Date: May 30th, 2011.
Location: BCCI Headquarters, Mumbai.
The press conference room was packed. The air was thick with speculation. The selectors, led by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, sat behind the long table, ready to announce the Indian squad for the tour of the West Indies.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Srikkanth began, his voice booming. "We have selected a balanced side, keeping in mind the long season ahead. Here is the squad for the ODIs and T20s."
He read the names. Raina (Captain, as Dhoni was rested), Harbhajan, Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin...
The journalists scribbled furiously. But as the list concluded, a murmur rippled through the room. A hand shot up.
"Sir! Sir!" a reporter from a leading news channel shouted. "You missed one name. Siddanth Deva. Is he injured? Is he rested?"
Srikkanth smiled, tight-lipped, leaning into the mic. "No, Siddanth is not injured. He is... unavailable."
"Unavailable?" The reporter pressed, sensing a story. "He is 20 years old! He just won the World Cup and IPL! Why would he be unavailable for a national tour?"
Srikkanth exchanged a look with the other selectors. "Siddanth has requested leave for personal reasons. The board has accepted his request. He will be back for the England tour in July."
"Personal reasons?" Another journalist stood up, voice sharp. "Is there a rift? Is it burnout? Did the IPL fatigue get to him?"
"No rift, no fatigue," Srikkanth said firmly, shutting down the line of questioning. "Personal means personal. We respect his privacy, and we expect you to do the same. Next question."
The room buzzed with whispers. In Indian cricket, "Personal Reasons" usually meant something big. Was he secretly injured? Was there a disciplinary issue? Was he filming a movie?
MYSTERY ABSENCE! Deva pulls out of West Indies Tour! BCCI cites 'Personal Reasons'. Speculation mounts!
DEVA VS BCCI? Secret rift rumors surface after selection snub!
IS HE INJURED? Sources claim hidden shoulder injury masked by IPL glory!
BOLLYWOOD CALLING? Is Deva shooting for a movie with SRK?
TOO MUCH TOO SOON? Burnout fears for India's young star!
While the media was losing its collective mind inventing conspiracy theories ranging from a hidden injury to a Bollywood debut, Siddanth Deva was in a battle for survival of a very different kind.
---
Location: Deva Farmhouse, Shamshabad.
Time: 11:00 AM.
The curtains were drawn against the harsh Telangana sun. The air conditioning was set to a crisp 22 degrees. Deva sat at his study table, which looked less like a student's desk and more like a war room.
Stacks of books—Advanced Accounting, Mercantile Law, Auditing—were piled high like defensive fortresses. Sticky notes covered the walls.
Deva rubbed his eyes. He had been studying for four hours straight.
"System," he muttered. "Status."
[Skill Active: Eidetic Memory]
[Retention Rate: 100%]
[Mental Fatigue: 15%]
It was a superpower. He didn't just read; he absorbed. He could look at a page of the Income Tax Act, blink, and recall the exact wording of Section 80C ten minutes later. The text floated in his mind like a heads-up display.
"If I had this skill in school," Deva mused, turning a page, "I would have been a topper without even trying. This is cheating."
He picked up a highlighter. Costing. The subject he hated.
"Marginal Costing is a technique of decision making..."
He read it once. The definition burned into his synapses. He closed his eyes. He could see the page. He could see the diagram.
"Done," he whispered.
He was breezing through the syllabus that usually took students six months to master. The exam schedule was set: June 6th to June 25th. He had a week before the first paper. At this rate, he would finish the revision in three days.
His phone buzzed.
He looked at it. Arjun.
He picked it up. "If this is about the server again, I swear to God, Arjun..."
"Relax, Einstein," Arjun's voice was cheerful. "The servers are fine. We upgraded to AWS auto-scaling clusters. We can handle half of India now. I am calling about business. The other business."
"Which one?"
"You, Inc.," Arjun said. "The Brand Deva."
Deva leaned back in his chair, spinning a pen. "Go on."
"Okay, so since the final, my phone has been ringing non-stop," Arjun began, the sound of rustling papers in the background. "Agencies, brands, marketing heads. Everyone wants a piece of the Devil. I have filtered out the small fish. I have a list of the big offers. You need to say Yes or No."
"Shoot."
"First up. Boost. They want to renew the 'Secret of my Energy' campaign. They want you alongside Sachin and Dhoni. Multi-crore deal."
