Dharampal Gulati: From a 'refugee' to India's 'King of Spices'
New Delhi, Dec 3: Mahashay Dharampal Gulati was 24 at the time of Partition and his family, which had a stable business of spices in Sialkot in undivided India, was among the millions caught in the deadly riots.
The family had to leave behind its ancestral home, cattle and most importantly 'Mahashian di Hatti' - the spices' shop founded by his father in Bazaar Pansaariyaan in Sialkot.
Life changed dramatically for Dharampal Gulati when his joint family in Sialkot reached Amritsar first and eventually to a ramshackled house with a broken roof in Delhi soon after Partition, struggling to make ends meet.
He had reached Delhi on September 27 on a train with two more relatives and Rs 1,500 in his pocket to live with a sister who had managed to claim one of the abandoned houses in Karol Bagh for them," according to book "Divided by Partition, United by Resilience".
"It was a small house with hardly any place to sleep. There was no running water, no latrine," says Mallika Ahluwalia, who interviewed Gulati for the book, published in 2018 by Rupa.
In Delhi, Gulati got his family's details registered with the government for a 'refugee card' that entitled them to basic ration.
A class 5 dropout, Gulati tried his hand at running a horse carriage and selling sugarcane to make some money, months before returning to his ancestral trade and establishing what would become the iconic MDH brand of spices over the years.
"I was wondering what I should do... One day, while roaming around, I reached Chandni Chowk. People were selling tangas (horse carriages) there. I asked them how much they were selling for. I bargained a little bit and finally got a tanga for 650," the book quoted him as saying.
He had decided that he would try to earn his livelihood as a tanga driver, while also taking the opportunity to acquaint himself with his new hometown.
"I used to wait near the railway station and say 'two annas sawari, two annas'. I would observe the other tangawallahs and then shout out neighbourhood names, like 'Karol Bagh, two annas, Karol Bagh, two annas'," he added.
However, Gulati soon realised that he was not enjoying this new profession. He found the other tangawallahs uncouth, and the work draining, with little monetary reward. He then tried opening a small stall to sell cane sugar, but he saw no prospects in this either, and soon shut it down.
Meanwhile, more and more relatives started arriving, particularly his parents and the rest of the family who had stayed back in Amritsar. Their little house was soon overflowing with extended family members, but they could not turn anyone away, says the book.
"The family was struggling to make ends meet," it states.
Despite an "initial hesitation" about going back to spice trading, Gulati soon realised that this was the trade they knew best and that could help them find their feet again and started with a small wooden roadside shop.
"Life was tough. Dharampal remembers that the lack of a latrine in the house meant that they would have to queue up each morning at a public municipal latrine. The family had to live frugally, especially given the large extended family that had joined," the book says.
To grow the business, he gave an ad in a popular Hindi newspaper, Pratap - 'Mahashian di Hatti of Sialkot Deggi Mirch Waale'.
"This proved to be a winning solution. Within days, they started getting numerous orders by mail. One of the first was all the way from Cuttack in Odisha from a businessman who had migrated from Multan," according to the book.
"The business started growing. Dharampal decided to open one more shop in the main spice market in Delhi, Khari Baoli, and then soon another. Meanwhile, they had also put in a claim with the Ministry of Rehabilitation for the shop and property that they had left behind in Sialkot. They were allotted a plot in Gaffar Market," it states.
During the initial years, Gulati persevered 12 to 15 hours a day to establish his business and he personally made sure high-standard quality of his products to the extent that he called off a tie with a business partner who would mix lentils in the spices to reduce selling rates.
In 1949, he had the novel idea of packaging spices in well-designed boxes. By 1954, he had earned enough to afford a bigger house for the family and by the 1960s he had established a factory - MDH masale, according to the book.
"From a child who dropped out of school at an early age, Dharampal went on to compete with and outmanoeuvre the highly educated CEOs of many consumer goods multinational companies," Ahluwali writes.
Gulati passed away Thursday morning in a Delhi hospital, leaving behind a business empire worth over a thousand crores.
New Delhi: A vehicle carrying the mortal remains of MDH Group Chairman Dharampal Gulati on its way to a crematorium for his funeral
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Chhattisgarh Vedanta power plant blast: Death toll rises to 20; sixteen workers undergoing treatment
Sakti (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): The death toll in a blast at the Vedanta power plant in Chhattisgarh's Sakti district has mounted to 20 with seven more workers succumbing to injuries, while 16 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals, officials said on Wednesday.
The deceased include six labourers from West Bengal, five from Chhattisgarh, three each from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, two from Bihar, and one from Madhya Pradesh.
The opposition Congress has demanded registration of an FIR against the plant management and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The explosion occurred on Tuesday afternoon in a steel tube carrying high-pressure steam from the boiler to the turbine at the Vedanta Ltd power plant located in Singhitarai village, leaving several workers with severe burn injuries.
According to officials, four workers died on the spot, while nine others succumbed to injuries soon after the incident.
Seven more workers have died in hospitals, raising the toll to 20, Sakti Collector Amrit Vikas Topno told PTI on Wednesday.
He said that a total of 36 workers were affected in the blast, and 20 of them died.
"Of the 16 injured workers, five are undergoing treatment in hospitals in Raipur, while 11 others are in hospitals of Raigarh, the neighbouring district of Sakti," he added.
Topno added that every possible effort was being made to provide the best medical treatment to the injured.
The deceased were identified, and their family members are being contacted. Arrangements have been made to transport the mortal remains to their native villages via ambulance following the postmortem examination and to provide immediate financial assistance, he said.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each deceased worker and Rs 50,000 for those injured.
Vedanta Power has also announced a Rs 35 lakh compensation for the family of each deceased worker, along with employment support.
The company will also provide Rs 15 lakh to each injured person, ensure salary continuation until recovery, and offer counselling support, a statement from the plant management said.
The chief minister has ordered an inquiry by the Commissioner of the Bilaspur division, assuring strict action against the guilty.
He directed officials to ensure free and proper medical treatment for all injured and emphasised that no negligence in their care would be tolerated.
The district administration has also ordered a separate magisterial probe, while the company has initiated its own internal investigation.
Collector Topno has appointed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Dabhra to conduct the magisterial inquiry.
The SDM has been asked to submit a report within 30 days covering key aspects, including the cause of the accident, whether it was due to technical or human error, and details of safety inspections carried out at the plant.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has demanded registration of an FIR against the plant management and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla on Wednesday alleged negligence on the plant management's part and accused the government of attempting to shield those responsible.
He also demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of the deceased and Rs 50 lakh for the injured.
The construction of a 1,200 MW coal-based thermal power project (two units of 600 MW each) in Singhitarai, originally owned by Athena Chhattisgarh Power Ltd, started in 2009, but remained stalled between 2016 and 2022.
Vedanta acquired the plant in 2022, after which a 600 MW unit was completed and commissioned in August last year, while the second unit is still under construction.
The deceased have been identified as Amrit Lal Patel, Thanda Ram Lahre, Udhab Singh Yadav, Rameshwar Mahilange, and Nadeem Ansari (all from Chhattisgarh); Susanta Jana, Sheikh Saifuddin, Manas Giri, Kailash Mahto, Shibnath Murmu, and Dipankar Singh (West Bengal), Tarun Kumar Ojha, Abdul Karim and Ashok Parhiya (Jharkhand), Raju Ram, Pappu Kumar and Brijesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Aakib Khan and Ritesh Kumar (Bihar), and Chitranjan Dhulai of Madhya Pradesh, officials said.
