Vansh paid it no attention and went on. “There’s eighteen thousand homeless people in the city of San Francisco right now. Stretched across fifty city blocks and growing. The city spends over one billion on them.”

“They’re all druggies,” Jiggy said with disgust. “And mentally ill. And we can neither put them in prison nor get them treatment. Basically, our stupid lawmakers have made it impossible to touch them.”

The struggle to stay unfazed made an angry flush tinge the tips of Vansh’s ears. “Actually that’s not true. Only about four thousand have addiction and mental health issues. That’s the official number. Even if it’s twice that, there are still thousands of people living on the streets who are there because of unemployment and housing issues.”

“The government is already spending millions on putting them in housing. And it has not worked in the past.”

“It doesn’t work because most programs are giving them fish instead of tools for fishing.”

“You want to teach the homeless to fish? I think a more worthy local cause might be to clean up the bay so that fish might actually thrive in there.” Jiggy’s laugh couldn’t have been more self-satisfied if he’d actually implemented cleaning up the bay.

Vansh and Naina exchanged a glance. Jiggy did not look happy with the fact that they didn’t laugh.

“What I’m trying to say is that several existing efforts focus on giving them a home, not the means to make a living so they can afford the home. Obviously, those are not the same thing,” Vansh said.

The billionaire looked miffed. His face got all pinched and he pouted even as he remained smiling, and the result was not at all pleasant.

“You know, Vansh, I grew up on the streets of Mumbai, and it was not at all sexy.”

Vansh threw Naina a confused glance. Did he just say “sexy”?

She looked at Jiggy. “I didn’t realize we were going for sexy.”

“This is Omnivore. If it’s not sexy, it has no place here.”

“But this isn’t Omnivore, it’s the Omnivore Foundation, giving back to the community and to the world,” she parroted their tagline.

“You’re not wrong,” Jiggy said, studied alacrity returning to his voice. “All I’m saying is that optics are ninety percent of any business.”

Which was why the corporate world was not for Naina.

“What did you have in mind to teach the homeless to fish, then?” he asked, turning to Vansh again.

Vansh’s smile was too smug by half. “I’m working on something, but I need to look into a few things before I can present the idea.”

Jiggy studied Vansh. “There’s that same Yash Raje sincerity in you, isn’t there?” He turned to Naina. “Blood is thicker, no?”