February 1st, 1657
Akhand Bhartiya Empire, Imperial capital - Bengaluru, Simhasana Bhavana event grounds
The palace grounds, covering nearly 5 square kilometres in all directions, are bustling with activity. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of Ganesh from the Emperor’s office and the cooperation of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, the first expo of the Bharatiya Empire has been organized as an event focused on exporting both civilian and military products to the international markets.
Due to the expo being held at the time of the Empire’s founding, many businessmen who had come to witness the founding of the empire immediately got the opportunity to showcase and export their products internationally. Hence, overnight they had their best products shipped through the most premium services offered by logistics companies.
In the span of two days, Vijay Anand, whose company had been nationalized due to war, happily completed hundreds of orders throughout the empire.
Vijay Anand was initially very worried that once his company VRL Logistics was nationalized, it would never reach his hands again. However, fortunately, with the empire slowly loosening its grip on smaller state-owned companies, his hopes were rekindled.
Sadly, being one of the largest logistics units in the nation, he will have to wait until the very last phases of the military economy until his company is let go.
Ganesh, having rich experience after overseeing the event planning for the nation’s establishment, promptly established an expo committee responsible for managing all the Matters relating to the expo.
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It was early in the morning, and Charan Gowda, a new entrepreneur of the empire who succeeded in taking over the small woodwork factory he had previously managed for the empire, was preparing for the expo.
His product was not too outstanding both in looks and function. It was a simple mop, the same mop which His Majesty designed when he first took over the throne. However, the reason why his product was accepted by the Expo committee was because he had made multiple innovations to the mop His Majesty had invented.
For one, he added a hinge function, allowing the mop to be used more easily without having to bend the back too much. The second innovation he made was to make the mop foldable into three parts, making it convenient to store anywhere. The third improvement he made was designing detachable mop heads, where different types of mop heads could be used for different purposes, making it more versatile.
The fourth innovation he introduced was designing a special bucket with wheels attached for easier manoeuvrability.
All these innovations were done using first-grade materials. For example, the wood used in the mop was the same material used in carriage building, and the hinges and mechanical parts were manufactured in a semi-military enterprise, a neighbouring factory.
It is for this reason that Ganesh, the event organizer, and Rajesh, the Minister of Trade and Commerce, were impressed and accepted the application for the simple product of the mop, believing there might be a premium market segment for it.
"Little bro, move your hands quickly; the customers will come at any moment now," Charan Gowda said in a hurried voice as he noticed the translator he was assigned arriving near his booth.
The teenage employee, around 15 years old, immediately quickened his pace in cleaning up the booth and arranging the presentation of the product.
These scenes could be seen in various booths of the expo, where small-time vendors or new entrepreneurs nervously prepared their products and waited for the customers.
As for the state-owned enterprises, being the bigger units, they were more confident, and the attention paid to presentation was not too much.
The expo staff, most of whom were translators, were dressed in pleasant blue uniforms and stationed at various booths to assist vendors in communicating with foreign guests.
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"Your Highness, the carriage has been sent by the Expo Committee. Will you be going?" Brezhnev asked as he held an invitation letter.
Peter, who was already anticipating what novel things could be seen in this empire, readily agreed and left with Brezhnev.
Similar to the Russian delegates, all the delegates of different nationalities had their own carriages and had received their invitations personally written by Prime Minister Vinod.
The ride wasn’t too long; it took only five minutes to get to the expo.
"Badam Daddum Badham Dadam Badham Dadham"
The loud band music played upon their arrival, making their entry feel very welcome.
"What an interesting event. I can’t wait," Prussian Ambassador Heinrich Mueller said in anticipation as he looked at the large banner with the wording "Welcome to the Bhartiya International Expo" written in Bharati script, French, Latin, Russian, and German.
Everyone felt welcomed.
As soon as the group of Europeans entered, they were given brochures about the different stalls present at the expo and directions to reach them.
Naturally, the brochures were in different European languages.
From this point onward, the large group of Europeans immediately split up and went their different ways, exploring various products that caught their eye.
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The Prussian Ambassador Heinrich Mueller, unlike most of his counterparts, did not go to the military product section of the expo. Instead, he went to inspect various unique and never-before-seen products. These products were so unique that there weren’t even translations for them in German.
For example, he was particularly interested in a product called fireworks. He did not know what it was, but he identified the word "fire" from the Bharati language and curiously went to this booth.
"Jagpal Firework Manufacturers Pvt Ltd, " was the name of the booth that he visited.
As soon as Jagpal and his employees spotted Heinrich, they quickly donned their professional smiles and warmly welcomed the first guest of the day. Heinrich’s presence was a surprise, given that their booth was situated in a remote part of the expo.
The committee had placed them there because they anticipated low demand for fireworks in Europe, due to the limited number of religious celebrations that require such displays and the generally subdued religious atmosphere in Europe.
For this reason, Jagpal had emotionally prepared himself for no customers throughout the event, but now it seemed like Ganesha was favouring him.
"Welcome. Please come in Sir. Would you like some water or some other beverage?"
Jagpal quickly welcomed the man, and the translator seamlessly translated, maintaining the same professional demeanour as Jagpal. Both gestured for Heinrich Mueller to enter the booth.
Heinrich was very pleased with the hospitality, but he wasn’t feeling thirsty, so he just settled for a glass of water.
"So Mr.," Seeing the name in the brochure, "Mr. Jagpal, what might your product be? I am curious."
