Age’s just a number

Gurnaaz Kaur

One thing is for sure, a journalist has many stories to share. Call it the daily drill of meeting people or probing matters, there is a treasure of tales they behold. One such person is Harish Manav who decided to turn one such story into a book. Being a business journalist for 25 years, he felt tractor tycoon LD Mittal’s life provides the much-needed inspiration in the growing start-up culture around us. “I always had this desire of creating some long-lasting and meaningful that can motivate people of both younger and older generation. Titled Secret of Success, my book is a biography of LD Mittal, who set up his empire at the age of 60. The same man, who retired in 1990 at a basic salary of a mere Rs 5,800 per month, debuted in 2012 at the 75th spot in the Forbes list of top 100 richest persons of India. Since then, his name has been a part of that list every year.”

This book gives insider accounts of the struggles and success of Mittal who belonged to a poor family of a small village Bhinder Kalan of Moga, Punjab. Age wasn’t a hindrance for him rather a stimulus. All that he learned as an insurance agent, he put the experience into becoming a businessman. “At an age when most people feel tired and retired and do away with work to rest and live peacefully at home, this tireless man made a new beginning with absolute confidence, zeal and passion of a youngster. This was really an inspiration for me and precisely what made me choose him as a subject for my first book,” Harish shares. 

Other than 10 rounds of interviews with LD Mittal and his family, a lot research has got into this book. There are anecdotes from Mittal’s school and college days and also his relations with his employees. Writing a book has its own challenges but Harish thing a bigger challenge is, “Getting a suitable platform and penetration are issues which every author faces worldwide.” While we agree to that, what about the growing use of internet that has marred the readership for paperbacks?  “Content is king. If the content is strong and has the ability to connect with youngsters, it will be read and liked immensely,” Harish ends on a confident note.

gurnaaz@tribunemail.com