People read about high-achievers and their success stories, then why would you read about a colossal failure? This is not about just an inadvertent failure; it is about a career of more than 40 years of repeated disasters starting from Meerut in 1960s to New York in 2006. Was it a lack of talent or just a series of bad judgments? I would leave the decision to my readers! The important thing is I am a contented man and a happy individual who has no complaints from life or anybody else. My only regret is that this might be the story of India which we probably refuse to accept.
My name is Pavan Gupta and I am a qualified Graphic Designer. I have lived close to 40 years of my life in India and the rest in the United States. While at JJ school of Arts, I became a free-lance designer in 1967 in Bombay. It was a necessity to afford a life-style in Colaba in South Bombay. Undoubtedly that was one of the best periods of my life. My career as a graphic designer ended in October 1995 when Mike Mastriano, my employer asked me to manage an apartment complex in Syracuse, NY. That was probably the only way I could get a ‘Green Card’ in America.
My family came from Punjab to Meerut in 1930′s and had a business. Jaswant Sugar Mills was sold in 1943 and my family retired to private life. I was born in 1948 in Meerut. We moved to Saket, Meerut in 1955. I graduated from High-school in 1963. In 1966, I played cricket for Meerut College while pursuing my BSc. An all-rounder by definition, I was a leg-break bowler and dropped a googly or two in-between. For batting, I came in as a middle order player and played a copy book cricket. I never scored even a half century ever. Prithvi Raj was my coach.
One of my hobbies was drawing and painting. I joined Sir J J Institute of Applied Arts (popularly known as J J School of Arts), Bombay in 1967. Met Jemal Bhatty from Uganda and decided to share a PG (paying guest) accommodation with him. We were room mates for all of our four years at J J and beyond. We studied graphic design (commercial art) at J J. Four students, including me (Rita Bhojwani, Charmaine Gardner, Chitra Jaitley and Pavan Gupta) came together in J J to form a group called ‘Adventurers’ and held an exhibition of hand-painted greeting cards at Rampart Art Gallery, Bombay in 1970. The Times of India gave us a good review. Vakils (major greeting cards manufacturer those days) offered to buy some designs, I refused, don’t remember why!
We all graduated (except Jemal) from J J in 1971 and joined different advertising agencies. Rita Bhojwani joined MAA (Marketing Advertising Associates), Bombay and I went to MAA (Marketing Advertising Associates), Delhi. That was May 1971, and in October of the same year, I left my job and returned to Bombay. India fought a war with Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh in November 1971. I worked with Prakash Hansrajani (now Hansraj) at his PH Advertising from January 1972 till May 1972 and did some free-lance work for Lintas. Rita Bhojwani and I left our jobs to start our own studio in July 1972.
Rita and I formed ‘Commercial Artist’s Tent’ to do some freelance design work that she got from the Hotel Airport Plaza, that led us to Hotel President. We launched Hotel President with an advertising campaign (opened our advertising agency called “Consolidated Advertising Tent, Pvt. Ltd.) and got the media coverage in the Economic Times. We picked up many interesting clients but the oil crisis of 72-73 killed the advertising business. We had to shut down the advertising agency.
1973, Rita and I got married and have two children, Payal, a daughter born in 1974 and Sagar, a son in 1975. We started a silk-screen printing unit in 1976 and called it ‘Payal’s Perfection’. Anand Channar, also from J J, helped us start the unit. It took us a few years to pick-up but by 1978-79 we were one of the best silk screen printing units in Bombay. We bought an apartment at ‘Shangrilla’ at Seven Bungalows, Bombay, in 1978.
Since we are both Graphic Designers, we have always worked together as a team. We designed some significant Corporate Identity Programs for clients like Rashtriya Metal Industries (RMI), Apex Industries, Xaca Industries, Efficiency Equipment and others. Some of the identities appeared in Sudarshan Dheer’s book, ‘The world of Symbols/Logos & Trademarks’. RMI’s identity was also published in the 33rd Commercial Artists’ Guild Annual (CAG Annual, 1982). We were at the peak of our design careers and for the first time, making some money.
Girish Agarkar, again a friend from J J, invited us over to IIT Powai for a UNDP (United Nations Development Program) symposium in early 1981. We met Prof. Arthur Pulos and his wife Beejay Pulos from Syracuse University. We invited Prof. Pulos and his wife to our client’s dinner at Hotel Centaur, Bombay. We had a long conversation about the opportunities in the United States. Prof. Pulos invited me to visit him in Syracuse, NY.
