Saroj’s refusal to quit in adverse cases impresses audience

 

 

“There was nothing planned in my life. But I always wanted to work for the welfare of the society and the needy ones,” said Padmashri Dr Kalpana Saroj, Chairperson, Kamani Tubes, on Saturday, as she delivered the keynote address at the first session on Social Track at the Nagpur Global Summit 2022.

Dr Kalpana Saroj, thus, linked instantaneously with the theme of the session, narrating her own story inspiringly. “I could taste success only because I have seen hunger and poverty from close quarters. My sister died because we could not afford the cost of her medical treatment,” she said, allowing her emotion to flow through her eyes.

And then began a forty-minute exposition in Hindi on how several ‘accidents’ of life kept leading her through several small businesses to taking the reins of Kamani Tubes and becoming an inspiring business leader in the country. The audience listened in rapt attention, quite frequently bursting into applause, and even emoting with Dr. Kalpana Saroj. At one point, a woman in the audience got up and handed a paper handkerchief to Dr. Kalpana Saroj. Such was the connect the speaker established with her audience.

Her life story, in her own simple and lucid language, took the audience back to the early 80s and 90s when the small village girl from Akola district was fighting the odds in the ‘male dominated world’.

The narration gave goosebumps to the participating social workers, professionals, students and the organisers. But it was the reflection of her attitude and refusal to quit in each of the adverse cases that portrayed a real sketch of the lady in the minds of the participants.

Her personality had contradictory shades when Kalpana was young. “When I arrived in Mumbai, I found it difficult to work with male colleagues in the garment making factory. We never had such a culture back in our village,” Kalpana highlighted, adding that she had to work as a helper even as she could operate sewing machines.

“As I could not operate the sewing machine in the new atmosphere, the factory owner downgraded my job from machine operator to helper and earning was Rs 2 per day,” said Kalpana Saroj, who later bought a sick unit that had a debt of over Rs 116 crore. Interestingly, she turned the sick unit into a profit making one in a very short span of time.

“But life was never easy and brought in moments of extreme despair. I even attempted suicide, but was saved in time. I now believe that I was slated to achieve a lot in later life”, Dr. Kalpana Saroj stated.

In essence, the story she told melded well with atmosphere in the Social Track session since all participants worked to help the needy and the deprived, and realised how important it was to keep fighting the odds.

Earlier, in his keynote address Dr Bhimraya Metri, Director - Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur, praised the efforts of Nagpur First Foundation for strengthening the network of Nagpurians located in various corners of the world.

Hakimuddin Ali, Executive Director of Dalmia Bharat Cement; Dr O P Goel, former Chairman, Bosch India Foundation; Vijay Phanshikar, Editor - The Hitavada; and Shashank Rao, Global Chair - Nagpur First were seated on

the dais. Tanveer Mirza, Director of Nagpur First, conducted the proceedings while Hakimuddin Ali proposed a vote of thanks.