I
come from a lower middle class family. I spent the first 26 years of my life in
a chawl in Mumbai. In view of the stringent financial situation at home I had
to look after my college education myself. This I did by giving tuitions to a
few school students in my building complex and also by taking up temporary jobs
during summer vacations.
Mr.Palekar,
the Principal of the R.A Podar College
of Commerce where I studied, used
to help me by ringing
up some old student of the college and
request him to give me a temporary job. I worked as a Sales Assistant one year,
a Bank Clerk another year. My last summer job as Accounts Assistant at Dharamsi
MorarjeeChemicals, which was otherwise routine, was memorable because of a
meeting I had with the sales manager — I remember his name was Shukla —on the
last day of my stint at the company, which was to transform my life
As a temporary
Accounts Assistant, my seat at a corner table was not far from the cabin of Mr.Shukla.
He was a
smart young man always impeccably dressed, Sitting in the corner and watching
him in action, I became his ardent fan. I decided that I must meet him before I
leave the company to find out the secret of his success!
I am a pushy person
by nature. On the last day of my job, I barged into his cabin and requested him
to spare me a few minutes. Though he was initially annoyed at my insolence,
when I told him who I was and that I was one of his admirers, he immediately
relaxed and asked me to take my seat.
After giving him a
brief background about myself, I told him about my plans to become an adman and
sought his advice in the matter. Much to my surprise, he was categorical that
advertising might not suit me and explained why. He felt that at that point of
time advertising was meant for people
with social standing. My lower middle class background would keep me down in
the ad world, even if I found a job.
He however, gave me
two pieces of advice, the words of wisdom,
that not only transformed my life
but also gave a clear direction to where I was heading in my life.
Advice No. 1: Since you will be starting a career in a couple of years, you must
introspect and prepare a balance sheet of your plus points and minus points.
Show this balance sheet to a few of your near and dear ones to add or eliminate
some points. Having got a final list, you must make a sincere attempt to
convert each one of the minus point to a plus point. It will take you a whole
lifetime to do this but the efforts will be worthwhile.
Advice No. 2: Do not judge the success of a person
based on how he lives or the amount of money he makes. He may have all the
money in the world but in the process of accumulating that wealth and enjoying the
pleasures that such wealth can provide, he would have missed out on important
values in life — values pertaining to relationship with people.
To become a really
successful person in life, start at being a good son, a good brother, a good
friend, a good student, a good spouse, a good father, a good employee and
eventually a good boss. In other words, you must be successful in every role
that you are called upon to play in life.
He said that this
also would take a whole life time to
achieve. But the goodwill that you would
have created will guarantee greater
happiness than all the money in the world could buy. `Money can help you buy pleasures of life
but not happiness`, .he said.
Much against
Mr.Shukla`s advice, I took up advertising as a career and made a name for
myself as a Rural Marketing Specialist. To get over the negative point of my
not having a social standing, I joined a social service organisation through
which I not only made a legion of friends across the country but also became
somebody in my society- respected and
loved by people who crossed my path. Though I did not accumulate big wealth, my
bank of good will has been always overflowing. This has helped me experience
the `joy of giving`- not just sharing my limited wealth but my talent, my time
and my other resources in the service of the society.
I am happy to say
that at 75 when I look back, I feel that
I have led a very successful and fulfilling
life! .Celebrating my life all the way!
(This article appeared in the January,2017 issue of `INFINITHOUGHTS` published by Ra..Ra..Mahatira
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