5-Star Hotels and 7-Course Meals

Unusual events–what I called miracles–kept happening, keeping me in a state of awe. 

A college friend was the chairman of a large international conglomerate in India. During a breakfast meeting, we caught up with each other. I told him about Trees for Life.

“We should be helping you,” he said. “How can my company help?” 

I told him our biggest need at that time was cash. 

“What is your annual budget in India?” he asked. 

I answered,  “300,000 Indian rupees,” which was $30,000.

“Fine, we will give you that,” he said. “What else do you need?”

“We don’t have an office in New Delhi,” I said.

“Ok, you can use my office in New Delhi. It is equipped with everything, including secretarial staff. I use it only when I am there, which is quite seldom.” 

“What else?” he asked. 

“I don’t have transportation,” I said.

“You can use my company cars,” he said. “Just call the office, and they will send you a car with a driver.”

His company owned some of the best hotels in India. He told me his office would also make sure I could stay at any of these hotels as his guest. In our next meeting, I invited him to join our board of directors, an invitation he gladly accepted. During a subsequent meeting, I suggested we strengthen our board by inviting some of his colleagues to join. He brought in the president of a major engineering company and the president of a large tea company. They were delighted to be on our board and participated actively. The equivalent would be having the chairman of Marriott, Bechtel Engineering, and Kraft Foods on our Trees for Life India board. 

Now shortages were rare. There was a fleet of four cars to receive us at the airport or railroad stations. We stayed in the executive suites at 5-star hotels and the guest houses of various companies, and we dined at the best restaurants. Our board meetings were held in their boardrooms, where we were served by waiters wearing turbans and all their paraphernalia. The curtains were parted electronically before the seven-course meals were served. When Treva came to visit me during a long stay at one of the hotels, hot water was filled in the bath tub for us when we arrived. Private planes took us to some of the Trees for Life project sites and landed back at the companies’ private airports. Our work spread quickly, which meant adding more staff, including a country president. This went on for three years, while I continued my frequent trips to oversee the Trees for Life work in India.

This was opposite of who I was and what I wanted Trees for Life to be. Before this, I was eating peasant food with the villagers and sleeping with them under the trees. I was walking for miles and traveling by bicycle. I was helping lead groups of villagers in discussions to identify the crux of their problems to determine how they could solve them. Now I was living in the lap of luxury.

Our new staff members were comfortable with this new style and wanted to proceed in that direction. 

I became uncomfortable. Something had to change.

A powerful dream helped me articulate my problem. In the dream, I was driving a large motorbike at a high speed. After having traveled some distance, I realized I was going the wrong way. With some effort, I was able to turn the powerful bike around and find my way back. I was feeling bad for losing so much precious time because I was on an important mission and time was of the essence. Then a voice told me it was a diversion that I had to take to learn some important lessons. 

After the dream, I requested a meeting with the board.

“Trees for Life has to be a people’s movement, not a corporation,” I told them. “My meetings need to take place under a mango tree in a village and not in corporate board rooms.” 

They were amused. After all, it was their country, and they were providing all the resources.

“How are you going to get the money?” they asked.

That was the least of my concerns. I was on the wrong path and needed to get back on track as fast as possible. At the end of the meeting, they all agreed to resign. That night I had one of the best sleeps in my life. I was back home where I belonged.