Two Banias

It is mere coincidence that I have been reading stories of two banias who influenced modern India. In my view it is also coincidental that the two happen to be banias; however even as they appear to taken two completely different paths one cannot help notice the the striking similarity between the paths. To begin with, for both of them, their way was the only way, both started their career abroad and came back to India to pursue their dream, for both of them children were a part of achieving "their" dream, role of their spouses, though not recognized as deserved, was very important, both developed huge following (both pro and anti), they both loved being called bhai and so on and so forth. If you have not guessed it by now, I am talking about Mahatma Gandhi and Dhirubhai Ambani.

Both the stories happened to have little more of whatever I was expecting and they both did disturb me a bit, in fact they left me a little unsure about the path I am treading now.

As I have started this post with mention of a particular caste, I would also like to make my views about caste also clear. I don't belong to the bania caste and I never consider myself of any caste except that I come from a peasant family. I enjoy anything related to agriculture, anything related to production and value creation in general. I have never used my caste for any favorable benefit and even dislike people using it for favors. I believe in equal opportunity and fully believe that given enough time and opportunity, any individual can achieve what any other individual has achieved if he wants to. Extreme cases may come to mind immediately but then don't take in the literary sense, look at it from a macro view and you will appreciate it.

The stories of the two banias did teach me that to achieve goals one has to be relentless and should persevere and never forget the beginning. Like Glinda, the Good Witch of North advises Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, "It's always best to start at the beginning." Let's get started