A few months later, Mr. Jones informed me by letter that he had recovered the money. I wrote back, instructing him to give thirty percent to R.P. Singh and to put the remainder in a trust account. In the back of my mind, I thought, If I return to America, this chunk of money will create a good cushion to fall back on as my family and I transition to life in the States. I could not put my relief into words. It seemed to be the one thing going right when the past few years had only brought me financial frustration.
At the same time, I asked Mr. Jones to settle a matter with the IRS that had plagued me the past few years. In 1984, I received letters stating I owed the IRS more than $8,000. An investment shown in my tax returns had been disqualified for a deduction, and I now owed them that amount plus interest. Later, in 1985, I learned that the accountant who had calculated the figures in my tax return was wanted by the FBI for fraud. He and his wife had fled to Florida after the IRS audited him for fraudulent filing of tax returns. At the time, I did not have $8000 to pay the IRS, so I did nothing, hoping the matter would go away after a few years.
Now that I had the money from the Boudnot properties, I told Mr. Jones to settle the matter with the IRS. After some time, Mr. Jones informed me that he had paid the amount which had gone up to $12,000. Relieved that this issue was taken care of, I insisted that Mr. Jones obtain a letter from the IRS stating the matter was resolved. I felt it was necessary to have something in writing to prove I was in good standing with the IRS. A short time later, Mr. Jones mailed me a copy of the letter written and signed by the IRS. I tucked it away into my files, thankful this issue would no longer haunt me.
Chapter 23
Near the end of 1985, Satish persuaded me to become a partner in his television manufacturing business. At first, feeling reluctant, I finally agreed to run the factory he planned to open in Indore, state of Madhya Pradesh. There is a word in the Punjabi language, rozgari, meaning one should not pass up any opportunity that could provide income for his family. Maybe God has created this opportunity through Satish, so I can have a prestigious income-producing business in India, I thought to myself. Since the proposed 500-bed hospital had been reduced to 125 beds, and the Goels still could not get a loan, I did not have anything to do at the hospital.
Although I knew nothing about the television manufacturing business, Satish assured me I would learn easily due to my management experience and education. Satish’s marketing associate, Girish Bhatt, accompanied me to Indore where we found a rental space to open the factory. While my family stayed in New Delhi to finish out the school year, I checked into the Shree Maya hotel in Indore and threw myself headfirst into opening the factory and running a successful enterprise. I had spent two weeks in Satish’s factory in Noida, near New Delhi, learning everything I needed to know, and with a newfound confidence, I told myself this would be a successful venture.
I named the company, Suny Electronics, and after six months, we were manufacturing and selling close to three thousand televisions a month. However, Mr. Bhatt and I began running into problems with a certain distributor who was complaining about the dealers he sold the televisions to. There were cash flow problems, and Mr. Bhatt, displeased with this distributor, gave him two weeks notice. We switched to a new distributor. The old one became angry at us for canceling with him on such short notice, and the news spread all across Madhya Pradesh.
In the meantime, Raj called to tell me Christopher had fallen off his bike and broken his tooth. The neighbor took Raj and Christopher to see a dentist who had returned from England. The dentist said, “If you can find the broken tooth, I may be able to put it back in place. If you do find it, place it in cold water and keep it in the water until you can bring Christopher in to see me.”
After returning home, Subhash, Rajan, our driver, and a servant went to the site of the bicycle accident and looked for the tooth in the dirt. After sifting through the dirt for several minutes, one of them found it. Raj cleaned the tooth and kept it in water just as the dentist said. The next day, she and Christopher returned to the dentist. He placed the tooth where it broke off and, according to Christopher, used a regular hammer to pound the tooth back into place. Although in great pain, Christopher did not scream or protest. The dentist told Raj this tooth would be good for fifteen years, and then Christopher would need to get an implant.
Christopher told us later that as he sat in the dentist’s chair, he thought, Here I am in a dentist’s office, where this dentist is using a hammer to put back my tooth that was in the dirt for several hours! This was a very different picture from the dentist’s office in the US where we had taken Subhash for his dental check-ups.
When I heard stories like this from my wife and sons, I wished with all my heart for different circumstances. How could I have known that the Goel hospital would never be built? I left New Delhi without any prior notification to Arun Mangal or Z.M. Goel. No one objected, since there was no progress on the project, and Z.M. Goel had stepped out. Now G.B. Goel was pursuing the project just for the sake of it. They continued paying me until February
