Khandekar - GOBAR CHOWKI TO TAJ MAHAL

Devkinandan Son is the subject of the acclaimed documentary film A Nation Celebrates. Commissioned by the Ministry of External Affairs and directed by Kabir Khan (whose last film was the Salman Khan starrer Ek Tha Tiger), the film was made to mark fifty years of Indias independence. In the film, renowned actor Roshan Seths sombre voice asks, What significance does the Taj Mahal have for Gobar Chowki? A Jatav neighbourhood, Gobar Chowki stands close to the Taj Mahal in Agra. The Mughals had white marble loaded on to beasts of burden and carried off to the Taj Mahal. Over a period of time, animal dung got accumulated here and the area came to known as Gobar Chowkigobar meaning dung. The film narrates Devkinandans success storyshowing how he moved out of Gobar Chowki into a palatial mansion after transforming an inconsequential shoe business into a mega enterprise.

However, the film, made fifteen years ago, only celebrates one part of Devkinandans lifesince then, his story has developed further. As recently as twenty-five years ago, his home was a room in Gobar Chowki. Today, in another direction, barely half a kilometre from the Taj, stands his forty-room hotel, the Taj Plaza. Now, his son Siddhartha Nandan runs it, while his younger son looks after the shoe business, which even has a market in Europe. Devkinandan is wary of sharing the exact turnover of his business, and reveals a drastically reduced figure, saying one could assume that both businesses put together have a turnover of about Rs 1 crore.

But Devkinandans story is not one of turnovers. He was studying in class nine when he was forced to quit school to help his father, whom he calls Pitaji (father). He still remembers that Dussehra day when his father told his mother about his feeling of complete helplessness and his inability to earn enough to send their children to school.

Devkinandan was good at studies and showed me his mark-sheet which showed that he had received 99 per cent in the Arts stream. But Pitajis shoe business was running at a lossthe shoes hadnt fetched enough in the market to cover the production costand so, Devkinandan, being the eldest of the three brothers, had to start working. In the beginning, his job was to wrap shoes in paper and pack them into a box. He packed over a hundred pairs of shoes every day and earned about Rs 60 a month or Rs 2 per day.

It was while doing this work that he happened to see a newspaper advertisement for the Central Footwear Training Institute (CFTI). The Government of India had set up these institutes in Agra and Chennai to teach new footwear production techniques. In 1971, Devkinandan was accepted at CFTI and started off with a stipend of Rs 75 per month, but continued with his packing job to add to his earnings. Pitaji was happy that his son had moved up from being a worker to being a designer.

Though its a commonly heard grievance that government schemes dont benefit those who really need the help, the government did play a major role in taking Devkinandans life forwardfirst through the CFTI and then through the Uttar Pradesh governments Leather Development and Marketing Corporation. However, Devkinandan couldnt start his business for three years after being trained at the institute because he faced the same challenge his father hadit was difficult to recover the cost incurred in making shoes.

Earlier on, every evening, Devkinandan used to carry around twenty-five pairs of shoes to Hing ki Mandi, a major shoe market, the venue for some serious bargaining. Prices could be pushed very low, and there was no guarantee of earning even Rs 5 for a pair of shoes.

It was around this time that Devkinandan realized that in the shoe business the role of the Jatav community was limited to the actual crafting of the shoethey were nowhere in the picture when the selling of raw material or the buying of ready products was concerned, as this aspect required a fair amount of money. Luckily, in 1975, he got a break when an Uttar Pradesh government organization placed a large order with Devkinandan. He made Rs 5 on every pair of shoes he supplied. Unfortunately, however, the government organization ran into rough weather, and in 1980, Devkinandan had to once again wind up his business.

Devkinandan got his next break while working for Teja Shoes. In 1983, a huge exhibition of shoes was held at Agras Clarks Shiraz hotel, where the company showcased Devkinandans designs. Thomas Bata, the man behind Bata shoes, liked his designs and offered him a deal requiring him to produce 10,000 pairs of shoes for Bata, West Indies. With each pair priced at Rs 400, this bulk order of Rs 40 lakh changed Devkinandans life. Due to the involvement of the Bata brand name, it was easy to procure raw material like leather, on credit, and spared him from engaging in petty bargaining with Bata la Hing ki Mandi.