Human Capabilities Amaze Me!!
The human mind has always impressed me with all its capacities to calculate faster and think faster and stuff like that. The other day I came accross a gentleman, lets call him Mr. Harish. Mr. Harish is a distant relative of mine and comes accross to be a very jovial and calm man in his late 60's. As we were chit chatting on my plan for higher studies we started talking about what he had planned and how he went about with his life plan. The next few hours unravelled in front of me the most bizarre career and also I must say most adventurous one. Take a listen!!
I would like to jot down here some parts of his narration in first person to know the effect :-). "My father was not wealthy and did not have enough funds to raise all his children. My father expired when I was in 9th standard. The family was in shackles but my eldest brother (who was a doctor himself) started practicing and raised all his younger brothers, sent them to schools and made sure they dint fall short of anything. As I passed matric I din have much options of graduation due to limitation of funds. I decided to pursue my Diploma in Automobile Engineering. As soon as i finished that with flyin colors I was selected for a full time job in Premiere Padmini (Fiat) one of the biggest car manufacturing company of those times. As I gained experience there I realised that the growth was stagnant and nothing could be achieved here if I had to work here for next 20 years as people ordinarily do. So I decided to quit after one and a half yea and pursue something new. I decided to go abroad for some automobile work with the help of some relatives. I landed up in Oman, Muscat and was employed to serve the Sultan of Oman. My job was to look after his fleet of 50 brand new cars and keep them up to date. It was a totally different experience working in a foreign land away from your wife and kid and communicate with letters which reach after 1 month. I worked there for 2 years and then decided to come back to India.
Gathering my experience from overseas I decided to open up a garage of myself. I knew it was not an easy job to open a garage in Bombay in those times when a Fiat ordered was delivered to a customer in 3 months and cars were less in number. I however was determined and got what I wanted. I served many people's cars and became reputed. As time passed by I realized the hard work involved and the income which wasn't proportionate. Discussing it with one of my brother's (who was a civil contractor), he advised me to join him in the construction business. I was completely taken aback with the offer and also realized the demands of this new challenge. A person from a mechanical background will be joining civil business. However, I did not go down and took up this challenge. I worked day in day out with my brother at the sites. Learned how it all works learned the methods and my efforts paid of in 1980 when I built my first of many buidings in Thane, Bombay. After that there was no looking back as I went on to build more buildings in Bombay. I shifted later to Pune and built 3 more buildings in Pune. After all these years of hard work I was tired and wanted a break in life and sit back and enjoy the ride.
This dream propelled me to give up construction and wrap up my business. I took up the most expected business which was of serving people with delicious food. I started my own hotel and not one but 2 of them. I ran these hotels for a couple of years successfully. I closed this business as the profits started going down and took my final step towards the end of my career. I took up real estate business and single handedly worked on it for 5 years. Today I am 65 years old and still do one or two deals in real estate when I have time. However, when I look back onto my life I realise what all I have accomplished and a smile of satisfaction spreads accross my face. A smile which indicates satisfaction to my heart, a feeling of pride and a realization of having followed what my heart wanted.
This was the point when my jaw dropped and I stared at Mr. Harish. I was like what is this man made of? How can someone be so confident of managing not one but multiple tasks of different genre one after another with everything at stake, his family his career and his life. I look upto this man as I remember him as a multi faceted personality. A person who inspite of being from a mechanical background went ahead to give shelter to thousands without fearing that something might go wrong and the lives of all these people may be endangered. A person who had the guts to start a restaurant business with zero experience and a person who lived his life with pride.
Mr. Harish personifies a true human and the capabilities of a human being. I salute Mr. Harish and I hope that you guys too respect his initiatives.
I wonder why human capabilities simply amaze me .....
I would like to jot down here some parts of his narration in first person to know the effect :-). "My father was not wealthy and did not have enough funds to raise all his children. My father expired when I was in 9th standard. The family was in shackles but my eldest brother (who was a doctor himself) started practicing and raised all his younger brothers, sent them to schools and made sure they dint fall short of anything. As I passed matric I din have much options of graduation due to limitation of funds. I decided to pursue my Diploma in Automobile Engineering. As soon as i finished that with flyin colors I was selected for a full time job in Premiere Padmini (Fiat) one of the biggest car manufacturing company of those times. As I gained experience there I realised that the growth was stagnant and nothing could be achieved here if I had to work here for next 20 years as people ordinarily do. So I decided to quit after one and a half yea and pursue something new. I decided to go abroad for some automobile work with the help of some relatives. I landed up in Oman, Muscat and was employed to serve the Sultan of Oman. My job was to look after his fleet of 50 brand new cars and keep them up to date. It was a totally different experience working in a foreign land away from your wife and kid and communicate with letters which reach after 1 month. I worked there for 2 years and then decided to come back to India.
Gathering my experience from overseas I decided to open up a garage of myself. I knew it was not an easy job to open a garage in Bombay in those times when a Fiat ordered was delivered to a customer in 3 months and cars were less in number. I however was determined and got what I wanted. I served many people's cars and became reputed. As time passed by I realized the hard work involved and the income which wasn't proportionate. Discussing it with one of my brother's (who was a civil contractor), he advised me to join him in the construction business. I was completely taken aback with the offer and also realized the demands of this new challenge. A person from a mechanical background will be joining civil business. However, I did not go down and took up this challenge. I worked day in day out with my brother at the sites. Learned how it all works learned the methods and my efforts paid of in 1980 when I built my first of many buidings in Thane, Bombay. After that there was no looking back as I went on to build more buildings in Bombay. I shifted later to Pune and built 3 more buildings in Pune. After all these years of hard work I was tired and wanted a break in life and sit back and enjoy the ride.
This dream propelled me to give up construction and wrap up my business. I took up the most expected business which was of serving people with delicious food. I started my own hotel and not one but 2 of them. I ran these hotels for a couple of years successfully. I closed this business as the profits started going down and took my final step towards the end of my career. I took up real estate business and single handedly worked on it for 5 years. Today I am 65 years old and still do one or two deals in real estate when I have time. However, when I look back onto my life I realise what all I have accomplished and a smile of satisfaction spreads accross my face. A smile which indicates satisfaction to my heart, a feeling of pride and a realization of having followed what my heart wanted.
This was the point when my jaw dropped and I stared at Mr. Harish. I was like what is this man made of? How can someone be so confident of managing not one but multiple tasks of different genre one after another with everything at stake, his family his career and his life. I look upto this man as I remember him as a multi faceted personality. A person who inspite of being from a mechanical background went ahead to give shelter to thousands without fearing that something might go wrong and the lives of all these people may be endangered. A person who had the guts to start a restaurant business with zero experience and a person who lived his life with pride.
Mr. Harish personifies a true human and the capabilities of a human being. I salute Mr. Harish and I hope that you guys too respect his initiatives.
I wonder why human capabilities simply amaze me .....
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