Page 9 - Dec 2021 ST
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betrayal. Inner conflicts are heavier. And         father’s hands, Madhupati retreated to
         consequences are more disastrous.                  Singapore and signed a family settlement
          The principal characters are father and           agreement that he now regrets. His children
         son. Let us look at the father. Vijaypat           have challenged it in court. This dense
         Singhania, a man who admits to cheating            declamatory family drama is not about
         on his wife to performing historic deeds           to end very soon. The matters will go to
         like flying in a balloon across the ocean          the Supreme Court and the whole world
         or piloting a single engine aircraft from          will see the tamasha of a rich and famous
         London to Mumbai.                                  family. What happens to love? Do rich
          A man of the world, amongst the leaders           parents not infuse love into their children?
         of the Indian business who steers one of           Nobody seems to love each other in this
         leading textile mills into the #1 clothing         family drama.
         brand in India.
          “That fateful day was 13 February 2015.
         The day I made the stupidest mistake of my
         life. And signed a letter that would change
         the shape of my life forever”.
          Vijaypat goes on to admit it was the
         most stupid decision of his life in gifting
         his shareholding to his son Gautam. The
         question is why did he do it. And there is
         no logical answer. The family has gone
         through many arbitrations, court cases that
         took 25 long years to settle and even after an
         arbitration award that gave a Juhu property        Vijaypat Singhania: Facebook picture
         to another cousin, Vijaypat refused to              People who have been watching the affairs
         vacate it till the family got another court        of the Singhania family say that this is a
         order. All roads point to empathy because          part of Vijaypat’s karma who deprived his
         everyone has a story to tell. Exacting             brother Ajaypat’s family of his share in the
         revenge, betrayed trust. It’s a movie full         Raymond group after his death.
         of side-conflicts that amp up a sense of            What goes around, comes around.
         injury. Manipulative add emotionally                The family that has had so much wealth
         engineered, the story has not ended yet. It        has quarrelled like jungle jackals over
         will be endlessly long and complex if the          stolen meat and have been in and out of
         Supreme Court does cancel Vijaypat’s gift          courts. Vijaypat laments that he is no
         deed under the Maintenance and Welfare             longer the Chairman Emeritus of Raymond.
         of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, it       He has been thrown out of his office that
         will be indeed a sweet endearing victory for       contained all his documents including the
         Vijaypat.                                          Padma Bhushan given by the Government
          At the heart of this conflict is a 1999           of India. He has also been thrown out of his
         family agreement between Vijaypat                  house in J K House on Warden Road and
         and his elder son Madhupati. Rather                does not have access to his home in London.
         than face continuous humiliation at his             His book, An Incomplete Life, is a load of


        SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #30 | DECEMBER 2021                                                           9
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