Inspiration and Preparation

My experience with the British soldiers left me with an ongoing, burning question: “Why are my people so powerless?”

That question led me to seek the formula of power. I became an avid student of history. Throughout high school and college, I read voraciously and studied the lives of powerful individuals. I wanted to know how they could capitalize on the tide of the future—catch hold of the coattails of time—and influence the world in such a powerful way. I studied the lives of conquerors, revolutionaries, captains of industry, political leaders, philosophers, and religious leaders. I was not interested in their theories, but rather their practical formulas. I had to be objective, without taking sides. I studied the life of Christ as well as Karl Marx.

In the summer of 1954, while going to college at the University of Allahabad, I read an essay stating that human development can be divided into two important eras: the first being an age in which humans used motion to create fire (rubbing sticks together), and the second being an age in which fire has been used to create motion (the steam engine). The author concluded that access to the proper tools is essential to allow a group in society to acquire power.

This idea hit me like a thunderbolt. It shook me up. Stunned by this understanding, I walked around the compound of our family home in Allahabad, gazing at the stars. It brought me to a realization: Much of India was in the first of these two stages, still using motion to create fire. If my people were to gain power, they had to be able to use fire to create motion.

I saw that the conquerors in history could use tools more successfully than the losers. In 1954, machines were the tools. I realized my people would be poor and powerless as long as they did not have machines. If I were going to lend my hands to empower them, I had to help them industrialize. And, since steel was the bedrock of industrialization, India would need more steel. 

Today, the idea does not seem revolutionary or even original. But at that moment, it had the power of having sprung from some depth I did not know. I had a feeling that the idea was imparted all at once for me to decipher. I had found the “pivot” on which my life could spring into action. I felt the power of a hundred men within me. The cobra of my life was coiled and ready to strike.

Not being an engineer, I knew that my strength would lie in human relations rather than technical abilities. I therefore decided to learn about the marketing and management of steel production. In order to do so, I needed to study with the masters. I was clear about my next step: I had to go to the United States.

My family had no money for such a trip, but my commitment was so strong that it did not allow for me to see any obstacles. I did not tell many people about my plans, including hitchhiking if need be, because the odds were so heavily stacked against me that any mention of it would evoke justifiable laughter. Those few who were told would look at me incredulously and ask, “Going to America?! How do you plan to hitchhike across the ocean?” I would smile and reply, “Haven’t you ever heard of walking on water?”

The fact that I did not know how I would make this move did not matter. I knew it would happen, and, in fact, it had already happened, even though I had not yet experienced it.

With that certainty, I earnestly started to prepare myself for the hike. I knew that there would be many days during which I would not have any food to eat, so I started eating only one meal a day and a handful of peanuts for the second meal. I started to walk ten miles a day to gain strength and stamina. I began sleeping on the floor with no bedding in order to prepare for such an eventuality.

I made a decision that if someone were to give me a ride or a place to stay, I would give them something in return, so that they would remember their act of kindness long after it had passed.  I planned to keep some red tissue paper and wire in my knapsack so that I could provide my hosts with a red paper rose, or a bouquet of roses, as a thank-you gift. To entertain my hosts, I also learned a few magic tricks, how to draw cartoons, and palmistry.

All my friends thought I was making things up and that such a plan would never come to be. The one person who knew the depth of my commitment was my mother. “Son, I know you,” she said with motherly concern. “When you make up your mind, you make things happen. What you are doing is so big, and I am afraid that in order for you to make this happen, you may get hurt.”

Hearing her express these concerns and the tone of her voice confirmed for me that my trip to the United States was already written in the stars.