MONOPOLY-1
chapter 1
“Angetine Phigteror not available...may I suggest u Bilos Derthigh” asked the druggist.
“No let me check some druggists near by “ said Shawn.
“Sir if u want u can….but I would like to tell u that u wont get it” said the druggist.
“hmm!!” Shawm smiled towards the druggist without showing his enamel ,as he opened the door of his Carrera GT. “durr…rrrr…rr..r…”the car passed BLETIQUE Druggists and Chemists building...Shawn gave it a full throttle as he flew through the Havana International Airport Highway.
It has been a long time since he left Cuba at the age of twelve. Shawn’s parents shifted to Shanghai to work for Fujitsu Shipping Corporation. Both his father and mother were in FSC as port engineers. It was at FSC Havana they fell in love and got together. As FSC was forced to close its operations in Havana due to labor problems Shawn’s parents were shifted to FSC Shanghai along with many other employees. Life was difficult in Shanghai for Shawn and his brother Smith as Chinese didn’t know Spanish. But they pushed through, learned Chinese. His father resigned from FSC and started export business in Shanghai. It grew at an amazing pace. Shawn and Smith never looked back since. They spread their business from export to real estate to automobile to petrochemicals at a blistering pace. It was at such pace that the communists of china started calling them MONOPOLY. The government of China restricted them from any further investments marking them as a foreign company owned by Cubans. That was how Shawn was reminded of Cuba. He called it nostalgia and his old man asked “why waste a week in Havana? Our old little town ha..ha ..”. But Shawn wanted to go there and stay for a week. His secretary arranged for his landing in Havana. He took his Carrera GT with him, which he cant live without.
Travelling away from Havana, there are two railway level crossings at Jaguey Grande (about 13km from Havana) and approaching Ranchuelo (about 10km later). Both of these are ungated and have "stop" signs - drivers should stop, look and listen before crossing.
After crossing Jaguey Grande he stopped at another druggist and asked for Angetine Phigteror but it was the same again. Only Bilos Derthigh was available.
A new monopoly was taking form in Cuba the ultimate monopoly of the 21st century.
chapter 2
Shawn resumed his journey. He reached the resort that was arranged for his stay. It was ‘Paradisus Rio De Oro” hotel located right alongside Playa Esmeralda beach, in the Natural Park of BahÃa Naranjo, 5 km from Guardalavaca in the province of Old Havana. The hotel has a very special beach. The beach has a three side seashore with one side heavily covered with rocks, and the other two sides are beautiful sandy and calm beaches. The hotel can be said to be situated in a small subcontinent.
The evening sun was floating over the sea when Shawn got into his room. He still doesn’t have any plans about what to do in Cuba. He stayed in the resort for one day. The resort had only foreign tourists. He had not had much chance to interact with anybody.
On the second morning after his arrival in the resort he decided to check out possibilities of starting his business in Cuba. Shawn decided to get to Havana, this time in a taxi. He went to many consultancies and discussed with them, most which got the agencies interested. Shawn didn’t need any introduction, as he was well known among the world business circles for the amazing growth of his company. But Shawn was clever; he was getting as much information about the situation as possible. The situation was such that the government was open to any investment from anybody. They were wiling to provide anything the investors wanted, land, power, tax exemptions etc. Shawn took two days to get hold of the situation. He started his journey back to “Paradisus Rio De Oro Resort” after a long discussion with Mr. Victor Vance, the secretary of industrial minister of Old Havana province, which lasted till 9 pm. As his taxi flew back through the Havana International Airport Highway, he saw many ladies wearing mini skirts and t-shirts waving towards his car. They were trying to get a customer. The waving ladies disappeared after Jaguey Grande. It was nothing new for the taxi driver, yet may be for Shawn’s amusement he said” Cuban women are prostitutes not because they needed to be but rather because they liked to make love, and they are the most educated and the healthiest prostitutes on the market”.
Shawn didn’t respond, may be that’s why the driver didn’t opened his mouth till they reach Paradisus Rio De Oro Resort.
Shawn often says” Business can stop to grow or die, nothing in between”. Its this belief that tempted him start make some investment in Cuba as the growth opportunities in C China were few and far. He called in a group of his managers from China to discuss about the opportunities and challenges of investing in Cuba. They flew in within two days they held many discussions with the Cuban government. After a month of meetings and analysis the Shawn and his managers have decide to build a Ship manufacturing company at Matanzas. It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas, 90 kilometers east of the capital Havana and 32 kilometers west of the resort town of Varadero. The Cuban government has offered to give land in Matanzas for free.
In the proposed project area of Matanzas lived a community called Matanzians who earned there lives from fishing alone. They have to be evacuated from the project area. That was no new trick for the state cops. It has been a general trend in Cuba to take land from the poor fishermen and give it for free to multi billionaire industrial tycoons to make profits for themselves. Nobody except the sufferers questioned it since this has been happening in all third world countries. Anyways cops did their job .Around five hundred families have to be evacuated. Around hundred people lost their lives during the evacuation drive which made the job easier. It took around one month to evacuate the land. All this time Shawn’s head was working like a computer. He had to attend many meetings, make arrangements to roll the money for new investment and gather the resources required. At last, the day has come, the commissioning of the new plant. His whole family has flown in from China. Shawn flagged of the first work in Matanzas Ship Factory. As the metallic noise of the huge machines filled the atmosphere, Shawn felt like an yellow light filling his eyes, he lost the strength of his legs, and he fell down. His father rushed towards him, Shawn said in crumbling voice” I forgot to take Angetine Phigteror..since I left…CH..CH….”over, it was all over for him. His father murmured holding his son’s cold hand”SON, you are not the money you have, you are not the car you have, you are not the companies you set up… how did u forget to live?”
Disclaimer: This story does not have any relation to the present or past political, social or economic situation in Cuba or China. The places and characters are pure imagination of the author. Any resemblance is just incidental.
