SILHOUETTE

‘Dreams come to me ….because they want to turn into reality.’

‘And I will take rebirth in the home of Shailendra, so said our father, now on the pyre, in my dreams.’ My elder uncle whispered in the ears of my father; their moist eyes overseeing my grandfather’s body turn into flames.

The forgotten words came alive with my birth that happened exactly a year and three days later, on 11th February 1975. I was the only one, among all his children and grandchildren, to inherit his sparkling blue-green eyes and perhaps hence became the most beloved of our entire family. Such was the stature of my grandfather in our family - a man known for his philanthropy.

‘The first house that he built for himself, he gave away to his most adored employee on the day of housewarming itself’, was one of the several anecdotes I heard about him from my grandmother. My grandfather did not die a rich man but my grandmother always made sure to repeat these words before putting us to sleep, ‘Daan ki jad paatal me hoti hai’ (The roots of charity spread till the end point of this earth’s womb). Whenever I visit Betul, a small town in central India and also my grandfather’s native place, I make it a point to thank God.

I was born in Bhopal, India to Dr. Shailendra Jaiswal, a gold medalist paediatrician and Dr. Nirmal Jaiswal, a gynaecologist – two of the best people I have ever known in my life. After my grandmother died, the whole family gathered in the big hall of our ancestral bungalow to open the family locker and distribute whatever she had left. What came out were bundles of small slips that she had stored over the past several years. They were all receipts of money order that my father had sent to her via post without missing a single month. I will consider myself fortunate if I can do even one-tenth of what my grandfather and my father have done in their lives.

I studied at All Saints’, a school founded by Miss I. C. Auer, a British national, an M.B.E and above all, a poet who spent her later years educating children in Bhopal. Her teachings have left lasting impressions on my heart. ‘It is in giving that we receive’ was one of her favourite sayings. To me, she appeared divine; the fact that she was born on 25th December made her even more special. I was fortunate that I became the first Head Boy of All Saints and remained so for three consecutive years (from X until XII) during which period I also topped my school twice.

The time spent at All Saints’ is cherished for one more reason because this was the place where I met the graceful Pooja, an amazing kathak dancer, my childhood love and now my wife.

‘Wealth is around which the world revolves…and often on its head’, an early relisation of this made me choose business management as subject of my graduation (B.A. - Management) and post graduation (M.B.A.). Although I was studying the mundane arrangement of business premises, my mind often treaded into their philosophical underpinnings. Sadly, liberal pursuit of education has no room in the yet to develop vocationalised higher education system of India. My reluctance with the unexperimental enclosed classrooms pushed me towards the open land, literally. My initial understanding of business had made me realise the importance of real estate as the most significant instruments of investment. I purchased my first piece of land at the age of eighteen and by the time I stood first in the college in my MBA program in Bhopal, I had completed my parallel learning of Indian real estate market, somewhat overwhelmed by its stark reality.

I touched the land of Bengaluru (Bangalore) to test my learning of business. Interesting turn of events led me to become one of the three co-founders of the first company that was incubated at NSRCEL (NS Raghavan Center for Entrepreneurial Learning), IIM-B (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore). Venture funded at a valuation of $1.5 million by Mr. N.S. Raghavan, one of the co-founder of Infosys, our company aimed to be the first Knowledge Management software product company from India. However, the dream did not materialise and I had to leave Bengaluru with two failed ventures. Surprisingly, the failure did not hurt. Perhaps it was destined.

This was the period when I started searching for the meaning of my existence. Two thoughts stood out – my interest in philosophy of business education and my existential quest. I came to Oxford University to submerge myself into the world of research, possibly to discover a theory or two that might change the way the world looks at business teaching.

I wrote ‘True Dummy – a fable of existence’ over the past three years along with pursuing my MSc. (Higher Education) and DPhil (Business Education) at University of Oxford. It is painful to be away from my parents and my motherland but the indubitable support of Pooja and the angelic presence of my four-year-old daughter—Navya Sara—have kept me going. Navya Sara does not know but I often go to bed after having touched her tender feet. She reminds me of my grandmother.If today I feel an inch closer to God, it is because of the people I have mentioned above. People who have justified the true meaning of my name – Ashish – a blessing.