Deva frowned. "Boost. It's a malt drink. High sugar."
"It's iconic, Sid. Sachin did it. Kapil Dev did it."
"I know," Deva said thoughtfully. "But have you seen the sugar content? It's basically candy in milk. I don't drink it."
"So?"
"So, I can't sell it," Deva said firmly. "I can't look into a camera and tell kids that this is the secret of my energy when the secret is actually eggs, oatmeal, and sweating in the gym. It's a lie."
Arjun paused. "Okay. That's... principled. Unexpected, but principled. Next. Pepsi. They want you for the 'Change the Game' campaign. Huge money. Like, 'buy another farmhouse' money."
"No," Deva said instantly.
"Sid, it's Pepsi."
"It's sugar water, Arjun. It causes obesity. It causes diabetes. Look, I know players do it. I don't judge them. But I want to build a brand that stands for... performance. Real performance. If I promote Pepsi, I am a hypocrite."
"You are turning down millions," Arjun warned.
"I have millions," Deva countered. "From the IPL contract. From the prize money. From NEXUS. I don't need Pepsi money. What else?"
"Vimal Pan Masala," Arjun said, almost laughing. "They offered a blank check. 'Bolo Zubaan Kesari'."
"Block their number," Deva groaned. "If I ever do a Pan Masala ad, shoot me."
"Noted," Arjun chuckled. "Okay, here are the ones I think you might like. Fastrack. Watches and accessories. Youth appeal."
"Yes," Deva agreed. "That fits. Stylish, young. I wear watches."
"Nike. They want to upgrade you to a global tier athlete. Signature shoe line. Like Jordan. But for cricket."
"Hell yes," Deva sat up. "Signature shoes? That's the dream. Do it."
"Kalyan Jewellers. Family brand. They want you in an ad. Very wholesome."
Deva smiled. "Yes."
"Okay," Arjun summarized. "So we are rejecting the sugar and the tobacco, and keeping the lifestyle and the sport. You are going to be the 'Clean Athlete'. It's a bold strategy, Sid. But it might make your brand even more premium."
"That's the plan," Deva said. "I want to be a role model, Arjun. Not a billboard."
"Now," Deva shifted gears. "NEXUS. Update me."
"Vibe is flying," Arjun said, his voice shifting to tech-CEO mode. "The 'Stories' feature you suggested? We pushed the beta update yesterday to a small group in Bangalore. Engagement is up 300%. People are posting everything. Their coffee, their dogs, their traffic jams. It's addictive."
"Good," Deva nodded. "Roll it out nationwide before the competitors copy it."
"Flash Messenger," Arjun continued. "Voice notes are live. We also added the 'Blue Ticks'. People hate it, which means they love it. It's creating so much social anxiety that people are replying instantly. Daily Active Users (DAU) crossed 50 million."
"And PUBG? Project Battlegrounds?"
"The Alpha is running well on PC," Arjun reported. "We've got a stable build for desktop. The developers are refining the map and the weapon mechanics. It looks beautiful on a high-end monitor."
"Excellent," Deva said. "Keep it PC for now. What about the mobile ecosystem? How are Vibe and Flash performing on Android?"
Arjun sighed heavily. The excitement in his voice vanished, replaced by frustration.
"It's messy, Sid," Arjun admitted bluntly. "The user feedback is mixed. On iPhones, it's smooth. But on Android? It's a disaster. The phones are too fragmented. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is okay, but everything else is underpowered. Our apps crash, they lag, the battery drains. People are blaming our code, but it's the hardware. The phones just aren't fast enough to handle what we are building."
Deva leaned back. This was the bottleneck. In 2011, Android was still finding its feet, often running on plastic hardware with bloated software that choked the processor.
"So the hardware is holding back the software," Deva mused.
"Exactly," Arjun said. "We are building Ferraris, but our users are driving on dirt roads full of potholes. The experience is compromised."
"Then we pave the road," Deva said.
"Pave the... what?" Arjun asked, confused.
"We build the phone," Deva said, his voice gaining intensity. "We build the hardware that can run our apps perfectly."
"You want to manufacture a smartphone?" Arjun sounded like he was talking to a lunatic. "Sid, do you know how hard that is? We are competing with Samsung, HTC, Apple! We don't have a factory!"
