Pooja, through it all, your mother and I remember how generously you gave of yourself to your brother. At 24, you had a promising career and life but you put your every pre-occupation aside to immerse yourself in getting your brother back on his feet, completely recovered. The love, care, dedication that you gave was not only heart-warming, but one of the key factors that contributed to his recovery. For us as a family, it was a period of bonding, committing ourselves to each other and learning about the power of a positive attitude and persistence.
Like in my personal life, I have always encouraged the corporate sector to commit themselves to the welfare of the community around them. The success of my Pune Power Model and its replication in other cities is validation of my faith that clarity of goals, honesty of purpose, and perseverance will always pay off.
Dear Pooja, other things in my life have also shaped the person I am today, a silent activist. As a child and later, when I was in school, I would be mystified by my grandparents and their queries about the surnames of my friends who came visiting at our home in Rajasthan. I would sometimes dismiss it as harmless curiosity and at other times as an annoying habit. It was only years later that I realized the shameful secret behind their questions: it was the hideous classification of people based on their castes!
Over my years in corporate life, I have seen how young men and women from certain sections of society, castes and tribes struggle to find their own place in the larger society around them. They come from disadvantaged economic and social backgrounds but strive hard to improve their lives. But years, indeed, generations of discrimination have rendered them at a disadvantage when competing with the world around them. Often, they have to do jobs much below their actual qualifications and abilities and somewhere the realization came to me that we need to do prayashchit (penance) for the paap (sins) of our forefathers. I am neither a social reformer, nor a politician but I was convinced that I could play a role in giving those children from socially challenged sections an opportunity to unleash their full potential and lead a life of self-respect. I knew what these young people lack is a huge boost in self-confidence and self-belief. The inability to communicate or articulate their point with the suaveness of us city-bred people and a lack of grooming have also combined to keep them away from the plum positions that could be theirs, given their skill sets. I had a vision in my mind, of giving them a fair chance in life and it got translated into the now famous ‘Finishing School’ for students from the scheduled castes and tribes, a concept wherein we impart a clutch of soft skills so that these young people emerge as strong candidates for employment, employability, and entrepreneurship. This powerful affirmative action, made possible by the collaboration between CII and the Symbiosis educational institutes, has changed the lives of hundreds of students over the years and has since then been replicated at many locations and covers a wide variety of vocations ranging from ITI’s, Polytechnics, Engineering, and even MBA students.
A few months ago, I was rushing to check into my hotel room before heading out to a conference when the young woman at the reception surprised me by thanking for transforming her life. Taken aback, I excused myself saying I could not recall if we had met before. She smiled brightly, telling me that she had passed out of one of our Finishing School batches and had been selected for a job on the basis of merit, almost immediately after that. She had always aspired to work at a five-star hotel and the soft skills she had learnt gave her the confidence to show her talent. Pooja, I cannot express the satisfaction and joy that I derived from that young woman’s story. I had managed to use my position as a corporate leader and CII office bearer to create a platform, influence a cross section of industry leaders and education institutions, to benefit the section of society which has been traditionally neglected. Without politicizing anything or discussing quotas and abilities, I had managed to alleviate a long-standing scourge of society. God creates everybody equal and does not give IQs to children on the basis of their surname. We give surnames later and create stigmas. Every child is entitled to fair opportunity and I know this movement that I initiated will make a difference in many lives.
I am asked by my many friends why I have not opted to be a full time activist—a social crusader or even get into active politics. My answer is a question—‘For Bhakti (devotion to God), does one have to be a priest or go to a temple?’ Each one of us can do it from where we are; if we really care. May be I did not have the courage to fully give up my comfort zone but the important thing was to listen to my heart and doing what gives me joy.
Some of my friends in the corporate world often tell me about their plans to devote a lot of their time and resources to social agenda later in life, after they have achieved their professional goals, settled their children etc. etc… My advice to them, always, is that the process of ‘settling’ never happens in life and our social commitments have to be honoured in everyday life. Unfortunately, many of us consider the obligations to society as an option to be exercised if and
