Now we shift focus to another pioneering, self sacrificing Entrepreneur Son of Mother India – Shri Ghanshyamdasji Birla (G.D.Birla). He was born in Pilani and at the tender age of five he witnessed severe famine and whole families starving and bones of animals being picked clean in the desert. His grandfather had started the family business of broking and trading in the then Bombay (now called Mumbai). Sri Shivnarain Birla has also built a temple, a well for the use of all the villages and family Haveli at Pilani.
G.D.Birla’s early schooling was at Pilani and later he went to a city school in Calcutta. The city slickers made fun of a rustic “bumpkin” for the village and the young boy preferred to roam the city streets to being teased and tormented at school. The streets obviously were an educational forum of practical action for him for he developed into a keen sharp broker with strong nerves and skillful foresight.
He came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi at the age of 19. G.D.Birla’s life went forward on may traders – 1) Family life 2) Industrial 3) Political-Emotional-Spiritual 4) Philanthropic and Charitable.
1) Family life at the age of 14 he married Smt. Durga Devi she bore him a son Laxminiwas (L.N.Birla) and died when he was 19. He again married at the age of 19 to Smt. Maha Devi. But after a number of children she too contracted tuberculosis and expired so he was a widower at 32. His political mentor Mahatma Gandhi advised him to remain celibate and devote the rest of his life to the country and he followed the advice.
2) INDUSTRIAL CAREER : Ghanshyamdasji had inherited the sharp business acumen of his grandfather. He purchased a lot of jute in his younger days and held to make a huge profit by dint of economic foresight. During the First World War his father and he made around Rs. 80 lakhs a princely sum in those days (if you adjust for inflation). He advised his father to set up a jute mill. But the venerable old trader cautious and conservative by nature refused to embark on a journey into uncharted territory. But G.D. was determined. His determination was sharpened by insults and jibes to Indians by the European Businessmen ! Once he was not allowed to board a life because he was a non European ! Also the officer who used to sell him jute called him a “black native.” His ears burned with outraged nationalistic pride and shame. He secretly bought a small piece of land from a zamindar and appointed a trusted aide J.P. Mandelia to look after operations. The British Imperial Bank refused G.D. any loan so he issued public shares and his shares were oversubscribed. The Scottish supervisor of the Mill refused to teach Mandelia the intricacies of jute processing so G.D. and Mandelia would watch him secretly and observe his action. They also scoured the bookshops of Kolkata and Mumbai. Mandelia found one second-hand book on jute Technology which they pored over and made themselves knowledgeable regarding the technology. The British controlled Jute Mill Owners association refused G.D. entry. This made G.D. sure that the British were scared of Indians and they knew if Indians broke free of their Economic Domination their Political Domination too would be strangled and eliminated so he fought them tooth and nail and set up more industries. By the time G.D. died he had set up Hindalco, Gwalior Rayon, Kesoram, United Commercial Bank and many other Industries. India too won freedom on 15th August, 1947.
3) Political – Emotional – Spiritual views Politically before coming under the spell of the Mahatma, G.D. was a friend of the revolutionaries and even hid some guns in his office, was raided and went underground. But from the age of 19 onwards he was a devotee of Mohandas Gandhi. When the boys of Kolkata opened the horses from the carriage and pulled Mahatma’s carriage themselves G.D. was one of them. He may not have agreed with the theory of cottage industry but in obedience to Gandhian philosophy he practiced the Charkha daily. Mahatma Gandhi pressed upon his consciousness the concept of trusteeship and the disciple responded sincerely. Under the urging of Gandhiji G.D. became the President of the Harijan Upliftment Committee. When C.V.Raman needed some money for experiments G.D. immediately sent him the required funds. When he came to know that the Poet Rabindranath Tagore required around Rs.60,000/- for Shantiniketan, Vishwa Bharati University he anonymously sent a draft for the amount. G.D. Birla’s philanthropic projects are numerous – Birla’s Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, BITS Mesra, the Laxmi Narayan Temple, New Delhi, Birla Science Museum-Kolkata, Birla Planetorium-Kolkata, B.M.Birla Hospital, Bombay Hospital – the list is too numerous to quote ! He also donated money to the Aligarh Muslim University. There is a special Saraswati Temple in Pilani covered with statuettes of famous scholars and scientists. At his mentor’s behest he started “The Hindustan Times” and English daily newspaper to counter the vicious, malicious propaganda that was put out by the British owned English Anti-Indian Independence newspapers – that paper is still flourishing today !
4) A little known incident in G.D.Birla’s life is that the British Bulldog Sir Winston Churchill, at that time out of Political Power, invited G.D.Birla to his country home in England. Filled with trepidation G.D. agreed to visit. To his utter surprise, the staunch opponent of Indian Independence was a most hospitable host to the staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi ! Needless to say both men probed each other’s minds to gather vital intelligence helpful to their opposing causes ! Mahatma Gandhi tragically was shot dead at Birla House while leading a prayer meeting. He used to say at Birla House whenever in Delhi.
5) If anybody is interested in reading about there 2 stalwarts I would recommend Amar Chitra Katha’s “Jamshedji Tata” and “Ghanshyamdas Birla”. I have relied totally on there 2 publications for my factoids and pictures. Thank you ACK, thank you Uncle Pai for such depth of research and infotainment !!
6) In my analysis and study of these pioneering, entrepreneurial souls. I stumbled upon one bright shining jewel of a fact – these two patriots had an overwhelming burning desire to serve the Motherland and that desire sharpened their Entrepreneurial skills to Excellence in the World of Business, Industry and Commerce ! Nisarga datta Maharaj has said “if you have a vast, deep and noble ambition to serve the world, the people, the country the Universe itself will help you – It will go out of its way to help you !” But the ambition should be noble and vast !
No IPO, NO Angel Investors, No Entrepreneurship Incubator can substitute for Vast and Noble Ambition. Spectacular short-term burn outs like Enron or Satyam can never challenge an Arvind Eye Hospital, a Bharat Sevashram, a Wipro or an Infosys because when a mere Entrepreneur becomes an Ardha Sanyassin (sage) Entrepreneur like Jamshedji or G.D.Birla he or she becomes Unstoppable, Towering Dynamos for the Power of Good in the World !!! Here I would like to caution that smart Buzzwords may sound phonetically attractive but are actually useless in the Real World. For instance in the environs of 5-Star Air Conditioned” comfort, a Seminar Speaker may very cleverly say “Bill Gates entered the Gates of the World Economy by selling Electronic Windows !”
But by repeating the saying a 1000 times one will not create even a mini-Microsoft !
Cleverness and Smartness can never substitute Hard Work, Self Sacrifice and a Vast, Noble Ambition !
I would like to close with a saying by Swami Vivekananda, “No Noble and Great Activity was ever accomplished by mere Cleverness !”
Jamshedji and Ghanshyamji would have heartily agreed on this.
This is the concluding portion of the two part series. Part 1 was published on 15th August on this blog site.
Ashesh Ghosh, FCA, CEO of RollPack Pvt. Ltd. is the author of this story. He lives in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, with his wife and their son and daughter.
CL - stands for Creative Leadership
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