The Road Less Taken

PICTURE A YOUNG schoolboy in his mid-teens – impatient and hungry for success – with a rare capacity to think out-of- the-box. He belongs to a traditional Gujarati Jain family.

- Hardayal Singh

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by,” — Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)

 

An early visit to the Kandla port, at the age of 11, fires his imagination and leaves a lasting impression. That’s what he wants to build; he knows he lacks resources but still dreams big. Since he is good in science, he could become an engineer, but the young man is in a hurry. So he tries to both study and do business.

He finds out soon, however, that he would not be able to do both. Fatigue generates sleep when he travels in Mumbai’s local trains, and he often finds himself overshooting his destination. Instead of getting down at Charni Road, he reaches Churchgate terminal, two stations away.