Bhasin Sonu - Unstoppable: Kuldip Singh Dhingra and the rise of Berger Paints

I was a bit flustered and anxious. I had a meeting with Kuldip Singh Dhingra, chairman of Berger Paints, the next day. But I had found nothing during my research on the Internet that would have helped me prepare for the meeting. All I had found were a few articles from business magazines that had profiled the company and had included the owners as part of it; some quotes from the Dhingras in articles about their factories and business. I could find no photographs of the family and nothing about Kuldip Dhingra personally. I was anxious that I would go into the meeting almost blind.

This scheduled meeting was for my earlier bookThe Inheritorsalso published by Penguin Random House. I wanted to include in my book the story of Kuldip Dhingra and his brother, Gurbachan, as the inheritors of their paint business and had thus sought a meeting.

My first meeting with Kuldip Dhingra, scheduled for an hour, stretched to well over double that time. I found him an extremely open person who was willing to share details about his business and his personal life without any qualms. He spoke in a crisp voice, his conversation liberally peppered with Punjabi, about himself and his family. I expressed my surprise at the openness of the conversation and asked, Why have you not spoken about your history and your story to anyone till now?

No one has asked me these questions till now, came the pat reply. Simple as that!

Kuldip and Gurbachan Dhingra both opened their hearts for the readers of their story in The Inheritors. My editor, Lohit Jagwani, at Penguin found the story as fascinating as I did. Both of us knew that, even at 16,000 words, the story was constrained by being just one chapter in a collection of stories.

Penguin would like to do a full biography of Kuldip Dhingra. Can you check with him about his availability? Lohit called up one day. I did check and Kuldip Dhingra did agree and thus Unstoppable was born.

Having been almost a recluse and keeping away from the public limelight, other than work, why are you opening yourself up now? I asked Kuldip during one of my conversations. He had spent the larger part of the hour talking about a period of his life which was full of contradictions and challenges. Why are you now opening yourself completely for everyone to read? I asked again.

It is because of the future generations, said Kuldip seriously. He is a believer of legacy and had realised that no one outside his family knew of their story. Kuldip wanted to tell his story, the story of his father, his grandfather, his family and the business, so that the inheritors of any legacy, not only his, would learn from it. I want the future generations, not only mine but all others too, to know how much of hard work is really required to become successful and then stay successful, said Kuldip seriously.

One quality of Kuldip is that he may take some time to decide on a course of action but once he does, there is no stopping him. Having decided that he will go down memory lane and walk and talk through the various phases of his life, he was indeed unstoppable.

Kuldip made time on Sundays, on other holidays, in the mornings and in the evenings to tell his story to me. Not one scheduled meeting was cancelled and not once was he late even by five minutes for our meetings. He was open in his conversations and encouraged others to be open as well.

The following pages will tell you the story of Kuldip Singh Dhingrathe person. I have kept my role as a narrator and have refrained from commenting on the events, people or actions. Further, I have focused on the human story and have kept away from the financials. Berger Paints is a listed company and the details of its growth, its products and its financial statements are available to anyone who may want to know more. I did not see merit in repeating financial figures that are in the public domain. I have chosen to focus on the person instead.

My work on Unstoppable included meeting and talking to a cross section of people who know Kuldip. These include the immediate family, the extended family, other relatives, friends, business associates and employees. Each of the people I spoke with, as part of my research for Unstoppable, was keen to share his/her perspective of Kuldip Dhingra and had his/her own insights into what makes the man. They all had their memories, sometimes vivid at other times dimming a bit, about Kuldip and the years gone by. However, the common thread in all their conversations with me was the fact that they all had strong views about Kuldip. It was evident that, though happy at the success of Kuldip Dhingra, some of them were still incredulous at the level of success achieved by him! The memories, tucked away in their memory banks, came out tumbling fast as they were withdrawn with much speed and enthusiasm. I got used to my meetings shooting way past the scheduled time with each interviewee!