by Sonu Bhasin
But the fast-growing business needed more people. ‘I realized that I was stuck in the office and not able to go to the market,’ said Kuldip. Narendra was making the rounds and doing a good job, but Kuldip was itching to spend more time with their customers. He spread the word among people in the Ajmeri Gate area that he wanted to hire a person for the office.
Rajkumar was a young man whose elder brother was a business associate of Kuldip. The brother spoke to Kuldip and Rajkumar was told to present himself for an interview with the owner of the business.
‘I went to the office and met Mr Dhingra there. He took only five minutes to talk to me and then asked me if I could start work tomorrow,’ said Rajkumar.
‘I went to work the first day all excited and in a full suit and tie,’ laughed Rajkumar as he looked back to his first day at work in 1975. Kuldip told him that as part of his hands-on training Rajkumar was required to supervise the unloading of the material from the truck that was coming from Amritsar.
‘Oh God, there was so much of dust! There were also some cement paint boris! You can imagine what happened to my suit and tie!’ said Rajkumar.
He decided that he would quit that very day. But better sense prevailed and he stayed on. ‘Aur phir in se tuning itni achchi ho gayi that I could not leave [We developed such a good rapport that I could not leave],’ he added.
Rajkumar continues to work with Kuldip Singh in the capacity of an adviser for Berger Paints even today, over forty years later.
It took Kuldip a short while to trust Rajkumar completely.
‘This is one of his qualities. He takes time to analyse people and once he trusts them he does so blindly,’ said Rajkumar. Narendra was the salesperson who would cover the entire market. Rajkumar took on the responsibility of managing the office completely and also covering the markets in the vicinity.
‘Ajmeri Gate market was nearby and I would go there and sell the product,’ said Rajkumar, who also handled sales at the office in Kuldip’s absence. ‘Kuldip could not leave the office if I was not there. But once I was there, he would go off and leave me totally in charge,’ he continued.
The factory at Sultanpur started production. It was one of the first industrial set-ups in the area and Sultanpur village grew big and prosperous because of the factory. ‘The workers all started to live around the factory and a kind of mini township grew,’ said Kuldip. Sohan Singh continued to manage the production, leaving Kuldip to manage the front end.
‘Kuldip was passionate about the quality of his stuff,’ said Rajkumar. ‘One day when we were both at the Ajmeri Gate office, a trader walked in with a worker in tow carrying a big paint drum. The trader had bought green paint from us and complained that the paint he had been given was part yellow. He also complained about the quality and said that Rajdoot was not good,’ said Rajkumar.
‘Kuldip listened to him for a while and then asked, “You said that we had given you green paint but you find it is not green?” The trader nodded. Kuldip’s face turned red. The other people could see that he was angry. Kuldip got up from his chair and rolled up his sleeves. The trader took a couple of steps back, thinking Kuldip was rolling up his sleeves for a fight! But Kuldip wanted to prove that his paint was indeed green. He stomped up, opened the drum and shoved his full arm inside. Using his arm as a mixer he had stirred the paint around. All this happened in a flash!’ said Rajkumar.
‘As Kuldip stirred the paint the pigments that had settled at the bottom rose and the mixture became parrot green. “Yehi colour chahiye tha nah? [This is the colour you wanted, no?]” Kuldip asked heatedly, bent over the drum with his arm half inside and half outside it and dripping with paint. ‘He was really angry that someone had accused him of selling substandard stuff,’ said Rajkumar.
The trader could only look on and agree that the paint was indeed green. Kuldip did not remember this particular incident but said, ‘This must have happened. I would get very angry if someone told me that our quality was not right. How can I give anything which is substandard? That would be galat [wrong].’
Kuldip was prone to taking such actions on his impulse. Gurbachan, his younger brother, got married because of this trait.
Vinu is Meeta’s sister and she was doing a dress-designing course in Delhi in the mid-1970s. She stayed with her mother’s sister, her maasi, in old Delhi. Every other weekend Vinu and her cousin would visit Kuldip and Meeta in Golf Links.
‘I used to enjoy going to Meeta’s house,’ said Vinu. She would gossip with her sister and have a beer with her brother-in-law. ‘I used to talk to Aunty, Meeta’s mother-in-law—she and I had a good relationship,’ Vinu added.
