‘IF ONLY I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW, MY LIFE WOULD BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.’IN FEBRUARY 2015, AN UNFORESEEN SETBACK COST VIJAYPAT SINGHANIA, THE ERSTWHILE CHAIRMAN EMERITUS OF RAYMOND GROUP, THE WORK OF HIS LIFE AND HIS CHERISHED FAMILY HOME. ONE OF INDIA’S MOST LEGENDARY INDUSTRIALISTS, TODAY HE IS FIGHTING A BATTLE TO RECOVER ALL THAT HE HAS LOST. IN HIS FIRST AND ONLY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, HE TRACES HIS EXTRAORDINARY LIFE FROM AN ANGUISHED CHILDHOOD TO THE MANY DYNAMIC DECADES HE SPENT AT RAYMOND AND THE TUMULTUOUS YEARS AFTER. BORN INTO THE FAMED SINGHANIA FAMILY, VIJAYPAT WAS ALWAYS EXPECTED TO TAKE UP THE STORIED FAMILY BUSINESS. BUT NOT ONE TO BE DETERRED FROM PURSUING HIS OWN PASSIONS, HE ALSO NURTURED HIS LOVE FOR ADVENTURE IN THE SKIES AND BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS AS AN AVIATOR, SERVED A BRIEF STINT AS A PROFESSOR AND EVEN BECAME THE SHERIFF OF MUMBAI FOR A TIME. ALL THE WHILE, UNDER HIS STEWARDSHIP, THE RAYMOND GROUP DIVERSIFIED INTO NEW SEGMENTS, WITH RAYMOND SOON BEING RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED APPAREL BRANDS. AND THEN A SINGULAR MISSTEP SET IN MOTION A GRAVE MISFORTUNE … INTIMATE, CANDID AND DEEPLY MOVING, AN INCOMPLETE LIFE IS IN FACT A RARE GLIMPSE INTO A LIFE LIVED TO THE FULLEST BUT MARKED BY THE PAINFUL STING OF REGRET AND HEARTBREAKS.
विजयपत सिंघानिया म्हणजे भारतीय उद्योगसमूहातलं अग्रगण्य नाव. पण त्यांची ओळख फक्त रेमंड उद्योग समूहापुरती मर्यादित नाही. हा उद्योगपती ओळखला जातो त्याच्या अगम्य जिद्दीसाठी. मग ते हॉट एअर बलुनमधून ६९ हजार फुटांवरून उड्डाण घेणं असो वा छोट्या विमानातून केलेला विमान प्रवासाचा विक्रम असो. विजयपत आपल्या जीवनप्रवासातून नवा आदर्श घालून देतात. तर त्याच वेळी कौटुंबिक पातळीवर एका हतबल पित्याची कहाणीही ते सांगतात. आपल्या जीवनानुभवांवर कोणताही पडदा न टाकता अभिनिवेषहीन पद्धतीने मांडलेलं त्यांचं हे आत्मकथन म्हणूनच वाचकांवर मोहिनी टाकणारं ठरतं.