Legacy: Letters from eminent parents to their daughters Read Online Free PDF Page B

reinvented himself as farmer, and then a serial entrepreneur, we gorged on a plateful of samosas and a sumptuous Indian spread of fiery, spirited Indian curries. Capt. is as feisty and spirited as the Indian curries that he has a fondness for.
    Capt. is also a self-made man with a piercing intelligence, greatly interested in the lives of those who touch him. He is also startlingly well-read. To be in his company is to be exposed to the thoughts and quotes of some of the world’s greatest minds. He reads voraciously, a habit whose seeds were sown in his childhood when his father home-schooled him and read to him about the lives of great leaders.
    When I met him that evening, he was in the midst of hectic negotiations to restart Air Deccan, the airline that he had sold to another private airline. That deal had disappointed him because he felt the buyer had not done justice to his brand and kept up the spirit of the enterprise that he has started.
    I asked him if it did not scare him to take on such a humungous responsibility when, in fact, he had burnt his hands a couple of time in business, wiping away a bulk of the wealth he had created.
    This is what he had to say to me: ‘For dreaming, he (Capt.’s father) read to me about Tagore and Gandhi, Nehru and Tilak, and he showed me the less fortunate people around me so that I always counted my blessings. He never gave me the opportunity to be envious of those more privileged. It was because of this that when I found myself living hand-to-mouth in a tent, I never felt poor. I had the arrogance of the wealth of nature around me. I never felt poor because I was so drunk with the possibilities of my life and never noticed what I did not have in my life.’
    The village schoolmaster would have been proud of his son, if he had been around to see what he has made out of his life. Among other things, the Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director of Deccan 360, has been knighted with ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’, the highest civilian award conferred by the French government.
    To me, it is very fitting that a man who attributes his entire being to what his father taught him as a child, should write this charming, very candid letter to his two daughters.

    Dear Krithika, Pallavi,
    None of the stuff that I write in this letter will be new to you or surprise you because this is the stuff that I have always based my life on. You have grown up with me, have gone through the ups and downs of my life, and have seen that at every stage, I have done whatever it is on hand at that point with complete sincerity. We have had great wealth and enjoyed a life of plenty and we have also lived a spartan life in our farm when I decided to become a farmer and grow coconuts, areca nuts, and silkworms. And I know that every time I decided to do something new, your lives were disturbed by it, but you did it willingly and have enjoyed every step of the adventure and learnt along the way.
    My dear daughters, as two young, talented women, I want you to know that the most important thing is for you to be intensely passionate about everything that you do. Don’t be like a passenger on a train but be its driver. Be completely committed to pursuing your dreams but at the same time, let that not be an exercise in self-indulgence. Understand that everything that you have today is the product of your ancestors’ labour. The comfortable life that you are able to lead has been made possible by their hard work and perseverance. So, while you are passionate about your own interests, let it be in consonance with the society. While it furthers your own fulfilment, it should also further the society’s well-being.
    I believe that passion and work are inseparable; they can’t exist in isolation from each other. From knowing to doing is a journey in itself and if you lack the latter, any amount of talent is worth nothing. Make your life a journey of adventure. But if you are too much a person of society, you