Page 32 - Gujar Mal Modi

CHAPTER

THREE EARLY STRUGGLES

It was a clear September day in 1932 when Mr. Modi started on his journey from
Patiala. He was determined to launch new ventures in the field of industry. He

was not sure of what he was going to do, but he was confident that whatever he
would do would be great. He decided to go to Delhi, which being the capital of

India promised good prospects for a young industrialist.

On reaching Delhi, Mr. Modi stayed in a hotel and paid Rs.150/- as advance rent

for one month. Immediately thereafter he started scanning the city and its neigh-
bourhood in search of a suitable place for a new industry. However, even after

a week of running about he remained undecided. Suddenly one evening as he
was taking stock of the efforts made by him so far, he realised that though Delhi

was the metropolis of India, Calcutta as the industrial city established by the Brit-
ish, still retained its glory as the seat of industrial power. To him Calcutta offered

better possibilities for establishing a new industry. He, therefore, decided to try
this I uck there.

While at Patiala, Mr. Modi had been keeping in touch with Mr. Narayan Das Ba-

joria, one of his trusted friends, who had established his business at Calcutta. A
regular exchange of ideas had been taking place between the two. Now at Cal-

cutta after hurried consultations it was decided that in view of the ever-increas-
ing demand for vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oil ) it would be better and,

perhaps, wiser to go in for a vanaspati manufacturing unit.

Until the year 1932, Vanaspati as a substitute for pure desi ghee was being im-

ported into India by British firms from Holland. Mr. Bajoria intended to start a va-
naspati unit in the country but he was not able to arrange the finances required

for this. Mr. Modi had earlier toyed with the idea or starling a Vanaspati industry
in Patiala, but could not implement his plane owing to opposition by the State

25