Till I was in 12th standard, I was pretty much clueless about what I wanted to do in my life. I never had one burning ambition as such. Hmm. Yes. I had several fantastic dreams. And I still do. And I believe that having fantastic dreams, or dreams of any kind for that matter, is not really an offence.
When it was time to select my line of interest in college, I wanted to be a politician initially. I wanted to become an MLA, an MP, a minister and even thought I could become the Prime Minister of our country, someday. But by the time I actually got down to filling the admission form, I realized that Economics was a better bet for a person like me. I don’t know why I gave up on my dream like that. I just did. That’s all I know.
After I got my degree in Economics, I took a fancy to studying law. It was a good course. I could finally clearly understand everything that was being taught in the lectures and found everything interesting too. I had no problems clearing my papers.
That was when my next fantastic dream materialized in my mind. I wanted to do my internship under a leading lawyer in our country. I was so impressed with all the cases that he had won that I knew I would benefit a lot by becoming his junior. This lawyer was so influential that he stayed in the Raj Bhavan when he visited our city. I even went to meet him and had a very pleasant discussion with him. He wondered how I could become his intern because he practised law in the capital city while I lived down south. My dream was not very practical. So I did my internship with my uncle who is a lawyer.
A couple of years later, I realized that law was not my cup of tea at all. And I did not know what I wanted to do either. That was the most confusing phase of my life. It was like I was at a crossroad and did not know which direction to take. I did not know what I would find at the end of any road. It is kind of scary to think about even now. But I wasn’t really scared at that time. It was more like I lacked purpose in life – there was no clear goal in sight, no direction to steer towards…I did not know what I wanted to do with my life.
I had never been keen on doing business or joining my father’s business. But I had to do something till I knew what I wanted. So I would accompany my father to his shop every day. That is when I realized that I loved talking to others. I enjoyed discussing things with all the customers. Most of these discussions were not related to the business we were in. There were casual conversations but very genuine ones. Even today, I enjoy interacting with all kinds of people and I value the relationship that I share with everyone more than the business that we do together. Yes, the business part is secondary. The relationship matters more.
I then meandered into my uncle’s business. That seemed more interesting to me than my father’s business. Over the course of a few years, I did imbibe the skills and the tactics of running a business but I continued to have fantastic dreams.
I wanted to expand my uncle’s local business and make it global. So I thought that if I migrated to a different country I would be able to do so. And I even had a vague idea of starting an entirely new global enterprise in a different country. I worked in this direction, did all the research, weighed the pros and cons and did all the paperwork too. But immigration was a long drawn process back then, you know. And I was happy when we were given permission to migrate to that country.
But something was holding me back this time. I was making a name for myself in the market here. A family friend of ours had infused a good idea into my head. I approached the head of a company. We had a long-standing relationship with this company. I discussed the idea of scaling our business to an international level with him and was amazed to hear that he too was working in that direction currently. So we decided to put up our stalls in an international exhibition.
And now having come this far ahead with my vision, I saw the futility of starting afresh in a different country. I knew I would have to work for years to create some sort of enterprise there after which there was no certainty about it being successful too.
Here, at home, I was part of a reputed family which had been in business for over a century. Our company symbolized trust and quality. That is when I realized that my ancestors had worked hard to create a company of repute. They had left behind a beautiful legacy for all of us. And I should be adding value to what I had been blessed with instead of starting a new business in a different country.
So I dropped my dream of migrating abroad. It was a tough choice. But I knew I was doing the right thing by choosing to work on what I had already created. I branched out from my uncle’s business after that. Again, it was not easy. I set up my own office but did not even know how to run it. And I learnt things along the way. I finally found a clear direction to walk and work on.
Yes, like all businesses, I too faced several ups and downs. But I managed to stay afloat. During the initial phase, one of our agents coolly duped me out of a huge sum of money. Instead of delivering the goods to the customer, he pocketed the stuff and probably earned a huge profit out of it too. It was a big setback for me at that time. It took me time to overcome that but I could sustain myself with the business that I was getting from my other international customers. It’s been a long-winded journey indeed. But I don’t regret any of it.
I used to attend spiritual discourses when I was in college. Those insights kept me grounded during this entire phase of my life. Even today, you can see this beautiful person’s photograph hanging over my table in my office. Do you know what he has written below it? “Honest wealth grows”. Yes, I may not have made steady profits in my business venture but I have not indulged in shady business either. There was no need for me to do such things either. No, not because I had financial support to fall back on. The only time I took financial help from my father was before I branched out from my uncle’s business. He too had a business to run. So I had to return the money to him within 6 months. Our company symbolizes ethics and I never felt the need the do otherwise. It’s that simple. Really.
I continue to have fantastic dreams even today. I want our small, trusted, ethical and over a century old business to become a nationally recognized one. But I don’t know if this will materialize in the future. But you know what my stance is, don’t you? I don’t think having dreams, even fantastic dreams is an offence.