The Living Tycoons

Les Brown, a popular American motivational speaker, once said, “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living in our fears”, which is very much true. ‘Living’ as per the definition given in The Free Dictionary is ‘possessing life’, ‘full of life’, ‘vitality’, ‘true to life’, ‘realistic’, etc. I know many people who live in fear — both near, dear and far — but only very few people live their lives to the fullest, with joy constantly radiating in their face. One such couple are Andre and his wife Bobby in Auroville, with whom I have a fond relationship since 1996.

A year ago, I was clearing the drawers in my desk at the office, disposing of unwanted stuff. There were hundreds of visiting cards that had accumulated for the past twenty years and I decided to view them one by one in order to reminisce about my past contacts before I could do away with them. Then, I came upon one of the most preciously preserved business cards of my then customer and friend, Andre Deplechin, who was manufacturing leather goods at Auroville, Pondicherry. Andre, a member of Auroville, manufactures hand-made leather goods under the brand ‘Amano’ which means ‘by hand’ — ‘A’ means ‘by’ and ‘mano’ means ‘hand’. Their products stood apart from many other branded leather products and occupied a niche position both in India and overseas.

Andre’s wife Bobby hails from Bristol and is an expert in crochet or croatia knitting which she learnt from her grandmother at the age of four that helped her become a highly successful fabricator of children’s and ladies garments. As part of the Auroville culture, both Andre and Bobby have trained many of the local villagers in the art of making those wonderful authentic hand-made products. The moment I took Andre’s card in my hand, my memory raced back to the strong bondage I had with my friend about twenty years ago and I instinctively called him on the mobile number indicated in the card.

“Hi Andre, I am Prem here,” I surprised him. “My God! Prem!” He was totally shocked, “Where are you and how are you?” We went on with our excited talk for about half hour and then I said, “Andre, I missed you for twenty years. When can I see you?” “Prem, come anytime before I leave for Hawaii to see my newly born grandson.” Despite all the excitement, I could only plan the reunion with my friend after one year due to the travel restrictions. At last, the trip to Auroville materialised last week, but on reaching Chennai, I had to meet another friend; not an old one like Andre, however. He wanted my legal advice on a burning issue. He is into a certain software marketing and he was facing a threat which involved high profile customers because of some loose ends in the services rendered by a global platform. After hearing his hysterical narration of his concern for about an hour, I said, “I expected that you would land up in such a problem one day, but I am glad that you are learning your lesson early.” He was shocked by my blunt statement and asked, “Sir, how could you say something like that?” I said, “I know that you are a very highly qualified software technocrat and that you had worked hard for the past ten years to reach the stage you are in now, but I have never seen you being cool or in peace ever since I’ve known you.” I continued, “Whenever I speak to you on the phone, I feel that you are being chased by someone and it is not you who is after a certain destination.” I paused, “Anyway, please send me a note on the said issue and I promise to counsel you on an amicable way out of the present crisis and we shall also strategise a permanent solution, but you should promise me that you will brief me in detail when you visit my office in Hyderabad so that I can learn more about the mode of the cybercrime that we are dealing with.” Saying so, I bid him bye and left for Auroville by road.

I arrived at Auroville in the late afternoon and I was not at all surprised to find that Andre was as feisty as before and while I embraced him in joy, I felt no flesh at all, he was all bones with fine taut strands of muscles. He is presently 68 years old but the agility is just like old times. “My God, Andre, you have no flesh at all, your body shows your skeleton,” I said. “Yeah, you give me some flesh of yours, Prem” Andre quipped with a big laugh. Andre keeps himself fit, both in mind and body, by partaking in multiple sports activities, such as cycling, sailing, sea diving and so on. His wife Bobby greeted me with a big smile and announced that I was also invited for dinner along with them to their friend’s house that evening. All through dinner, there were lively and healthy conversations where my opinions were also acknowledged and I observed that there were no cultural barriers at all. It was pure humanness. I observed with awe that both Andre and Bobby were celebrating their present life in full throttle.

Andre was born on 18th March 1953 at Lille in the North of France which is near to the Belgium border. At the age of seventeen, Andre completed his Diploma in Art Graphics which was complementary to advertising and printing in the newspaper industry. At the age of 20, Andre had to compulsorily enrol in the French Army and his posting was at Tahiti where the French were experimenting with their nuclear explosions. After a vigorous one year stint in the Army at Polynesia, Andre returned to France and ran through several jobs at a printing factory, telegraph office and also at a ski resort as a ski-lift assistant.

At the age of 23, Andre bought a Volkswagen minibus and drove down to Kabul which was almost 5,584 kilometres from France. It was in the year 1977, two years prior to the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, that Andre drove to Kabul, via Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, and Iran — travelling for almost six months and then he returned back to Lille. Andre had an unquenchable passion to travel and learn the ways of different cultures and search for spiritual insights of other faiths. It was those times when The Beatles also visited Rishikesh at the foot of the Himalayas to connect with the spiritual teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was the time when there was a movement of the Western youngsters like Andre who were in search of a refined way of life. Before he took off on his second journey Andre once again worked at Val D’sere — the famous ski resort in France — to make enough money for a second trip to India.

