1) What is your current position?
I am 67, retired, and now the President of the Navnat Vanik Association, which is a registered charity. We have a large 18-acre estate in Hayes. Our name “Navnat” is made up of two words ‘Nav’ and ‘Nat’, which means nine communities.
Vanik is a reference to our heritage as traders, merchants and people involved in agriculture under India’s traditional caste system (which we no longer strictly observe). The roots of our organisation come from Mombasa, Kenya where there were nine small communities – each too small on their own to make a difference. Today our 4,000 plus community members in the United Kingdom hail from East Africa, Sudan, Zambia and India.
Our organisation primarily aims to bring together people who share a similar heritage and to host various religious, cultural and community events. Every year we donate between £20,000 and £40,000 to charities in the UK and India. Our charity name is “Jiv Daya” -- the rough translation means a compassion for all living beings in the form of shelter, food, medicine and education.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
My proudest achievement within our community network is probably teaching people over the age of 70 years old how to use computers, to surf the web, and to send a basic email. We built a library and a computer room at our community Centre in order to facilitate this training. I find teaching people how to be computer literate is really important especially in the modern age where technology can divide people unless they embrace it.
3) What inspires you?
My three grown-up children and my extremely patient wife also inspire me to be a better person. I consider my eldest brother who selflessly raised me and sadly passed away many years ago to be one of my biggest inspirations.
On Saturday early mornings I visit Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, sit down cross-legged in the temple, close my eyes. Any problems I have gradually appear to be distant. I often seek advice from our elders and sadhus (priests) at Mandir.
I am inspired by people who do not cut corners and do things properly the first time around that can be a plumber or a politician I’ve learnt in my life that it costs more to rectify a fault than to do it properly the first time.
4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
I consider my career now to be my community work. My background in engineering drilled into me the methodical way of thinking. When I first joined the board of our organization some years ago I found it very hard to get used to a less straight-talking way of working. I used to answer people quite abruptly. I have since learnt to be more patient, occasionally to bite my tongue, and smile even when I don’t always agree. Every company, community, and family has petty politics. The challenge is to rise above this and not allow such natural things to hinder progress or relationships.
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
World leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela. I admire the dignified way in which they dealt with torture and imprisonment. They were always singularly focused on their greater goal.
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
I love being busy. It isn’t in my nature to stand or sit still. Retirement was just a step in my career to doing more community work. I’m busier than ever and I love spending my time trying to build projects that will help our older community members adjust to modern society and help younger ones remember their heritage in a modern way.
7) And the worst?
I worry about promising something and then being able to deliver. It is easy for things to go wrong especially for outdoor events like Janmasthami Mela that totally depend on weather. Obviously I can’t control the weather but still I worry. At some functions it is very difficult to quantify the number of attendees. This may result in food wastage or shortage.
8) What are your long term goals?
I want to build an all-weather indoor sports complex, and offer activities like cricket and football that will attract our youth. Outside of my community work, I recently learnt how to ride a motorbike. I would love one day to ride a motorbike in a group ride from London to Beijing or Nairobi to Cape Town.
9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
I am glad I am not the Prime Minister. I think cuts in basic services have affected primary health care and the education. It feels like crime has got worse. I understand we also need to look after wealth generating businesses. The various things are impossible to balance.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
If I was stuck on a desert island, I think I’d like to spend time with the legendry Bob Marley, or classical Indian maestros like Pundit Ravi Shanker and Pundit Ustad Bismilla Khan. They made excellent music. If there is nothing else to do, we might as well all listen to great music. Music helps to bring people together.
