Chapter 15
"Grandfather, that is such a great teaching. It would be great if you wrote a book for the family as a teaching or a guideline. It can become something our family lives by and follows for many generations." Vir decided to strike while the iron was still hot.
He knew that Fateh Chand will die of natural causes sometime next year in 1744. With his death, the other branch families will begin to distance themselves from the main family in Bengal. And by the next couple of generations, they will have become almost completely separated.
Of course, that won't happen if the family in Bengal doesn't lose its power and wealth that trumps all the other branches. But instead of a relationship based solely on power and influence, creating a communal and familial relationship could last much longer.
'It would be best to create a model of family propagation based on the Rothschilds. They haven't started yet but they will continue their legacy until the 1940s, so they must've been doing something right.'
Fateh Chand was intrigued by the idea of writing a book that would be read by everyone in the next generations of the family.
"It wouldn't be good to write anything specific, business is ever-changing so advice from me might become poison to the future descendants. But life advice, loyalty, and solidarity to the family and such could be written down to be passed on, I suppose."
Anand, Fateh Chand's first son chimed in, "As Vir said, we could use this book as a guide and a seed of an idea for every coming generation to always stick to the family and family comes first. It could really become a code by which our family lives and grows."
Swarup went a step further, "Why don't we bring all the children in line for succession from the branch families to be taught at the school we run? It could be kids from the ages of 5 to 8 and schooling can be for at least 3 to 5 years."
"The next generation of family leaders will get an education through the best teachers based on Vir's book that contains foreign knowledge and they will get to socialize with each other and make connections from a young age. A brilliant idea Swarup!" Even Madhab got excited.
"It would be even better if we could have regular meetings to discuss business and our future directions among all the branches. It would help the family's growth so much more."
Fateh Chand shook his head in disappointment, "Our family has spread too wide for something like that to be possible. There are already more than 20 big branches and the smaller ones even get lost or lose contact all the time after going to start their own business."
The family had been established in the Bengal and Bihar region for nearly 95 years now with a total of five generations until Madhab and Swarup, and six if Vir's generation was counted. With polygamy still being a thing and having as many children as possible considered a blessing, the family had grown a lot within the 95 years.
It is not always a good thing for the family to grow so large. In the 18th century, communication over long distances was very difficult if you were not someone from the royal or noble class or someone very rich to be able to afford it. So communication slowly died down between the family members who were too separated.
'You can tell why it is called a family tree. There are always new branches springing up and going their way….Wait!'
"Grandfather!" Vir's excited shout silenced the discussion that had been going on and everyone turned to look at Vir with confusion and anticipation. With so many interesting ideas coming from Vir, they had begun to have some expectations from him.
"I was thinking, why can't we use this to our advantage? We can subdivide the large branches like the ones in Patna and Delhi as regional branches. The families that separate from there usually start their business in relatively close towns, we can call them local branches."
Vir ignored the burdensome gazes and continued explanation, "By dividing the branches based on the region, size, and geographical proximity we can improve the overall communications within the family too."
"How do you mean?" Fateh Chand was already sitting in an alert position not to miss anything that Vir was going to say. He had a vague idea of what Vir was planning and knew that it could revolutionize how their family functions and grows.
"Once we divide the regions, we can have the branches at the local level have meetings every year since they are close. The largest branch every year becomes the leader and conducts the meetings. They can send the summary of those meetings to the regional branch.
Every two to three years, a representative chosen by the local groups' meetings will join the regional meetings where all the chosen local representatives gather. And finally, every three to five years, the regional branches can gather here to have the meetings."
All the adults in the room went silent and began thinking of the idea proposed by Vir. It was a novel idea that could make the family grow closer while still keeping up a healthy rivalry between all the branches. It was a very good strategy that only needed some refinement.
Vir on the other hand was patting himself on the back in his head. Although he had never been interested in his father's work in his past life, he was still the son of a prominent banker. He had fused his limited banking structure knowledge of the 21st century with the current era.
"It seems feasible. We should call all the large branches for a meeting and propose this idea to them. They will enforce it within their region. We might be able to create a general framework for the structure within a year. It can be developed from there later." Madhab suggested.
'If we structure our family that way, won't we be able to run a pretty large postal service across most of the northern regions? A postal service is a huge cash cow that will continue generating profits for centuries. It's a business that continues to grow with time.'
