Managing Director

A will can recreate everything

We were back to Kuwait in the April of 1991. I had lost everything I once had: 15 cars, a big house and settled business, yet I was not surprised, so had everyone else. Bombs don’t ask for addresses to destroy. I began again – from scratch.

First, I went to every client I had associated with before the invasion. Most of them were the ones who were my debtors . Although a year had passed by, gradually everyone paid back and now, though I had the necessary capital I needed to re-establish myself, the nation needed to be rebuilt and restored. Most of the country had been destroyed; we got a lot of work of repairing and reinstalling of cabling and piping. There were times when the labourers found mines and ammunition while digging but luckily no one got hurt. The military performed their duty well up to the mark, helping resurrect the nation. Gradually, the nation started breathing again, life was getting back to normal, businesses had started reopening; with collaborative efforts from every sector, Kuwait was rebuilt. Business too grew and we associated with leading telecommunication firms from Germany, France and Yugoslavia.

All these years, however, I would always think of sewa that my dadi had taught me. Though, I was always doing my small bits, it was Sardar Hazara Singh, a wise man in Kuwait, who helped me find my way! Following his words, in 1992 I opened a gurudwara in Sulaibiya but local people said it was illegal. They said we should have such religious places inside our homes only, but when we read what the Guru Granth Sahib says, they were happy and relaxed. Now they often visit us and when free, like on Sundays, they come to the holy place.

In the mid 1990s, a two-year contract of 22 Indians ended. They asked their employers to either extend their contract or send them back home. But those were not the days of honesty and simplicity. The company promised to arrange for their return but instead impounded their civil identity proofs and informed the police that they were living illegally. The news of 22 Indians stranded had become big news, both in India and Kuwait. I rescued them from the police, taking their responsibility, made them stay in the gurudwara and soon they were sent back to India. Whenever I think of that day, I feel at peace!

We also started Punjab Sports Gulf in 1996, an organisation promoting Volleyball, Basketball and Tennis. Many Indian youths come to the Gulf with dreams like mine; some grow successful, some not; while some unfortunate ones leave their bodies here, in a nation where they have no family members. We take charge of sending such bodies back to their families.

My son, Paramjeet, and daughters Amrit and Baljeet, are my pride. And to add to my pride is the way they too selflessly offer their services to the society. Paramjeet has studied from the USA and works there. Daughters are married in India, in Bhopal and Mohali. I visit them twice or thrice a year.