Exactly. December 25, Christmas Day.
When my sister took me shopping, I had to carry the cart, and it was a very different experience for me because we used to have a servant in our house and here I'm carrying the cart behind my sister. So I told my sister I wanted to go back. My father hid my passport and told me I could not leave until I became a citizen.
Fortunately I got a very good job with PWA, Pacific Western Airlines. My very first night experience, again in the winter, I got an evening shift, so I was done by one in the morning and there was no bus leaving from the airport. I had to walk in the snow in my shoes almost 9 or 10 miles. I didn't know how to catch the bus or which bus to catch or anything. So another bad experience, crying to my father that I wanted to go back. “No”.
My father was an ex-army officer, from the British Army, by the way, and his rules were it and you had to listen to him. So, fine. Finally I settled myself here and got into some other business, such as driving a taxi. Then I got into the taxi business and bought my own taxis in 1980. At that time I was only 23 years old. Then I got married. I have three wonderful children and a lovely wife. Then I started enjoying myself here.
I lived in a very small room where I was really enjoying my life back in India. Here I lived in a small room and from there I grew up and I did excellent. I got into some business. I worked for the B.C. government. Finally about 13 or 14 years ago I started doing business back and forth with India, real estate, buying property and developing that into resorts. That is the experience I am going to share with everybody, and a few other experiences back in India, for the last 14 or 15 years. That's me.
Anyway, I'm going to talk about India. Everybody is talking about India as booming. Yes, but we do have some problems. There are problems everywhere, not only in India but in Canada and America. Everywhere. But some countries know how to resolve the problems and some countries don't. India is one of them.
I am aware that running a business in India is not an easy task because that was my own experience, especially for us Canadians. It is difficult, no doubt, but not impossible. Running a business is one thing, but running it successfully and maintaining that success is another story altogether, for the reason that you never know when some top-notch politician is going to come along and demand a piece of the pie from you. They want to have a share, and they would like to give you some money—or they might not give you the money. It is not only politicians but some bureaucrats also. They will demand this if you are doing very well.
I know this from my own personal experience and that of some of my good friends. One of my close friends is a Canadian citizen and he also came in 1976. He invested almost $1 million in India in 2002. He ended up having this problem of this kind and finally he had to leave the country, take his money out, and he came back with $500,000 less.
These are the negative things we have in India. As Canadians, we are used to getting things done systematically. When no system works in India, or it is manipulated, it leads to a lot of frustration and unwanted stress, which I have gone through from time to time myself in the last 13 or 14 years.
When you enter India, no matter where you go, corrupt people will find you. You will come across them everywhere. But to find good people...yes, there are some good people. Even in politics there are some good people.