Page 31 - Gujar Mal Modi

health, and a time came when he had to agree to a proposal made by his father

for a second marriage. Thus on 19th June, 1932 Mr. Modi was married to Day-
awati, daughter of Mr. Chheda Lal of Kasganj, in District Etah of Uttar Pradesh. As

was expected, the second marriage brought him a new lease of life. The mood
of gloom and melancholia gave way to a fresh zeal and desire to live and work.

The young man started taking full interest in his business activities. Sir Fredrick
Gauntlet, the old trusted friend of the family, had all along been advising him to

undertake new industrial ventures. By now, he had several plans up his sleeves.
but obtaining the consent of his father still posed a problem.

There was, however, one ray of hope. Over the past few years Mr. Janki Das, the

trusted Munim, who was of the same age as Mr. Modi, had become quite fa-
miliar with the new accounting system. This provided a welcome relief to Mr.

Mudi. If he had to be away from Patiala for some time, he was now confident that
accounting would go on without difficulty. By now, the father, too, had come

round to the view that the son should go ahead with his plans to expand his
industries. But the wise father also knew that in youth one is prone to indulge

in day-dreams. He did not want the family money to be frittered away in exper-
iments. Yet, he would have liked his son to depend upon himself for finances to

run the new industrial ventures, as he himself had done. When the young Modi
came to know this, he was overjoyed.

He felt that the new ventures might keep him unusually busy for some time. So
he sent back his bride, Dayawati to her father’s home and left for Delhi with a

meagre amount of Rs. 400/- in his pocket. This was the beginning of the indus-
trial career of this enterprising youngman who was destined to carve out a place

for himself in the world of industry.

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