Meet 23-year-old Hitarth Dholakia, son of a Gujarati diamond merchant and a member of a family that owns a Rs 6000 crore company based in Surat. Although this company has a presence in 71 countries, Hitarth was asked by his family to learn to fend for himself and face the struggles of life like an aam aadmi (common man) would.
Hitarth is the son of Surat-based billionaire diamond merchant Savji Dholakia, who has made headlines for having gifted his employees cars and flats as Diwali bonus in the past.
Hitarth came to Hyderabad a month ago with only Rs 500 in his pocket and no roof to seek shelter under or contact to approach to help him get a job.
After completing his Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) from a reputed university in New York, Hitarth had returned home in Mumbai in mid-June.
His plans of having a quality time with his family suffered a setback as Hitarth was left dumbstruck on being told by his kin that he should learn to eke out a living for himself instead of eating off his family’s money.
Hitarth was unprepared for this challenge
It was a real challenge for 23-year-old Hitarth as he was never used to managing all his affairs on his own. Earlier while he lived in the United States during his graduation for almost three years, he never faced any money crunch or want of facilities.
When Hitesh was received at the airport by his family, little did he know about what was coming. It was at the airport itself that he got to know that he would have to go to Hyderabad to earn his daily bread for the next one month.
“I was not aware about where this city is, which part of the country it falls, what is the language and culture there. I was afraid but confident. With only 500 rupees in my pocket and no mobile phone or anything else, I reached Hyderabad and started my new life.”
As part of the challenge to be self-sufficient, Hitesh had to earn for two square meals a day in Hyderabad for the next 30 days. He had to look for new work each week to meet his fooding, lodging and other daily needs. Being in a new city, he could not use his family name or anything related to his original identity, including his educational qualifications, to find himself a job.
“I am a US-educated youth with a private pilot license and a certificate holder of GIA Diamond Grading, but nothing was helpful for me in Hyderabad. Soon afterwards, I started looking for jobs as I hardly had any money. Fortunately, I found a lodge in Secunderbad for Rs 100. I was sharing the room with 17 people there. Now my next task was to find a job for myself. After struggling for 3 days, I got a job at a multi-national food joint, which paid me a salary of Rs 4,000. As a part of the challenge, I worked there for 5 days and quit the job.”
Was lucky to find job in manufacturing unit: Hitarth
Hitarth says he was “lucky enough” to have found a marketing job in a white board manufacturing unit. He again worked for 5 days and earned Rs 1500. He changed 4 jobs in 4 weeks and earned Rs 5000 by the month-end.
Speaking to India Today, Hitarth’s younger sister Krupali said, “I was shocked when we came to Hyderabad and visited the places where my brother lived and worked. It was a really tough job and a hard-to-believe situation for us, but I am proud of him and my family which is keeping this tradition alive to keep us grounded and to respect humans as well as the importance of money.”
The Dholakia family has been following this tradition for years of sending their kids into an exile-of-sorts from a life of luxury. Pintu Tulsi Bhai Dholakia, 31, was the first in the family who experienced the “real life” (full of rigours). Now Pintu is the CEO, of Hari Krishna Exports Pvt Ltd. Similarly last year, the family sent its 21-year-old MBA son to Kochi to enable him to learn about the struggles of life.
Surat-based billionaire diamond merchant Savji Dholakia and his 32-member family-run business group is known for its employee family atmosphere. Last year in Diwali, the company had gifted 400 flats and 1,260 cars to about 1,716 best-performing employees as bonus. In 2015, the company had gifted 491 cars and 200 flats to its employees. Similarly in 2014, the company gifted 491 cars, funds for 207 flats and jewellery to its 1,200 employees.
Indiatoday
