
That seemed to have little deterred Adhip’s spirit when I met him next at a friend’s birthday party. As he had lost the capital his father had advanced him for the restaurant, he had started a business that did not require a capital outlay: he secured orders for small parts from manufacturing companies, which were then made by his father’s factory according to the given specification, and Adhip supplied the finished parts to his clients and paid his father and retained a decent margin for himself. His company, he stressed, was independent of his father’s and he operated from a tiny office rented near his father’s plant.
Adhip’s business prospered. He took pains to understand his clients’ business and supply parts, fashioned scrupulously, that more than met their requirements. His reputation grew along with his list of clientele. We had lunch together and he mentioned that his father wanted him to take over the parental factory, but that he preferred to run his own separate business.

His father had chosen to retire, and Adhip had appointed a common friend, a qualified engineer, as a manager to run both his father’s old plant and his parts business. His focus was on providing the best value for money – the finest cuisine and ambience – in the restaurant business.
Adhip was on his own. I was impressed. He had been anything but disloyal to his dream.