I visited New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Syracuse in September 1981. When I visited Syracuse University, I was introduced to Prof. James Pirkle, Industrial Design; Prof. John Sellers, Chairman, Department of Visual Communication, and Ken Hine the Chairman of Editorial Design. VISCOM (Dept. of Visual Communications). Ken Hine offered me a scholarship for the fall of 1982 and I accepted the offer.
Next year, in the fall of 1982, we applied for J-1 (for me) and J-2 visas (for Rita and the kids). The US consulate in Bombay declined our visa applications. Thomas Cook, one of our clients, helped us finally get the visas but we had to leave our children with my mother in Meerut. We finally landed in Syracuse via Chicago, since my younger brother lived there and helped us in the initial stages. The graduate program at Syracuse University was an experience. We both learnt a lot. This is the time I thought of doing my Master’s Thesis on Fortune 500 Companies and finally publish a book on that subject.
This is where I made another bad judgment in life. Instead of completing my thesis and establishing myself, I decided to return to India and work on a book on Corporate India instead. This was 1984. India was at war with itself and we were absolutely unaware about the social climate in India. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab was threatening to tear the country apart. Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar and for that she was assassinated on October 31, 1984. In this environment who could care for a book on 500 private sector companies in India? But we persevered.
We met V K Jagannathan, an Industrial Designer from IDC (Industrial Design Center), IIT Powai, got us a Corporate Identity project from Wipro Limited. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, paid us well to design their identity. Somehow the result was not very satisfactory for him or us. But it did provide us to sustain the research for ‘Corporate India 500′. Jagannathan collected a lot of annual reports from the ‘Raddi Walas‘ (waste paper sellers). We wrote to all the major private sector companies to give us the information. Finally, in 1986, Prakash Hansraj (our friend and my former employer) introduced us to R V Pandit (publisher of Imprint magazine) and we showed him just one page and he agreed to publish the book. Pandit was generous with an advance on the book.
During the 80′s the private sector in India was hardly visible. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, like her father Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, was not very receptive to private sector participation. However, by this time she was gone and her son, Rajiv Gandhi, took over as the new Prime Minister. Rajiv was a different ball game, young and vibrant, he started to open the Indian economy. We thought our book was well timed. Finding 500 private sector companies, with a minimum of 10 crores in sales, was an up-hill task. Very few companies were willing to share the financial information. We had to depend on companies, listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange. No privately held company was willing to be featured in our book. Kiron Kasbekar, of Economic Times, helped us with the list of first 100 companies, the rest 400 were to be found from Business Magazines and other such sources. Finally, we were able to put the book together and ‘Corporate India 500′, a visual survey, was published on March 20, 1987 (on our daughter’s birthday) by Business Press Pvt. Ltd., the publishing arm of R V Pandit’s business empire. The book bombed and we were on the ropes again.
There was no choice left to us but to think of a fresh start in the so-called “Land of Opportunities”, the United States of America! We surrendered our office space on 5th floor of Kumud House, Bombay to H B Mehta of Jaideep Trading Company and he paid us Rs 60,000 for that. It was enough to buy us 4 air tickets to America. Mehta Sahab paid us the money in appreciation for Rita and I not opting for the rent control implemented in Bombay in 1972-73. Leaving Kumud House after 16 years was heartbreaking. We left behind a lot of good memories!
We shifted our silk-screen business to Prakash Hansraj’s office in Colaba and temporarily operated from his premises. The idea was to let him continue with our business in addition to his own PH Advertising agency. Having a bad experience with the American Consulate, we decided that I should proceed first and Rita and the kids would follow. I left Bombay on the eve of my 40th birthday on September 9, 1988 and reached Syracuse, New York on September 12. Michael Mastriano, a 1982/83 friend picked me up from the airport. I spend the night with Mike’s family.
America had changed in last four years, my chairman at Viscom, Prof. John Sellers and my adviser Ken Hine were at best cold and distant. The general atmosphere at Syracuse University had become somewhat unfriendly. You could virtually feel the ‘Reagan Revolution’. I knew this was going to be a very rough ride back to situation that we left in 1984. But it was too late for any flip-flop; we had already burnt our bridges in India and the only way left to us was to move forward and face the music.
