The Beginning

"Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan". I first saw this quote, as a child, in my father's office, and this quote inspires me to push the limits of perseverance.

I'm Vikash Bajaj, a not so old, young man, of 46.

A fifth-generation resident of Assam, I was a pampered child. Being the firstborn son, and that too into a Marwari family of 1972, I was the cynosure of the family. I could do no wrong.

Bijni, a small town in Assam, had limited educational options, so at 3, I was parcelled off by my mother to a boarding school in Kalimpong. I spent the initial 3 years there. Constant badgering by my paternal grandparents forced my mother to withdraw me from my boarding school, and admit me to South Point School, Guwahati in 1979. However, being served rice, dal and salt, for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner, was just too "rich" for me to digest and I absconded from the school within 3 months of my admission. Post a thrashing at home, I was packed off to Kalimpong again, where I stayed till my matriculation. I completed my intermediate studies from Delhi and graduated from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.

Tragedy struck my family while I was in college. My uncle was kidnapped by the NDFB in 1994. He spent 75 days in captivity. Soon after, the central government banned the timber trade in the North East, and our family business was history. Financially, a double whammy!!

Post-graduation, with limited financial resources in the family now, further studies were inconceivable. To circumvent that problem, I worked for 18-months with Nestle, picking up the intricacies of marketing and sales. Quitting Nestle in 1997, I took a diploma course in computer hardware and networking and started a computer business in Kolkata in 1999. My capital ₹3,000.00.

The year – 2000. The season – Kolkata'r Pujo. The event – my first interaction with Suman. I was floating in the air and my motorbike was flying when BAM!! Accident. 5 months, two operations, a piece of my femur removed, and grafting of part of my hip bone in its place, I was back in office.

Post my recovery, Suman and I, married in 2001 and, were blessed with two adorable daughters, Samixa in 2005 and Venya in 2006. By 2007, my business was floundering, and we relocated to Guwahati.

The initial years in Guwahati were arduous. Working out of a tiny room in my residence, I struggled in building up a business again, selling flexible packaging raw material.

2008, BAM again. Now a broken Tibia. Incapacitated once more. My accidents made me realise that I'd not forgotten my class VIII Biology. I remembered the names of all the bones in my body, at least the few broken ones.

The new business that I'd built during the past few months was on shaky grounds. In those troubled times, I had a benefactor in Rajeev Goenka, who was my anchor. Brick by brick, piece by piece we re-built from scratch. We disenthralled ourselves from time-honoured ways of doing business and prevailed.

Despite medical complications, Suman gave our family a huge gift in 2010. That year we welcomed our son Pranav into the world.

Life has not been easy, but I've no complaints. Our boxing coach in school used to say, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". That's what I am – Tough.

Summing up I quote Robert Frost

"The wood are lovely, dark & deep, But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

Bandh

A bit of melodrama.......some tears...........some hysteria and the mobs are out. Trains are being stopped in West Bengal.........people are being inconveninced....... but who cares.

After some drama over the TATA project at SINGUR and the leader of the opposition not being allowed to go there; she returned to the State Assembly and smashed the place. News has it thet she too was roughed up and the end result another bandh tomorrow. Why? To champion the cause of the farmers; but what about the daily wage earners who will go hungry tomorrow....... or the sick man who may have to be rushed to the hospital .... or the image of the state in the eyes of the world at large. But who cares..........the farmers have to be "protected". Their land has to be protected and for a few hundred people if the state is held at ransom who cares.

Why is the train driver pulled out of the engine and slapped at a local railway station today? The reason being that he was doing his duty and did not know it was a crime to drive the train when the leader of a prominent political party was angry and had called a bandh the following day. He was too focused on taking people back home after a hards day of work and did not think it was also his duty to protest against the ruling party for giving the land at SINGUR to the large business house. So he was wrong and should be punished; and tomorrow we will abuse him if he does not do his duty properly.......hahahahaha.

The girl child.............

We in India have many a times debated on this. The numerous cases of of children being murdered in the wombs have become a common story.

I am a father of two daughters ........... and I really love them. The other day I was telling my wife that a person should never have daughters .......... not for any other reason but because they would marry and go away to their inlaws place.

Looking at my daughters playing and running about I already started to miss them. My eyes grew misty. I rued the day that I would loose them ............. a day when some other man would become more important in their lives.

I am quite sure many a father would share my thoughts ....... the pain that i feel.