The kings and some nobles had some form of private postal services at the time but there wasn't yet a standard postal service that serviced the general populace. It was a viable business with huge prospects.
Vir decided to keep the idea to himself and let it marinate and refine it until the first family meeting was called. There were already too many things that the family was doing with the orphanage, schools, and the industrial town planning.
Sharing the work and the profit with the other branches was the best idea for a project as big as a postal service across the northern regions of the subcontinent. It could also become a hidden card that could be used to persuade the people who were not keen on the new family structuring idea.
Vir left the adults to their discussions and moved on to his new schedule.
…..
Nearly a hundred young men and about twenty young women were gathered in the large garden of a mansion. The men were divided into smaller groups and discussing something while glancing around every once in a while. Their gazes always lingered a little at the group of women.
The women were also talking amongst themselves in groups of two to three but they were all huddled toward the same side of the garden, away from the men. Their glances at the men were shorter and sneakier.
The air in the garden was filled with anticipation, excitement, and some nervousness. They were all invited to become teachers at an orphanage school established by none other than the biggest businessman in the region, Jagat Seth Fateh Chand himself.
Among the observant ones, many questions were being discussed. "Why are there only young people in their 20s here?" "Surely the Jagat Seth can afford to hire experienced teachers?" "Why are there women here?"
Regardless of their doubts, everyone gathered there wanted the job. It paid well while also providing room and board. The only downside was having to take care of the young orphaned children but they wouldn't have applied if they didn't think they could handle it.
Suddenly there were loud murmurs from one direction which caught everyone's attention. Those at the front saw a young man in his early twenties walking out from the villa with a young child of about five years.
The soldier who came in behind them quickly came forward and shouted, "The directors of the orphanage Swarup Chand and Vir Chand are here to make an announcement. Please come closer and maintain silence."
There were some murmurs as the people got closer to their employers whom they were seeing for the first time. They ignored Vir and focused on Swarup who came forward and stood on a sort of makeshift podium made out of a table.
"Greetings to all the teachers here, I am Swarup Chand, your employer. As you were informed during your recruitment, we have gathered all of you here to begin training before you officially start teaching the students. The training will start now but will continue throughout the coming year, so if there is anyone who does not want to learn new things, please leave right away."
At Swarup's bold declaration that anyone who doesn't want to be trained should leave, there were loud murmurs of discussions. But the garden quietened once again when someone at the front shouted, "What is this training anyway? What are we being trained for?"
It was natural for people who have spent almost a decade or more time studying to question if they required any new training. It wasn't conceit but just the confidence in having studied more than most people ever will in their lives.
Swarup understood that but he also understood that they were just like him a few weeks ago, frogs in a well who were not aware of the wider world around them.
"You will find that out shortly. But if any of you feel too confident or proud to learn new things, please leave now. Once you sign the contract, you will have to pay a penalty for backing out midway." Swarup warned.
They had drawn up a rudimentary employment contract enforceable by the Nawab with a hefty penalty added in the clauses for non-compliance.
A couple of the men decided to walk away but the rest of them decided to stay back and were handed the contracts. Since the court language was Persian, the contract was also in Persian.
There were a few interesting but scary penalty clauses but nothing that harmed them, so everyone signed the contracts after reading them a few times. After the signing, they were led into the mansion. It was also currently the temporary residence of the teachers.
Swarup had bought the place from a large merchant who had moved to a larger place. With about 20 large rooms and a separate annex with about a dozen more rooms, it was enough to house the teachers. The women were housed in the separate building with guards outside.
In the empty hall of the mansion, about 110 men and women sat down on the prepared mats with a pile of half a dozen books on each of their sides. It was a nostalgic experience for the young teachers as this was how they had studied under their masters as kids.
Everyone was confused and wondering if an old teacher would be brought to teach them. But the one who stood up on the podium was none other than Swarup.
"You should each find some books by your side. Those are the main books that you will be teaching in the new school. If you have read the contract properly, you will know that you have to return those books later or pay for them if they are damaged or lost. So do take care of them."
After a cautionary advice, Swarup continued, "You will all be given two days to go through those books. You don't have to memorize or completely understand them but just familiarize yourself with the books and prepare any questions you have about them for two days later."
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