Finding a student housing for the family was not very difficult. I chose B-26 Apt. 6, a two bedroom unfurnished unit in Slocum Heights. My neighbor to the right was Coco and Nobu Koseki (a Mexican-Japanese couple) with a three year old Kyoto and to my left was Michelle and Terry O’Neal (an all American Italian-Irish couple) with a three year old Cori. We are friends to this day. Getting Rita and the kids to America became my next mission. I sent her the letter of support and she applied for J-2 visas for herself, Payal and Sagar at the American Consulate in Bombay. They refused my family the visas on the grounds that these are potential immigrants!
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Hallo Pavan,
So nice to read the emotional story. You missed the sam pitroda influence and his communications twist to India.
The book was very influential in launch of several commercial journals and magazines in dalal street .. It influenced also to the theme of doing top 500 and top 1000 features in sevral business publications..
JAGS
DESIGNER,RESEARCHER,TECH-STARTUP
http://www.orchidsasia.com
hello pavan,
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you have a quality blog and your post on US Iran relation is very interesting and informative article. After reading this one I am going to read more here. I am even looking for your mail ID in your blog, but….
Hi Pavan – I am always happy to read about people in advertising field especially, those who studied and graduated from JJ. Like Rita and you, I’m a JJ-ite too. Graduated in 1969 and remember Rita very well as She and Prakash used to mingle with our group in the canteen. By the way in those days, there were only three ‘Bawas’ in the college and I was one of them (other two were Kersi, my elder brother and Feroze who started an advertising agency in Bombay and later in Bangalore before he passed away in 1997). Rita may have vague picture of us (sorry mate, but I’ve no memories of meeting or knowing you) We also had Arun kale, George Abraham, Annabelle Crawford, who also I believe is in USA. Rita probably knew her. If you happen to know her whereabout, please let me know by email. I left Bombay in 1970 on an adventure -living, travelling and working in Iran for a decade and since last 29 years made Sydney my homebase and visit my country of birth every 2 years.
Your life so far, has been full of adventures and I enjoyed reading about it.
My best wishes to you, Rita and family.
Dadi
Great reading about you here. Nice journey you had. Keep it up.
please read
http://mamatabanerjee-nandigram.blogspot.com/
You are a writing gr8, you been to kankroli rajsamand once, io got your pics at flickr.
Hi,
I am a regular follower of ur blog and enjoy it immensely.
I am writing a Research Paer on interactions across the India-Pakistan border through the Blogging community. Since your write about India and Pakistan in your blog, is there anything of particular interest that you would want to share. I mean are the responses to India-Pakistan specific posts rational or nationalist? Are you accused of taking sides? Are there any blogs by authors on either sides dealing with India-Pakistan relations that you find interesting? And finally what according to you is the role of the blogging community in defining India-Pakistan relations?
I wld appreciate if you can forward ur response at thetrajectory@gmail.com
Any discussion on India-Pakistan relations is largely emotional. Both sides talk out of anger and distrust. Third party analysis is also meaningless without proper context. I have not read any blogger on either side who has tried to research the genesis of the suspicion between the two communities. My personal inclination has been to go way back to 1757 and trace the developments on the subcontinent since then. The fact of the matter is that Muslims were ruling over the Indian subcontinent since 1192 AD after the defeat of Prithvi Raj Chauhan. When the British East India Company won the Battle of Plassey on June 23, 1757, the Muslims of India felt humiliated and insecure for the first time in nearly 565 years. Warren Hastings, Governor of Bengal, compounded this insecurity in 1772 by equating the then official Indian languages, Arabic and Persian with Hindi and Sanskrit. For a British Governor it was common sense since Hindus were 75% of the population. For Muslims this was the ultimate insult to be compared to ‘Kafirs’ in any shape or form. This was actually the beginning of the ultimate Hindu-Muslim divide that never got bridged.
It would be dishonest for any blogger or analyst to talk about this subject without due reference to the 190 years of British role in the Hindu-Muslim conflict that resulted into the partition of India. Once the partition actually took place it was almost impossible to contain the mutual dislike and hatred amongst the neighbors. The British reluctance and the American activism compounded the problem. President Harry Truman’s enthusiasm towards Pakistan and disappointment with Jawaharlal Nehru further exasperated the volatile situation. The bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan that needed mature diplomacy without any outside interference exploded with the Kashmir dispute in October 1947 and the subsequent referral to the United Nations. There has been a virtual stalemate since then. Every time there is a new initiative by India or Pakistan to resolve the dispute, it gets further complicated by adding a new dimension to an already complex situation. With India rising as an economic power, any parity with Pakistan is a distant illusion that many people refuse to accept. The rise of China further encourages this myth of parity!
