My mother, Sarla Devi was born in Pakistan. She was the only child and came from a very rich background. Post partition she had to shift to India with a daughter and had a very challenging time and they were almost surviving by the day. She was blessed with three more children post the partition in India; I was the youngest brother of three sisters.
As you may know, having a son is a great feeling and my mother was no exception, she wanted me to achieve greater heights.
She dedicated her entire life to fulfil that dream. Our grandmother (my nani maasi) gave us the shelter and my parents had then started to work. Both had tough day jobs despite coming from very rich backgrounds. My mother was a vaccinator and had to go door to door to vaccinate against smallpox. She would walk almost 6-8 kms every day irrespective of the weather conditions, just to earn monthly salary of Rs. 200 and the money would be spent on educating me in Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. The earning of my father of Rs. 600 was spent on paying the rent and managing the house. We all used to stay in a one-bedroom apartment.
My mother would prefer to walk and save even 10 paisa for me to fulfil her dream of making me successful. When she retired in 1978, she started to work for an export house and she would barely earn Rs 500 a month, this job was even tougher. During my graduation my sister, Neera Luthra was a great help as well as she would buy me new clothes and support since we could barely afford to do the same.
Finally, I became Chartered Accountant and started to earn, but my mother continued to work for export house after her retirement and so did my father who worked with a building contractor and would travel to Jaipur on weekdays and back over the weekends for a small earning.
I know I can never pay off their debt, I wish they had lived to see their dream fructify. I am sure wherever they are they will continue to bless me. On my part, I have committed to spread happiness all around, promoting entrepreneurship by being an angel investor. My philosophy of Dil-Se investing is driven by my learnings of my parents i.e., investing in values driven founders. I would like to express sincere gratitude to all my founders dost.
I have set up Sarcha Advisors after my parents’ name as a tribute to them. My heartfelt gratitude to them.
On this day, I wish you happy Mother’s Day, be with me all the time, continue to bless me and spread happiness driven by values and higher purpose.
My sincere thanks to my wife, Poonam Chanana as she made lots of sacrifices, did not pursue her studies (she had an excellent track record) for the sake of bringing up our children and taking care of my aging parents. She continued to support, showered her love and affection during tough times, to make life a very fulfilling experience. I owe a lot of what I have achieved to Poonam. Happy Mother’s day to you as well.
May 2022
