A Royal Rendezvous with the Man of Steel
By: A hitList Correspondent
April 28, 2006
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Meet the Mittals: Laxmi Niwas and wife with Simi Garewal
SG: Thank you for letting us into your world.
LM: I'm very happy that you took all the trouble to come to London.
SG: You moved to Kolkata at the age of six or five.
LM: Ya at the age of six.
SG: Were you pressurised to get good grades?
LM: Yes. My father and my mother would always look at that, that I topped the class. Yes there would be always pressure. Indirect pressure.
I remember I would tell my father every day during exams how many hours I studied. You don't like it though. You don't like the pressure but I think in hindsight it was the right thing to do.
SG: You studied in a Hindi medium school.
LM: Yes.
SG: Was the transition to English medium difficult?
LM: In the beginning, yes. But later, I got, first position in Commerce.
SG: The achievements began from the young days?
LM: It's the challenge which makes you work harder. Because when you have so many challenges you get more determined. And then looking at parents, they have high aspirations. So all these things make you work harder and… I used to also attend my, my father's office.
SG: At the same time as college?
LM: I would go to college in the morning. Six o'clock to 9.30 am, and then I had to go to my father's office from 10.30-11 am to 5.30-6 pm, come home, study.
SG: Were you ambitious?
LM: I wouldn't say that I was that ambitious when I left India. My father and I have always been great friends. Everyday during lunch, we would sit together, he would tell me his feelings about India. We would discuss how things should change.
SG: At 25, for the first time you were going abroad..
LM: Ya. I was going on holiday with my friend to Indonesia.
SG: It's been 30 years and you haven't come back?
LM: But it's a very funny thing what happened! We decided to go to Bangkok, Singapore, Djakarta, Hong Kong and Tokyo — an excursion ticket. So my father said when you are in Djakarta, at least go and sell this land. I went there and tried to understand the problem. Coming from a business background when you go to any place you want to know how is this country, what's the future, how is the progress.
SG: Did you smell the scent of opportunity?
LM: That's how the whole thing evolved. I felt that it's a good place to do business.
Fortunately, I could succeed in solving that particular problem about electricity. That was the main problem. So I called my father and I said, 'I think we should go ahead with this project and I want to stay back.'
SG: Was the split in the family inevitable?
LM: It was inevitable because after I acquired, after working in Trinidad and Mexico, I realised that my future lies outside India, while my father and my brother wanted to expand in India. And I thought that there would be always a conflict in expansion. That's why we split in early '94.
SG: You still hold an Indian passport?
LM: I love my country and I'm Indian. I feel very happy and proud to have this passport and my allegiance is to India…
This exclusive rendezvous with the steel baron, Lakshmi N Mittal airs on Sunday, April 30 at 9.30 pm on STAR WORLD
http://ww1.mid-day.com/hitlist/2006/april/136149.htm
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