Hi Pavan Came across you blog while browsing, I dont know if you remember Prof BW Jatkar he taught photography at JJ and was known as Blkack and White Jatkar as he was a master of BW printing processing, he recently passed away , he was my photo guru..
I was from Colaba Strand Cinema now shifted to Bandra West..
Take Care
Wish you Well
Firoze Shakir
Photographer No1
Poet Blogger
Sorry to learn about the sad demise of Prof. Jatkar, I knew him well and he taught me darkroom techniques. I also lived in Colaba behind strand while at JJ.
Thanks for the information,
Pavan Gupta
Hello! Pavan Hope you are well.
your studio was on 3rd floor and i remenber the steps to your studio being very steep.
my studio was also on the 3rd floor opp brandon pereria house.
whenever i used to visit your studio to discuss the hotel president assignment you used to say
“Saab ko paani do pehele”
whenever you used to visit my studio i used to say
“Saab ko paani do pehele”
keep in touch
take care
Shravan Gurav
Web http://www.darshangurav.com/shravangurav
Email: shravangurav@gmail.com
Just happened to find this while searching for a picture of my father’s silver cocktail pitcher that was displayed in a new book from the Chicago Museum that my sister had mentioned. I think my father loved people even more than design. Wish he were still around to read your comments and be a part your conversation. Maria
What a pleasant surprise to hear from one of Prof. Pulos’s children. He spoke very fondly of all his children including a son who became a chef! We had dinner with Prof and Beejay Pulos at their house at Fayetteville in 1982 and then again in 1992 at their new home at 3 Orchard, Fayetteville. They reciprocated in kind at a couple of occasions. We remember his remarkable collection of antiques and collectibles. How is Beejay Pulos? Please convey our regards to her and your family.
Pavan – Thank you for your wonderful memory. Yes, Cris was a chef. Now, he is a photographer pursuing the photograveure process and lives in Taos. Speaking about the antiques – I won tickets to Antiques Road Show last year in Denver and took some of dad’s museum quality antique banks and art deco chrome – It was a disheartening experience as my daughter and I were turned aside because “we knew too much.” Prior to the event, I pursued research on the “stuff.” It brought back memories of my dad’s incredible admiration of the great American designers. They were “gods” to him. Anyway, the ‘dumbing down’ of Americans was ere aparent and sad.
There are three things you have to consoder when searching for apartment rent. Location, you have to make sure that the location is close to public transportation and shopping. Neighbours, you dont want to find yourself with many neighbours from that other noisy religion (you all know what I mean). Gym – I will never consider an apartment rent complex with no place to work out. I hope this is enlightening and you never make the mistakes I made.
I appreciate the work that you have put in, in this page. Really good, also I wish to quote a few lines from this article in my Cricket site, I will give a link back to this article. Again.. it is really a good work.ThanksAjithkumar
Hi Pavan!
Excellent narration! Your articles are quality work. I was wondering if we could use your articles on our website BharathBol. It is a startup and we want to attract good bloggers and columnist. Something like the HuffingtonPost.
Do let me know if it is allright to syndicate your articles. They would be put in the Featured articles section with a link to your website.
Thanks!
Feroze Qureshi
Hi Feroze,
It would be interesting for me to be a part of your new venture, “BharathBol”. You may syndicate my articles as long as you keep me informed. I have over 375 postings on my blog and I plan to continue writing as and when something rattles my cage.
Good luck with your startup,
Pavan Gupta
Thanks a bunch! Will keep you informed..
Dear Pavan,
Chanced upon your blog while searching for information on Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh (of DLF).
Nice blog. You really have the knack of making what you write interesting. I like your photographs too.
Just wondered how you know about Raghvendra Singh. Is there any other material on him you have? Or anybody who can provide some background or photos or documents?
His birth centenary is on Sept 19, 2010. Looking for material in that context. Anything useful would be welcome (and paid for !).
Regards,
Raman
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