Pen King's death and the misfortune of 'monarchs' in Indian business

Popular discourse is quick to crown as kings people who achieve so much success that it feels inadequate to describe them as successful.

Vikram Kothari had two coronations, first as the Gutkha King and later as the Pen King. That should have told him his days of glory were numbered. It has been a consistently bad omen for businessmen in India to be called the king of their sector. 

When the end came, on the morning of January 4, it was a deceptively innocuous fall in the bathroom that finished the high-flyer promoter and head of Rotomac, the maker of pens and stationery. Frequently described as flamboyant, he once had film stars Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon as his brand ambassadors. His mansion