In one place, I had a miraculous view into the goings on in 4,000-plus companies. For stock quotes I had the financial papers offering, hold your breath, PE ratios — that was a big, big deal then. Then came a bonus in the form of companies being forced to announce their unaudited annual results. What a delight. It took me about two months to ravish the volumes and know just what was where. With One Up On Wall Street beside me, I could interpret those results like no one else I knew — though the big dude ignoramuses in the magazine thought they did.

All this, please remember, was because of the hormones not necessarily neurons. I mean, I wasn’t like Rocky or the then new sensation Aamir Khan. Add poverty to that. So, here I was, with neither the brawn to carry her off her feet, nor the money to leverage an opportunity to take her out. If not brawn, it had to be brains. If not spending, it had to be investing.

With that behind me, I launched Mufuco (mutual fund cooperative). This could arguably be the first private mutual fund of this country - yes, I beat Kothari Pioneer, now Templeton, to it - though there must have been many like it. I sold her the idea (essentially myself and my new found knowledge) and got her to invest Rs 1,650 (the apology that was mistakenly called our “monthly salary”). A couple of other trainees joined in, their sisters too (brothers were probably launching their own funds).

... contd.