Andre sold his minivan in 1977 and restarted his journey by train and thereafter hitchhiked from Kabul to Pakistan and then came into India through the Wagah border, the famous crossing point to India from Pakistan. Andre visited Amritsar where he spent a few days in awe at the Golden Temple, a spiritual landmark, while he was looking for answers. Thereafter, Andre travelled to Srinagar and spent a few days in a houseboat, and then to Delhi, Jaipur and to Bombay, and from there, he travelled to Goa by boat and stayed there for quite a long time. Andre continued his journey from Goa to Kerala, then to Karnataka and finally, reached Pondicherry which he felt was too French-like, hence he moved to Rameswaram. In his travels, Andre witnessed the variety of cultures in India and pursued his search for true happiness. He found that sports was also necessary to make life exhilarating, to succeed in any profession and to reach the gates of ever-lasting happiness. From Rameswaram, Andre took a boat to Talaimannar, the southern coast of Sri Lanka, where at Arugam Bay he got addicted to surfing giant waves.

From Sri Lanka, Andre travelled to Nepal where he made certain friends who spoke about the philosophy of the great Aurobindo and ‘The Mother’. It was then that Andre travelled to Auroville and realised he had found the answers to his years-long search and a destination that became close to his heart and mind. But to continue at Auroville, Andre wanted to acquire some specialised skills to establish himself at Auroville, so he travelled to Ibiza, the third largest of the Balearic Islands of the Spanish autonomous territory, where he reconnected with a person named Javier who was making artful handbags along with him earlier. They both worked for a shop owner who taught Andre and his friend the profound art of making bags by hand, which included even dyeing, stitching, hand carving and other exotic art styles to make the bags attractive. It was there that Andre acquired the art of artistic handmade leather bags that earned his employer a good reputation.

After a year in Ibiza, Andre returned to Auroville where he started living alone in the minimal accommodations provided by the Committee of Auroville. Andre took a small hand loan and purchased a few pieces of vegetable-tanned leather from which he made five bags on his own. Out of the five, only two were purchased by an American lady and the balance three remained in stock. From the sale of the two bags, Andre bought ten more pieces of leather and he made about a dozen bags of which he gave a few to a shop in Pondicherry. A month passed and then the first stroke of luck — a lady named Ramola Rao from Bandra, Bombay, saw the exotic bags on display at Pondicherry and immediately contacted Andre. The first order from Ramola Rao was 25 bags, at which time Andre employed his first worker and trained him. Thereafter, Andre began to make approximately five hundred bags per month all by himself which had a value of not less than Rs 15 to 20 lakh. Andre participated many times at the Madras Leather Fair but did not crave for large-scale orders due to his constraint of such quality-oriented products that are handmade. He rather waited patiently for success to arrive at his doorstep and did not make his life miserable, entrapped into the ambition of becoming a large-scale player. The success of the bags at Bandra took off in an unexpected manner in Andre’s life. It was then, in 1989, that he met his life partner Bobby, an English lady who was living in Auroville since she was 25. They have built their house with minimal luxury and have no extraordinary wants other than whatever they love to do when they are at home and during the weekends.

Andre’s weekly itinerary consists of cycling on three days where the distance covered per day is about ninety kilometres, totalling to two hundred and seventy kilometres per week. Andre has even won the Mountain Bike Himalayan races at Shimla about five times and has also participated in tough terrains at Nepal, such as the Yak Attack from Kathmandu to Pokhara, the path of which goes around Mount Annapurna at an altitude of 5,416 metres at which point the temperature is -25 degrees Celsius while passing through Thorong La Pass. Sailing is also a sport Andre indulges in now and then when the weather permits. To be a successful entrepreneur, one also has to be a great sportsman.

Andre and Bobby live their life thoroughly. Both do not get weary of their entrepreneurial activities, for they do not run for more than what they can enjoy. They prefer to socialise with their friends at Auroville and exchange good vibes. Andre and Bobby experienced reality and learnt to become better people. Even though they were both very successful, they realised that it was worth downsizing their activities as they aged. When I bid him goodbye and thanked him and his wife for the love and warmth they had showered on me, Andre said “Prem, don’t wait for another 25 years to meet your friend.” The advice had a very deep meaning and I was glad that it was enough inspiration to change the course of my life.

On my return to Chennai, the meeting with my software friend continued at Trident Hotel near the Airport and as I received the note, he stated, “You were right in our last meeting and many people think that I am not even aware of certain minor issues, for instance that ‘my coffee is getting cold’ and that I was too much involved in my work, uncaring for other issues.” he continued. “In the process I had forgotten to force the threats.” To which I replied, “To be more precise, I would state that you are not living at all, you are only fearing that you will lose the success.” He immediately reacted once again, “What to do, Sir, I was not born with a silver spoon, to me every second is important.” I just said, “You mean to say that in order to have a better life, you ignore living those moments, but do the impossible by trying to reimburse the past.” I advised, “I just witnessed the life of two wonderful people and I recommend you to read my blog next week. Maybe you will be inspired by them.” And as I stood up to leave for the airport, I said, “By the way, my friends about whom I am writing my next blog were also not born with a silver spoon, but they live like tycoons of humongous wealth called life.”

During my two-day stay with Andre and Bobby, I did not hear any complaint from either or anything they regretted, they were more than content with the lives they lived. Andre is soon leaving for Hawaii to see his daughter and grandson, and Bobby has grandchildren and great grandchildren too. Andre and Bobby keep themselves fit even in their late sixties. Rich in heart with no unfulfilled wants and wishes, living the life what one originally craves for. The Dalai Lama stated, ‘We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” Andre and Bobby had found peace long ago and are living their lives as they had dreamt.