NASDAQ to Neem Tree

This novella traces the spectacular rise and catastrophic fall of the seven co-founders of InfoCys, a dominant Indian tech outsourcing firm. Initially, the founders-Nirayana, Vilekani, Cris, and their partners-achieve immense, hubristic wealth, expanding their empire from "code to concrete" with the launch of a sprawling real estate venture. Their gilded life of penthouses, private temples, and NASDAQ valuations is violently destroyed when a sudden 25% U.
S. tariff on outsourcing wipes out their revenue and triggers a massive financial collapse. Stripped of their assets, families, and prestige, the founders are left destitute on the streets of Bangalore, forced to form a pathetic "Agile Begging Syndicate" outside the ISKCON temple, transitioning overnight from "gods of the digital age" to the city's lost souls. The second half of the story details their fragmented, desperate attempts at survival, which range from Vilekani running a clandestine Aadhaar card forgery business to Binesh applying "Six Sigma" quality control to a street-side eatery called "ISO Idli." Through these absurd and humble ventures, they learn the value of failure, eventually reuniting to launch SadTech, an app designed for the bankrupt and heartbroken.
Following a profound spiritual retreat at the temple to atone for their greed, they ultimately find redemption by founding Footpath Technologies and the Footpath Fellowship, a non-profit venture focused on ethical outsourcing and community service. They trade their pursuit of stock options for the pursuit of "usefulness, " culminating in a weekly ritual of serving free idlis outside the temple-a final, peaceful acknowledgment that "the code of karma has a syntax of it's own."