One Sunday winter morning, Vinu had stayed over, as she did some weekends. ‘I heard Kuldip call out to me,’ remembered Vinu. She went running to their room. She found Meeta in bed, holding a book in her hand, her eyes lowered as if she was engrossed in the book.
Vinu looked at Kuldip questioningly. ‘He looked at me and said, “I am worried about you Vinu,”’ Vinu said. She wondered why her brother-in-law was worried about her.
‘I am worried about you and I am worried about Gurbachan. I think both of you should get married. It will save me a lot of worry,’ Kuldip said.
Vinu was dumbstruck. ‘I did not know how to react,’ she said. She looked at Meeta for a reaction but her sister continued to sit with her eyes downcast, looking engrossed in her book. Vinu looked back at Kuldip who was tapping his foot impatiently waiting for Vinu to say something.
‘All sort of thoughts were running through my head. Of course, I had met GB (as she calls Gurbachan now) but I had met him as Kuldip’s brother. I did not know him enough to say either a yes or a no. So I took the next best course. I said, “Can I think about it for a day and will let you know tomorrow?”’ she said.
‘I was thinking that I would never come back to Golf Links,’ she said.
But Kuldip was, and is, nobody’s fool. ‘I think he knew from my face what I was thinking,’ Vinu said. ‘He looked at me calmly and said, “No, you will not get a day. You will not get even an hour. You have to tell me yes or no now.”’
Vinu was stuck. ‘I was looking at Meeta desperately, hoping she would come to my rescue. But she refused to look up,’ she said.
Kuldip was waiting, tapping his foot. ‘Yes and no are two simple words. Why is it taking you so long to say either one,’ he demanded.
‘I said the first thing that came to my mind. I had short hair at that time, so I said, “I will not grow my hair,”’ Vinu said.
‘“Inni chhotti gall [such a small thing], of course not. I will tell Mummy that you will keep your hair short,” Kuldip said, smiling confidently. So I said yes in a very small voice,’ said Vinu.
As soon as she said yes, Meeta looked up and smiled widely. Kuldip called out to his mother, ‘Mummy, Mummy aithe aao [come here].’
Surjit Kaur came running into the room as if she had been waiting for Kuldip to call her.
‘Ki hua kaka [What happened, child]?’ she asked Kuldip.
‘Vinu ne haan kar ditti hai [Vinu has said yes],’ he said.
‘Oh God, they had talked about it already, I thought to myself,’ said Vinu. ‘It had all been planned!’
Surjit Kaur looked at her daughter-in-law to be and said, ‘Apne vaal vadhaane painge! [You will have to grow your hair!]’
Vinu looked at Kuldip, waiting for him to say, ‘Nahin Mummy meri gal ho gayi hai, Vinu vaal inne hi rakhegi [No, Mummy, I have told Vinu that she can keep her hair short].’ ‘But he just slunk out of the room,’ said Vinu.
She put down her cup of green tea on the table as, by now, she was laughing so hard that her cup was shaking in her hand. ‘So of course I had to grow my hair!’ she said.
The story did not end there. Meeta got out of bed and hugged her sister. Kuldip, already in the living room, called out to the sisters. Meeta and Vinu went down to Kuldip. He dialled Amritsar and had Gurbachan on the line.
‘Gurbachan, I have news for yo
u. You are engaged to Vinu,’ he said in his trademark booming voice, and then holding out the phone to Vinu continued, ‘Ai le, baat kar [Here, talk to him].’
Vinu tried to wriggle out of holding the receiver.
‘I was so embarrassed. I did not know what to say,’ she said. Kuldip was standing with his arm stretched out holding the receiver. There was complete silence on the other end of the line as Gurbachan was digesting what he had heard.
Vinu took the receiver and with Meeta, Kuldip and Surjit Kaur watching her, she said in a squeaky voice ‘Hello, how are you?’ She doesn’t remember what Gurbachan said but, looking back, she does not regret that day at all.
