The market buzz is that Nadar has bought Malhotra out, at a rumoured Rs 300 crore. But speaking to The Financial Express

from his Sacramento, California home, Malhotra says things are ``a bit more complicated'' than that.

What he has done, says he, is to give Nadar effective control of operations on his stake. But puzzlingly, he also says he has a ``representative on the board'' who ``looks after things for me''.

``Nothing is final right now. I'm going to take some time off for myself, have some fun. And then decide what to do,'' says the IIT Kharagpur alumnus, who still visits the institutes bulletin board on the Internet once in awhile.

In fact, it is the lure of the Internet which has tilted the balance for him. ``I think the Internet is really the `big revolution' in this field. I'm really going to use the time off to explore it, understand it better -- and have some fun.'' There are also some tentative plans to work with the University of Southern California researching the net and developing new products.

Perhaps it was living in the US and experiencing the web revolution as it happened -- but a major push factor has been the widening gulf between the path he felt the company should follow and the path chosen by the charismatic Nadar. Not that Nadar's route is wrong, he admits. ``HCL is basically six guys who made a lot of money by getting into the microprocessor revolution on the ground floor,'' he admits.

But that was in 1975, with the first ``Busybee''. Only, HCL has resolutely stayed a computer company. Even the diversifications it attempted -- many unsuccessfully, some not -- were hardware based; telecommunications,instrumentation and so on.

This caused increasing friction between Nadar and Malhotra. ``Yes, there was some heartburn initially,'' Malhotra admits. That's when he decided to pull out, although he took over a year to hand over charge at HCL America. ``After all, I set that place up and I didn't want to damage something I had worked to build up,'' he says. So he hunted for a successor himself and eased him into place. The handover itself happened a couple of months ago, although Malhotra still maintains a personal office at HCL America.

Which leaves the issue of the stake -- Malhotra's stake is currently next only to Nadar's in the holding company, although the figures themselves are not public. Although Malhotra said at one point that friendships ``had to get over some time'', he was insistent that he continues to be friends with Nadar.

Hence the current arrangement. But indications are that it is not likely to remain so for long. Which should be causing Nadar some concern, since Malhotra indicatedthat he ``might be'' interested in a better offer.

But that is some time away. For the moment, its going to be ``taking things easy and having fun.'' And contemplate the future. ``I'll be 50 in early '99. I want to make a second start.''