Brij answered his cell phone.

"Hello, Papaji." It was Akhil, the Temple MBA student, who ran the family's U.S. operations and oversaw its offshore bank accounts.

"You cannot go on like this," the son said.

"OK, OK, OK."

Once again, the son was chastising the father about sloppy business practices. Web site clients weren't paying on time. The Bansals were owed $954,262.

Brij, frightened he might sour future sales, refused to do anything about it.

The growing deficit gnawed at Akhil's business soul. He said, "It's like chopping your own foot with an ax."

"OK, OK, OK."

Brij thought he'd done all right for himself. He owned several businesses and an expansive home he'd bought new, back in the early 1970s, before Akhil was born. The home, surrounded by 10-foot-high walls and an iron gate, stood two blocks from the congested, dusty National Highway No. 2, the main route to New Delhi.

Brij ran storefront medical clinics in India and Nepal, including one in Agra, where tourists often succumbed to the searing heat or blistering cuisine on visits to the Taj Mahal.

Former patients appreciated Brij's willingness to refill prescriptions overseas, and he leveraged this demand into a multimillion-dollar business. Brij focused on the $4.6 million he had earned, not the million he was owed.

Akhil saw it differently. Sure, the enterprise was successful, but now it needed sophisticated management.

He offered a radical plan: Cut the number of online pharmacies served from 25 to six. Deal only with the biggest - and only with those who paid on time. Let Julie, Akhil's sister, who lived in Jaipur and handled marketing, including spam, have the little clients.

"I'm telling you," Akhil continued. "The problem with you is that you are too old-fashioned."

"OK, OK, OK."

The son sensed that Brij was patronizing him.

"You're an ass," Akhil said. "You'll remain an ass."

"It's my money," Brij said. "I'll burn it if I like."

Akhil tried a different tack: A smaller client base, he said, might help his father's health. A former smoker, the 57-year-old had diabetes and hypertension. A terrible patient, Brij had to be scolded to keep doctor appointments. In January, he had suffered a minor heart attack.