Gurbachan and Vinu were married soon after and settled in Amritsar. The rest of the family was in Delhi. The Amritsar factory was managed completely by Gurbachan. Sohan Singh’s training came in useful as Gurbachan, looked upon by his elder brothers as the ‘chhotta phra’, came out of the shadow of his brothers and took complete charge of the Amritsar operations.
Rajdoot as a brand was doing well in north India and the family believed that they had turned the corner. This was to be their new life—two factories and the Delhi business.
But fate had other plans.
1978–84
‘I was fortunate to work with total professionals in the Soviet Union. Here you see me with senior officials of Sojuzchimexport, Moscow: (left to right) Mr Maslov, Madame Gorbenko, and Mr Metelev’—Kuldip Dhingra.
Twenty-five
‘Papa Has Saved My Life At Least Three Times’
The Sultanpur factory had started working well. They had a small staff and Sohan Singh was more at the factory and, though he wanted to, he was hardly ever at the sales office. He now even had a secretary at the factory.
Neelam was a young girl, twenty years old, who had just finished her college. She joined work in 1976 after a brief interview with Sohan Singh.
‘On the first day itself Mr SS (Sohan Singh) gave me a separate table and his imported typewriter. He gave me letters to type out immediately,’ said Neelam. She remained with UK Paints even after four decades. At the time of writing, she was Kuldip’s personal secretary at the Berger Paints office in Delhi.
‘My mother used to say that I had a hot temper and no one would stay with me,’ said Kuldip. ‘But look, Neelam is there, Rajkumar is there and there are many others who are still with me,’ he added.
UK Paints had started producing a large range of paints by now. Sohan Singh prepared the formulations and was helped by his youngest brother, Gurbachan. Rajdoot Paints continued to make a name for itself in the northern markets of India. Kuldip’s friend, Arun Nehru, had by now become the youngest president of Jenson and Nicholson.
‘Mr Sinha had made him the president and he had shifted to Calcutta,’ said Kuldip. UK Paints was already producing for Jenson and Nicholson for the Delhi and its hinterland markets. Arun Nehru was happy with the quality and the timely deliveries of the paints from the UK Paints factory. As he was the head of the business nationally, Arun Nehru wanted Kuldip to supply in larger quantities to other parts of the country. ‘He called me to Calcutta and told me to start producing more. To be sent to the entire country,’ said Kuldip proudly. ‘It gave us a lot of confidence that big companies were getting their supplies manufactured through us,’ added Gurbachan. He was the one running the factories and he saw it as an endorsement of his abilities. Soon UK Paints was supplying ready material not only to Jenson and Nicholson but also to Shalimar Paints and Garware Paints.
Kuldip had his hands full with the business but he realized that he was not spending enough time with the family. Meeta and he had three daughters by then—Rishma, Jessima and Dipti. ‘He is essentially a family man at heart,’ said Harish Ahuja, a business associate and a friend. Harish is the head of Shahi Exports, India’s largest garment export company. ‘He would ensure that he spent time with them. Kuldip doesn’t like to go out for parties-sharties. He would rather spend time with his family,’ he continued.
This is true now and it was true even in the 1980s. Once Kuldip realized that he was unable to spend time during the week with the family, he compensated by ensuring that he and the family went on holidays regularly. He had always been fond of sports and the outdoors. He now started inculcating the same love in his daughters.
‘Papa made sure that all of us learnt to swim at an early age,’ said Jessima, the middle daughter. She is married and based in Calcutta and she is focused on her family. ‘He would take us to the club and make sure that we swam,’ she continued. ‘My love for the outdoors is because of my father.’
‘I learnt to love horses and riding from him,’ said Rishma, the eldest. She is now an executive director with Berger and spends time between work and her children. ‘My children, especially my son, is fond of outdoor sports and is already a shooter,’ she said with pride.
Dipti, the youngest, is based in Sydney, Australia. ‘Dipti is most like Kuldip,’ said Meeta. ‘She is the one who has started her own business. She told Kuldip, “Papa, you virtually started your business from scratch and I want to start my own,”’ added Meeta with pride in her voice.
The girls remembered the family holidays with great fondness. But when Kuldip was around could adventure be far behind?
‘My father saved my life at least three times and all these times we were on a holiday,’ said Jessima. ‘We would go to Corbett very often.’ she added.
