Nearly a month has passed since the week-long Aikyotsava festival had ended. During the week, various sports competition finals and semifinals were held in all sorts of sports, ranging from track and field events like sprints, long jump, shot put, and others, as well as team events like cricket, football, kabaddi, and kho-kho. After all the events ended nearly a month ago, the aftereffects were noticed almost immediately.
The people of the empire, particularly those who had directly witnessed the sports events or read about them in the newspaper, understood the significance of sports to the empire and its importance in the heart of His Majesty for the first time, as everyone could see that he had not missed a single day and attended all events.
Due to this realization, people of the empire, particularly those in the affluent or middle class, began to take their children's sports education more seriously. Previously, before the Aikyotsava event, parents only bought sports equipment to appease their children's constant nagging or to meet school requirements for creating a well-rounded growth environment for the kids. But now, even without school recommendations for extracurricular activities like "sports," parents voluntarily bought professional sports equipment and enrolled their children in newly opened sports academies, which operated throughout the holidays and on weekends, just when schools are on leave.
The parents are not dumb; the Sports industry in the empire has just gotten started, and the money available in it—at least for the top 1% of the players—is already enough to support a whole lifetime for any normal person. As more and more people get invested in sports, that amount would only grow. Not to mention, with integration, the potential audience base for any sport in the empire would suddenly increase from over 48 million in the southern part of the empire to nearly 190 million across the entire empire.
This is one of the exact reasons why the newly established sports equipment manufacturing companies are thriving. Initially, they had expected sales in equipment to drop after the Aikyotsava events, but who would have known that the Aikyotsava event had such a large impact in the southern part of the empire that parents—who had previously considered their children's futures in fields like medicine, the military, or engineering—would even start to consider athletics as a career option.
For this reason, instead of losing sales, the complete opposite happened: sales of professional sports equipment immediately increased by 300% compared to last year, and when compared to the peak season during the Aikyotsava event, the sales only dropped by 80%, still maintaining a 220% increase.
When *Bharatham Daily* noticed such a phenomenon, they immediately conducted research and invited an economic-minded professor from the Bharatiya Institute of Technology for an interview, in which he stated, "Although the Aikyotsava tournament ended nearly a month ago, its aftereffects are still vividly felt by the people of the empire. They now know that sports is one of the premium viable paths for success, especially with the constant advertisements by some of the largest brands in the empire featuring sports stars. I believe this newspaper has consistently covered the earnings of these sports stars, so it is no surprise really when the people of the empire behave as they do."
"I suspect in the coming years if His Majesty aims to enlarge the sports sector—and if you ask me, he is very interested in doing so—then it can already be concluded that industries directly involved in sports, as well as those supporting the sports industry, are bound to become some of the most dazzling sectors in the empire, with significant growth potential."
"In my conservative estimation, given the current trends, even without His Majesty introducing specific regulations and policies, the sports industry—which is already valued at 10 million Varaha—is likely to experience stable growth of at least 20% or more, especially if sports penetration into the northern regions produces greater results."
The parents of the empire, who were hesitant about taking the decision to encourage their children in sports, were completely convinced after reading this article in the newspaper.
"Honey, the physical education teacher at school suggested that we train our son in cricket. He constantly repeated that Rahul is one of the best batsmen in the school and has also invited him to participate in the Inter-Taluk School's competition."
"Should we consider sending him to a professional sports academy?" a concerned mother from Kakathiya Puri asked her husband, who was preparing to go to work.
The young father, who looked barely 29, hesitated for a moment. Previously, he would have definitely rejected the request, but now, after reading the newspaper, he had to reconsider his decision. "Hmm, let me inquire about any good coaching academies near us. But for now, I will buy him a professional kit so he can go to school and practice by himself."
The young Rahul Dravid, who had 'mistakenly' overheard the conversation, couldn't help but jump around in the hall with a big smile on his face.
Hearing the loud scream of happiness coming from inside their home, the mother and father were momentarily surprised but then both looked at each other and smiled.
Rahul Dravid had become obsessed with cricket ever since he saw the portrait of Kapil Sharma hitting his 12th six in the finals against the team from Vijayanagara. In his mind, that moment looked cool and amazing. It was at that moment he decided what he wanted to become.
A few years down the line, Rahul Dravid would go on to become the captain of Kakathiya Puri cricket team and lead them to their first-ever victory against the then-dominant team from Satavahana.
Rahul Dravid was not the only one who was inspired by the Aikyotsava Festival sports events; many sports stars and icons were born in a short span of a few years after the festival.
Putting the aftereffects of the Aikyotsava Festival aside, due to the total integration of the Bharatiya Empire, the backbone infrastructure network of the empire was also integrated. In all the official maps of the Bharatiya Empire, the roads are now connected from the southern part of the empire to the northern part of the empire. Not only that, even the port networks in the northern part of the empire and the southern part of the empire are completely integrated into the Ministry of Transportation.
Due to this, the Ministry of Transportation immediately established two new departments: the Department of Ports; and National Highways and the Ports Authority of Bharat (NHPAB). One is responsible for managing the operation of ports, while the other is responsible for maintaining and servicing the operation of all the ports and backbone highway networks of Bharat. These two departments are at the same level in the hierarchy as the Department of Roadways, which is dedicated to operating roads in Bharat.
The operations/management and maintenance are divided into two different branches in order to avoid corruption that could occur from too much power.
Aside from the infrastructure, the northern part of the empire also held the official elections a few weeks ago in the presence of the Election Nobility and Examination Commission, which is now directly a subsidiary department under the emperor's office. In order to make sure that all the elections were conducted without any malpractice, Vijay even momentarily mobilized all the troops in the north and stationed them in various polling booths.
He even had Kishore Balabadra personally take charge of all these armed forces and make sure that the election was held properly.
After the elections, Chief Ministers were elected to various states along with Cabinet ministers and ministers of parliament. Unsurprisingly, most of the Chief Ministers elected were actually the people who previously held the administrative rights of one or two important cities in the said state. On paper, this seemed very unfair, and it appeared as if there was something wrong with the elections.
However, sometimes reasoning can be deceiving, as there was actually no malpractice or anything wrong with the elections. On the contrary, the elections conducted in the North were much more peaceful than in the South. In the end, it just means that the Chief Ministers and other important ministers took advantage of their previous positions to start campaigning in their states long before the election even started since almost all the administrators in the North knew how the political system of the Bharatiya Empire worked after looking at the South. In simpler terms, they took advantage of their sick leave and copied homework before the teacher asked.
Vijay knew that such a thing was happening, but he did nothing to stop them, since he could not really ask them not to stand for election, when they had done nothing wrong constitutionally at least. And Vijay did not even think that it was a bad thing, since what was needed now was stability and not chaos from new heads of state. So, he decided to close his eyes to these matters at least for now.
P.S. I have an headache Only 1