"We build the factory," Deva said, his tone resolute. "Here. In Hyderabad."
Arjun choked on his breath. "In India? Sid, be realistic. The supply chain doesn't exist here! Everything comes from China. Shenzhen is where the ecosystem is. We have to outsource."
"No outsourcing," Deva said sharply. "We import the components—the screens, the chips, the sensors—but we assemble them here. We control the quality. We build the brand on Indian soil."
Deva stood up and paced his room, his mind racing.
"Think about the narrative, Arjun. 'Made in India'. Not just a slogan. A reality. We set up an assembly unit in Shamshabad. I've already told you to buy land there. We use that."
"It will cost a fortune," Arjun argued. "Import duties. Logistics. Hiring trained engineers. If we just OEM from China, it's cheaper and faster."
"And cheaper quality," Deva shot back. "I don't want a rebranded Chinese phone. I want a phone built for us. We put in 2GB of RAM—double the industry standard. We use a larger chassis for better heat dissipation. We optimize the OS—stock Android, stripped of all carrier junk—specifically for performance. And we do it with our people."
"2GB RAM chips for mobile are expensive right now," Arjun noted, his voice wary. "And setting up a line in Hyderabad... the red tape will be a nightmare."
"I have some pull now," Deva said quietly. "Winning the World Cup opens doors. The government will support a high-tech manufacturing initiative. We will get the permits. We sell the phone at cost. Zero profit margin. Maybe even a small loss initially."
"Are you insane? Why?"
"To build the ecosystem," Deva explained. "The phone isn't the product. The phone is the gateway. If we put a device in people's hands that opens Flash Messenger instantly, that scrolls through Vibe without a stutter, they will never go back. We pre-install our apps. We make money on the data. We make money on the ecosystem."
Arjun was silent for a long time. Deva could almost hear the gears turning.
"We have cash," Deva argued, sensing Arjun's hesitation. "The Candy Crush revenue. Ad revenue. Returns from stocks we bought. The IPL money."
Arjun sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So," he said slowly. "You want to force a hardware revolution in India just so our chat app opens faster?"
"Speed is the drug, Arjun," Deva said. "Once you experience zero lag, everything else feels broken. We give them the best Android experience on the planet. Affordable, premium, fast. And Indian."
"It's risky," Arjun muttered. "If the hardware fails... if the screens crack... our reputation dies."
"That's why we control the QA here. In Hyderabad. Not in Shenzhen where we can't see what they are doing. We start small. Online sales only. Create hype. 'The Developer Phone'. We market it to the tech enthusiasts first."
"You really think we can pull this off?"
"I know we can," Deva said. "Offer the component suppliers cash upfront. They will ship to Hyderabad. We build the line."
Arjun finally relented. "You're exhausting. You know that?"
"That's why you love me."
"Okay," Arjun said. "I'm not saying yes. But I'm saying... I'll start the paperwork. I'll look into the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) regulations in Shamshabad. If we can get tax breaks, maybe... maybe it works."
"That's all I ask," Deva smiled. "We need a name."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Bolt," Deva said, snapping his fingers. "Clean. Simple. Fast."
"Bolt?"
"Bolt 1," Deva confirmed, picturing the sleek device in his mind. "It implies speed. It implies energy. It fits the brand. NEXUS builds the software, Bolt builds the speed. Made in Hyderabad."
"Bolt 1," Arjun tested the name. "It's not bad. Let's figure out your exams first," he reminded him. "If you fail Cost Accounting, I am not letting you run a hardware division."
Deva laughed. "Fair deal."
"Come to the office tomorrow," Arjun said. "If we are serious about this, we need a roadmap. And I need to start calling contractors."
"I'll be there," Deva said. "10 AM. After my morning revision."
Deva hung up the phone. He looked at the books on his table. He looked at the World Cup medal on his shelf.
He was a World Champion. He was an IPL winner. He was a millionaire.
And now, he was planning to build India's first major smartphone manufacturer while studying for a college degree.
He sat back down in his chair. He picked up his pen.
The transition was jarring, but necessary. In the world of cricket, he hit the ball. In the world of business, he threw the ball. But in the world of exams, he had to catch the ball.
The room went quiet. Deva started reading. The Devil was resting; the Scholar was working.
----
A/N: Can you guys post an AI-generated pic of an Indian girl for the female lead here
I will choose one of them as the female lead.