The 'Small Giant' I met

I don’t share my personal experiences that often. But this one is definitely worth mentioning. Yesterday, I had taken a cab from one of the app based cab hailing services. Mr Dilbag Singh was assigned for my trip. I was greeted with a warm smiling face. We started chatting almost immediately. He told me how he started his career as an assistant to a car mechanic after completing his course from ITI with practically no money in his pocket. He was telling me how he learned the trade quickly and then became a mechanic himself. He recalled the ordeal he faced during the anti Sikh movement of 1984 and how he managed to survive that. He soon started his business in 2ndhand trucks after. His son is an engineer and works with an IT giant in Gurgaon, he even showed me his sons office on our way back. His two daughters are well settled in US and UK respectively. They have repeatedly asked him to retire and live with them. But for him work is his life, he suspects he won’t be able to survive without work. He was proudly telling me how his business has paid for his home, his childrens’ education, his two daughters’ wedding. He sold his business in 2008 and then bought a cab just to keep himself busy or as he says- to keep working. He did not forget to inform me that will be turning 60 in April’18. I was just amazed with Mr Singh. I have become a fan. The humility and chivalry with which he conversed with me is unparalleled, something I want to learn from him.

Many might argue saying, that’s quite normal and there is nothing special about his story, or there are quite a lot stories like that. But we often forget the good in search of best. He did not have any mentor or adviser neither did he secure any funding. Yet he managed to build his business out of nothing and then exited with a handsome pay in 2008, when Entrepreneurship was not even a known word in India. Yes, there are many Dilbag Singhs, but why we don’t celebrate them? Why we don’t showcase them for aspiration or motivation? Why can’t they be the ‘Small Giants’? To me his story is as motivational as many other popular ones. Dilbag Singh and many more like him are the true spirits and essence of Startup India.