Colour Of Money

Punit got married recently to Puja. It was an arranged marriage. The contacts were established through a matrimonial site on the Internet. The match making had been smooth without any side making absurd demands.

Punit was a mechanical engineer with specialisation in automobiles. Hence when the offer came from a reputed automobile company during placement exercises he promptly applied and got the job. The pay package was definitely very good as it made headlines in the newspapers the next morning. Now he had completed five years. Due to his innovative ideas the company made him the head of research and development (R&D).

Puja was a good student of English language. She had completed her basic teachers training course and got a job as an English teacher in a reputed school.

Both Punit and Puja were very romantic and thoroughly enjoyed the initial years of their marriage. They visited most of the romantic destinations whenever they got a chance. Once they both visited Europe also on a hectic twenty day tour. The tour included Paris, Rome, Zurich, Berlin and London.

Then Puja gave birth to their first child a son who was named Parikshit. Both their families were enjoying this blissful period of marriage and parentage. Then Parikshit got a sister Dipa who was born when he was three years old.

Time was passing happily. Punit was very dynamic in his work and thought process. So he was well ahead of his peers. He was working on an automobile system for many years. Finally he seemed close to achieving it. He was developing an advanced version of braking system. Punit had examined that due to faulty brake system accidents occur. The contemporary braking system was based on wire mechanism which took quite some time to stop the vehicle. This led to many accidents at the crucial point leading to death.

Punit developed a hydraulic brake system that was till then unique in the market. With this system in place any vehicle no matter whatever it's speed was could come to a halt within meters of applying the brake. It was a revolutionary breakthrough.

Punit tested and retested the mechanism till he was satisfied with the system working flawlessly. He first approached his company for patenting it. But his company did not realise the immense potential of the invention.

Punit decided to go with his achievements solo. Initially his family supported his idea. Specially, Puja was fully behind him like a pillar. 

One big multinational auto company who had watched the demonstration showed interest. They talked to Punit and assured him that they would buy the prototype and pay him. The consideration amount was huge.

All the agreement papers were made ready and signing was to be done on an auspicious occasion. But that day never came for Punit.

In a few months he found that automobile company had introduced in the market a new car and guess what it was bearing the hydraulic brake mechanisms developed by Punit.

They had copied the prototype secretly and cheated on Punit. It was a very depressing situation for Punit. He initially broke down because he had heavily invested in developing the machine. The success of the machine depended on his future growth. He had borrowed heavily from family and friends. Now it was time for payback.

The invention was an instant success in the market. The company who had stolen his idea was selling the design in the market at a huge premium. All the income from these sale proceeds was due to Punit but he was deprived from it all.

It was a very challenging time for Punit. He had left his job. Now he was solely depending on the sale proceeds of his inventions. But the inventions needed time, money and patience which he had none now.

His wife Puja was always like a pillar in his troubles. Their children were growing and their education expenses were rising. Only Puja 's solitary income supported the full family now. Gone were the days when Punit used to bring home bundle full of currency notes after he would get his salary.

They decided to go to court over the cheating case. A lawyer was appointed who had quite a good reputation of winning corporate cases. So he demanded a hefty fee.

The opponents of the case that is the giant automotive company was a wily coyote. They also appointed a reputable lawyer with also a big fee. They were in no short supply of money. They just wanted to buy time. Because they knew that Punit would not have the gaul to pursue the case for years. So they instructed their lawyers to just keep acquiring new hearing dates in the future. This would frustrate Punit and also bankrupt him and would be forced to quit early. Till then the company would keep on earning profit after profit and help it to fund the hearing of the case.

Years kept on passing and the case hardly moved an iota. Judges who were hearing the case were being retired like falling of nine pins. No knew judge had the patience to restart the case a fresh. Also the multi national company would buy them secretly with expensive gifts and paid holidays to exotic places. 

A decade and a half went by. The case didn't move one bit. Parikshit, Punit"s son now himself became an automobile engineer and his sister Dipa now became a practising lawyer. 

So the brother sister duo decided to payback their beloved father by pursuing and ultimately winning the case for him. Punit had by now become a recluse. Lean and thin with huge burden of worrying had taken it's toll on his body and mind. He just kept to himself and his machines talking to no one for days. Only Puja used to go and give him his food. 

Then Dipa and Parikshit decided to take the case to a higher court. There was a judge who was Dipa's classmate. He volunteered to hear the case. The multimnational company as usual like in the past tried to give instant gratification to the new judge. 

But the new judge refused and warning them of reporting the case to the press. 

Within a few hearings the case was decided. The judge gave a revolutionary judgement that shook the judiciary out of its slumber. 

A judgement of cheating, stealing and fraud was libelled on the company. The quantum of the financial compensation was decided on by a team of three judges. 

The company was ordered to pay the financial amount along with interest of so many years. The final amount came to some hundreds of crores. They were immediately asked to stop the use of the hydraulic brake before the financial settlement was made and were asked to purchase the patent from Punit. The machine was now patented in his name.

The next day's newspapers broke this huge news, lavishing heaps of praise on Punit. 

Punit now could see the true colour of Money after so many years.