Jagpal brightened his smile as he responded, "Our company is the top manufacturer of fireworks in the nation. We assure you, Sir, that our products are the best in both quantity and quality, and we have also been certified by the nation."
Heinrich did not doubt this; he had seen the efforts the Empire put into this event, and for events of such scale, shoddy products are naturally not allowed. "I have no doubt about this, but can you please explain to me first what fireworks are?"
Jagpal was taken aback. Then, considering that this was a huge opportunity, he immediately acted decisively and used up his limited Demonstration quota. "Sir, instead of explaining it to you, let me just show you."
"Muniram, arrange the flower pots, ground chakras, and sky shots."
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Jagpal gestured for Heinrich to follow him while Muniram quickly ran away to set up the fireworks.
Arriving at a place that looked like the testing grounds for weaponry, Jagpal immediately ordered Muniram to light the fireworks one by one.
Heinrich was immediately shocked by what he saw. He had no words to express it; it was as if the fire was performing a beautiful dance for the onlookers—one turning on the ground like a beautiful flame fountain while the other spewing up into the air like spring water coming out of the ground.
"Boom!"
Most impressive of all was the flaming meteor shower that displayed its colourful light even during the day, so mesmerizing.
Seeing how starstruck Heinrich was, Jagpal was very happy because he had spent a lot of resources to obtain this patent, which had been civilianized from a military application. Not only that, he had to temporarily employ a few scientists from the Bharatiya Academy of Civilian Scientists to get the production and ratio of the gunpowder right to produce such effects that he had envisioned.
Looking at the colourful flames falling down like beautiful snowflakes, Jagpal couldn’t help but mutter, "The effect would be even more brilliant if it were at night."
Heinrich woke up from his stupor, clearly interested in buying some of these if they were not too expensive.
"I’m curious: for what purpose do the people in your empire use these fireworks?" Heinrich asked.
"Oh, we use them for all happy events, but most importantly, we use them in the Festival of Lights, Deepavali. Quite fitting, isn’t it?" Jagpal replied. Then he thought of something.
"Come to think of it, maybe you could use these firecrackers for your celebrations too. Forgive me for mentioning this, but I think these could be used at Christmas to celebrate the joy of the birth of Jesus Christ."
Hearing this, Heinrich had a frown on his face. He knew there was nothing inherently blasphemous about using these so-called fireworks at Christmas, but he also knew that some people might consider it blasphemous.
However now that he thinks about it, The suggestion of the owner was also true: these things could be used in various celebrations such as birthdays, marriages, banquets, and multiple other noble events held throughout the year.
"Maybe if my family could monopolize these products in Prussia, I could rise in Status and influence." Thinking about the number of celebrations the nobles have in a year, Heinrich’s eyes grew red, and he immediately inquired,
"Friend, what is the cost of the product?"
Jagpal was happy that the client seemed interested in the product. "It’s not too expensive, Your Excellency. Our company offers a celebration package consisting of 12 ground chakras, 12 flower pots, and 12 sky shots, all for the cost of five Varaha."
Heinrich was immediately shocked by the price, not because it was too high, but because it was too low, the prize was only 0.25 Prussian Thalers. From this price, he could almost buy a meal once at the Denny’s restaurant back home. His excitement quickly turned into vigilance as he looked around as if checking to see if anyone was coming to steal his prosperity.
"Friend, tell you what: I will pay the price you asked, but I need an exclusive supply of fireworks to Prussia and Brandenburg. The quantity is large, my initial estimate is more than 1,000 units of each."
Jagpal was immediately overwhelmed but did not know the policy for exclusive exports, as this was not discussed in the meeting held in the morning. "Sir, I have no way of knowing if what you are asking is allowed by the empire, so please could you wait? I will confirm it with the expo committee and get back to you immediately."
Heinrich was disappointed but patiently waited. Jagpal acted immediately, personally going to the expo committee to explain all the details.
Ganesh was surprised that a product he thought would have no market in Europe was in demand in such large quantities. But, considering the dilemma of exclusive rights, he too was uncertain about the decision, as he didn’t know what course to take. Rajesh shared this opinion, feeling that the decision could affect the trade of other products as well.
Therefore, it would need His Majesty’s legal approval.
Hence, for this reason, Vijay, who was busy with his own affairs, was disturbed by this unusual deal for fireworks. Looking at the details, he was taken aback, as he too did not expect such a thing to happen.
’Exclusive agent, huh?’ Thinking about the agent concept for the future, he immediately allowed the private businessman to decide how to handle the business, as fireworks were not related to national security. The businessman was legitimately a private entity, and the government had no right to interfere in his business.
For this reason, Vijay not only approved the trade by writing a personal letter but also established a few guidelines concerning these types of exclusive trades, depending on state-owned, military, civilian, and private enterprises, where the conditions for different types of trades would vary.
In this way, Jagpal Fireworks Private Limited introduced a product that any European nobility would be embarrassed about if these fireworks were not present at their events, establishing themselves as the originator of fireworks. Although Europeans would eventually replicate these products within a year, the company’s initial reputation and substantial profits made Jagpal very wealthy.
While the patent they held was not very useful in Europe, the legitimacy of their innovation brought them great fame. The profits allowed the company to invest in research and development of new products, which ended up becoming a great engine for developing the market in Southeast Asian countries with similar cultural landscapes.
P.S. Thank you Nobume_Imai_5090 for the Luxury car
P.S. Man second time this week, Really, thanks.
P.S. btw the exam went ok, the things I read came, but I forgot most of it, but np ill pass.