. With that acceptance, her friends list coraled to 150. 150- She checked once again. As far as she knows, this is called Dunbar’s number or the maximum number of stable social relationships a human mind can maintain. Given the limi cognitive capability of brain in normal circumstances, this is the ions of number of relations a person can maintain openly. Maintaining Srinivas Yanamandra 57 social relationships beyond this number usually requires setting up enforced rules and norms in the relationships. “Does that mean, Rishi will be the last friend she will maintain an open relation without any rules?” A question silently passed her silly mind. All the 149 friends so far were the ones whom she personally knew and had been interacting in real life too. She never accepted anonymous friend requests on Facebook She always thought that she would maintain good relationships with every friend until she found a date, Once she finds a perfect date, she had thought of dedicating her entire time to him alone. “Or does that mean, Rishi is that potential date? Not a bad choice!” Snigdha laughed at her own thought as she shut down her computer and finished her exit formalities at the art gallery. oooChapter Red Db” passed by and Rishi continued his efforts to gain understanding of the Art Market for better grip on the subject. He visited various galleries for this purpose and spent time at museums. He also undertook visits to various art auctions and met up with branded art dealers. The more the interactions, the more intriguing the art world appeared to him, Being a private banker, Rishi always had a chance to interact with and understand high net-worth individuals. He was party 0 key investment decisions and always knew the criteria of liquidity, returns and risk - to investment for any particular product. Bur he found investing in art to be a different ballgame - a game in which instincts and interests matter more than any other variable. While a person's instinct drives him to like or develop a taste for art, his further interest enables him to discover and learn ‘more about the world of art. In a way he found that investing in art was like investing in one’s own sense of aesthetics. Collecting art can be one of the most enjoyable investments, he realised. It noc only brings in a lifetime of visual delight, but can also be used as a valuable article of trade, ‘As a next step, Rishi attempted to understand the techniques, strokes, textures and colors in all works of art - be it paintis Srinivas Yanamandra 59 photographs or sculptures. He took keen interest in all chat struck. his fancy and then tried to figure out underlying themes. In the process, he gradually became well-versed with understanding and appreciating the contrast in colors or brush strokes. In order to further develop his taste in the art market, he started reading a lot of art related books and magazines. He followed most of the art columns in the newspapers and comments from the critics and his mobile calendar had reminders for various forthcoming art exhibitions in and around London. During business travels, he started picking up, as a rule, biographies, booklets and brochures of the artists whose works he wanted to know more about and in particular the artist’ influences and style on the contemporary society. ‘These steps helped him to understand the relationship between the artist and his work. Gradually he became an expert of the themes the artists work on, the medium they use and their imagination as depicted in their arework. His Facebook postings usually had messages relevant to the theme of painting. ‘One day he was posting the photographs of Polo Art on his wall. ‘These were photographs of the artworks which depicted the people playing Polo. ‘Asa category of Sports Art or portraits of people playing sports, Polo Art has been an ancient art. There are even Indian artists who specialised in this gente, considering the importance Rajputs used to give to sports in earlier times. ‘While he finished uploading the photos in Facebook, he saw a buzz. from Snigdha in the chat window. “You seem to be more interested in painting than in banking Snigdha asked him. She was viewing the collection of Polo Art Rishi that he had just uploaded. She observed that Rishi’ wall posts were always stuffed with a lot of information on art world.