Jim Corbett National Park is a forested wildlife sanctuary in Uttarakhand. The reserve is on the banks of the Ramganga Reservoir and is rich in flora and fauna. Corbett is known for its tigers, leopards, elephants and many species of birds. Ramganga river flows through the park. For an outdoor-loving family, it was the ideal holiday place.
One weekend, Kuldip, Meeta and their daughters decided to take time off and go to Corbett. A few other friends of Kuldip’s came along as well. One of the friends had an inflatable rubber dingy and he got himself and a few kids on the boat. ‘I remember that the river was swift and we were rowing upstream where the water was calmer,’ said Jessima. The others, including Kuldip, were picnicking on the banks of the river watching the kids on the boat.
‘I don’t know what happened but I think it was a strong current and it swept away one of the oars from our hands,’ said Jessima. ‘The only adult on the boat took the other oar and tried to steer the boat towards the bank. But the river was very frothy because of the sharp rocks. The currents were also very strong,’ recalled Jessima. ‘The boat could not be controlled and it started going downstream, pulled by the strong currents.’
The Ramganga flows fast through Corbett and many sharp rocks create whirlpools. It is ideal for white-water rafting but not for a leisurely boat ride on an inflatable boat with children. As the boat swept downstream, the occupants of the boat passed the picnicking group. By now panic had set in as the single oar was utterly useless in controlling the boat and the boat was moving fast on its own. The children were screaming.
‘Papa saw us all going downstream. By now the second oar was also gone, swept away,’ said Jessima. The boat was completely at the mercy of the current, which was taking it towards sharp rocks that would have ripped it apart.
‘Amidst all the panic I saw Papa running. He was running so fast that he got ahead of the boat,’ said Jessima. Kuldip had taken off his shoes and jacket while running. His turban had come undone but he threw it aside. Once ahead of the boat, he jumped into the gushing river. He is a strong swimmer and in a few strokes he was in the middle of the river.
‘I saw Papa standing in the middle of the river, white water rushing all around him. His eyes were fixed on the boat,’ said Jessima with a shudder as she relived that moment in her mind.
‘He was standing there like a dam,’ said Rishma as she too remembered that day. As the boat came closer, Kuldip reached out and held on to it. The strong currents fought a battle with Kuldip but it was the man who won. Slowly but surely, with the only adult in the boat using his hands
to steer, they made their way to the bank.
By then the others, who had been running after Kuldip, had also reached the boat. They helped the boat to come to the riverbank. The children scrambled to safely. ‘Papa saved not only my life but all our lives,’ said Jessima.
‘What about the other times?’ I asked. ‘Oh, the other time at Corbett was not so exciting. I was in the river and some crocodiles started coming my way. Papa just jumped in, swam and pulled me to safety,’ Jessima said calmly!
There was a third time too when Jessima remembers her father saving her. ‘We were in Bali. All five of us. On holiday,’ said Jessima. The Dhingra family was vacationing at a beach resort. Kuldip was an early riser and on that day Jessima too woke up early.
‘Let’s go for a swim,’ said Kuldip and Jessima agreed, happy to be spending time with her father. The two swam out into the sea.
‘There were these markers out in the sea which indicated the safe zone. There were rip tides in the area and the danger of being caught in them if we ventured out too far,’ continued Jessima. Rip tides are strong sea currents that push away from the shore and can be dangerous for swimmers.
The father challenged the daughter to beat him in a swimming race and the two started swimming fast in healthy competition. ‘Before we realized it, we were out of the safe zone. We had actually moved very far from the shore,’ said Jessima. She was about eight or nine years old at that time. ‘I remember Papa told me not to panic. He just said, “Chal wapas chalte hain [let’s go back].” He did not want to frighten me. He later told me that he had been quite scared to see the distance we had to swim back,’ said Jessima in her measured, calm voice.
They started swimming back but got caught in the rip tides. Jessima started faltering. She was a young child and the currents were strong. Kuldip encouraged her to keep swimming, saying, ‘We are getting closer, don’t worry’. Jessima swam as much as she could but she was getting tired. ‘I was scared and started cramping. But Papa kept encouraging me,’ she said.