Please tell us something about your early life,
upbringing, and education.
My mother was a Sikh born and brought up in
Kolkata, West Bengal. She moved out of Kolkata
for the first time after her marriage with my
father, who too was an Ahluwalia Sikh. Since it
was my mother’s maika, many of my summer
vacations were spent in Kolkata, because of
which I have a unique affection for the city.
I don’t really know much about my paternal
grandparents because my grandmother had
died at an early age and my grandfather had
become a saint. He lived near Nahan, not far
from Ambala, and I probably met him about
three–four times in my life. Once, we were
passing by Nahan, and my father suggested
that we go and meet him. When we went to visit
him, the only reception that we got from him
was a message, “It’s okay that you have come,
but try not to visit me in the future.” He was a
doctor who practised medicine like they do in
a charitable organisation and did not want any
attachment or contact with his immediate family
members.
My maternal grandfather too had died much
before I was born, but I knew my maternal
grandmother very well. She was the one
responsible for laying my religious foundation.
She used to spend time with me in the evening,
telling me stories from the Sikh tradition,
discussing the sacred Sikh texts, and taking me
to the gurudwara.
My father changed many jobs as a young boy.
He sold watches in Kerala at a time when Sikhs
were unheard of in that region. He was also a
racehorse jockey at the Kolkata race course.
At the time of my birth, he ran an electronic
shop in Rourkela. But he was basically a writer
and a journalist most of his life. He published
a publication called Jathedar from Jalandhar,
which was basically a mouthpiece of the Akali
Dal at that time. My entire family moved from
Jalandhar to New Delhi when I was about nine
years old.
I completed my schooling from Mother’s
International School, New Delhi, and my
economics honours from Hansraj College, Delhi
University. After this I received my diploma in
computer science from NIIT. This is the extent of
my education.How did you start Life Positive magazine?
After I completed my education, I worked for
two companies in a period of five years before
starting my own business in the telecom
sector in 1989. Whenever I went abroad in
connection with my business, I used to see many
publications in the genre of spirituality and
wellness. There was a bookstore called Bodhi
Tree—I believe it still exists—which stocked
books and magazines from the spiritual genre,
with entire magazines dedicated to different
disciplines of spirituality like yoga, tantra, or
reiki, almost 25 years ago. I was surprised to
note that nothing like this existed in India, the
birthplace of spirituality.
Serendipitously, in 1995, I met Parveen Chopra
who was working for India Today. He had just
finished a cover story on the resurgence of the
New Age in India and, together, we decided to
start a publication based on the same values. So
in 1995, we came up with the idea and in 1996,
we launched the magazine.What is your spiritual foundation, considering
that you are the founder of a publication like
Life Positive?
My naani was hugely responsible for laying
my spiritual foundation. She did not have any
sons. She would move from one daughter to
another during a year and spend a lot of time
with us. My mother was one of her favourite
daughters. But when I was in my mid-teens, I
was faced with a tragedy for which I did not
get answers from my religion. At that time, I
turned an atheist. I stopped believing in God
and used to think, ‘How could God do this to
me? How could this event happen in my life?’
But after some time, since my foundation
in religion was quite strong, I became an20 LifePositive | FEBRUARY 2018^