Once upon a time, far away from here in the country of Paraguay (P), an era of changes was underway. Actually, the story there begins with an agreement between two business families. Mr. Zuzi (Z) and Mr. Nozi (N) were business rivals, but they constantly faced threats from above, below, left, and right that another group or power might harm their business interests. For its effective prevention, they signed the Charter of Dealings (COD). Now, Mr. Z and Mr. N’s interests often collided with each other as well, so the COD was not implemented one hundred percent; however, if a third party harmed the interests of both, then implementation of the COD would begin, and they would unite.
When Mr. Immi (IMMY) jumped into Mr. Zuzi (Z) and Mr. Nozi’s (N) Charter of Dealings, both together bankrupted his business. 20 years passed since the signing of the Charter of Dealings; during this time, a new generation, new faces, and new challenges began to emerge. In fact, age, politics, and business are like sand; traders and politicians keep sand held tightly in their fist, but sand is, after all, sand—it is bound to slip. As the sand of age slipped, the authority to make decisions remained with Mr. Zuzi and Mr. Nozi, but the field of action was taken over by the next generation.
Mr. Zuzi (Z) had handed over his business for the past 20 years to his adopted son, Wonder Boy; every major business decision and deal was made through him. Meanwhile, Mr. (Z)’s real son, Thunder Boy, also entered the field of action. Wonder Boy and Thunder Boy never got along; right from the beginning, they were at loggerheads. On the other hand, Mr. Nozi’s business legacy went to Dharendra Girl. The real names of these three were something else, but Paraguay’s business community knew them by their descriptive titles.
Wonder Boy was famous for performing astonishing feats like an apparition, while Thunder Boy was known for roaring in a thunderous voice. Previously, Wonder Boy held more weight in Mr. Z’s decisions, but as time changed, Wonder Boy’s business priorities shifted, leading to several doubts and reservations with Mr. Zuzi, and the opinions and decisions of Thunder Boy and Mr. Zuzi began to align.
Dharendra Girl got her descriptive title because it meant an extraordinary girl who was proving to be the true heir to her father, Mr. Nozi (N). As long as the elders were in the business, they kept taking turns according to the Charter. However, since there was only one main business chair, Wonder, Thunder, and Dharendra were all competitors to one another, and there was no harmony in their temperaments either. All three were relatively young and inexperienced, so there was a lot of noise and commotion in their fights and disagreements.
Wonder Boy was the heaviest among them; for one, he had played an important role in shaping the current state of the business. He had a vital share in ousting Mr. Immi (I) from business and creating the Zuzi-Nozi empire, and he also enjoyed the support of powerful business circles. However, he was never accepted from the heart by the families of Zuzi and Nozi or their close associates. They always doubted him. On the other hand, Thunder Boy never got along with the powerful business circles; in fact, they were often at odds. However, Mr. Zuzi used to soften Thunder Boy’s echo and thunder to pave a way forward.
Dharendra Girl also had her eyes on the main business chair; she too could not stand Wonder Boy, and Wonder Boy did not agree with Dharendra’s extraordinary feats either—he just barely tolerated her. This was the exact wrestling match that Paraguay had to go through. Lower and middle-tier businessmen were stunned, wondering what would emerge from this fight among the elders and their sons and daughters.
Wonder Boy was of the view that a very critical phase had arrived for the business. If smaller administrative divisions of the business were not created, not only would the business collapse, but the effects of good commercial reputation earned abroad and victories in regional trade wars would also soon fade away. Since Wonder Boy had the backing of power, he considered this time very suitable for reforms—because now mercantile politics was weak and powerful policies were strong. In such a situation, it was easy to persuade merchants to agree to a reform agenda. He must have realized that if these 12 months of reforms passed in Paraguay, no change would be possible at all.
Thunder Boy’s issue was that he took immense pride in his family bloodline. People from his family used to fight and win major mercantile battles. His second issue was that if Wonder Boy’s agenda was fulfilled, Thunder Boy’s space in merchant politics would not only shrink but gradually vanish. However, the real centers of power did not like Thunder Boy due to his short temper, and he would not only openly disagree with his father, Mr. Zuzi, but would also get stubborn at times. Mr. Zuzi would get upset and call him “the corner one,” because his house was at the corner of the family compound. When happy, they would even light a cigarette together.
Dharendra Girl was an extraordinary girl who could never have become the successor to Mr. Nozi’s (N) conservative family; but through continuous service, proximity, and loyalty to her clever mother and father, she made such a place in Nozi’s heart that he not only made her his successor but also began to see his future dreams in her.
Mr. Zuzi (Z) and Mr. Nozi (N) were sensible and experienced businessmen. They and their powerful patrons well understood the reality that their real business rival was Mr. Immi (I). Despite being bankrupt, he possessed the ability and capability to turn the tables at any moment. When the fight among Wonder, Thunder, and Dharendra came out in the open, the bankrupt Mr. Immi (I) regained importance once again. Now, if Wonder Boy’s program was not accepted as it was, leniency would be given back to Immi’s business instead of Zuzi & Nozi.
For Thunder Boy, accepting the program as it was was impossible, as his inheritance would be lost and his dream of sitting in the main chair would remain unfulfilled. Dharendra Girl had been instructed by Mr. Nozi to cool down the matter before consuming it. Mr. Nozi (N) believed in the formula of “watch the oil and watch the stream of oil” (wait and watch). His strategy had always been to wait and see, look at the direction of the wind, and feel the pulse of the time. He remained tight-lipped, a silent spectator assessing everything, and would make a decision after evaluating every negative and positive aspect.
If Mr. Nozi (N) and Miss Dharendra did not accept this program as it was, then its implementation would become difficult, no matter how much the threat of Mr. Immi (I) was used. That was such a delicate moment that the trump card came into the hands of Mr. Nozi, because Zuzi and Thunder Boy had already shown their cards. If Nozi refused, the entire business group could crash down.
The decision was in Mr. Nozi’s hands: whether to dismiss Zuzi and exile Thunder Boy to restrict the duel to only two parties, Wonder Boy and Dharendra Girl, or to let the fight happen in an open boxing ring. However, Nozi feared that collusion with Immi could result in the bankruptcy of the business. Nozi considered Zuzi a better ally compared to Immi, but he was tired of fighting the powerful circles of Paraguay and could not afford further conflict. He could only postpone big decisions and a big fight, so he kept postponing it—and the fear is, to quote Faiz Sahib, that Paraguay might not remain as it used to be…!!