'Destiny is a matter of choice, not chance'

Dhirubhai Ambani’s older daughter Dipti and her business tycoon husband Raj Salgaocar talk about love, life and family ties  

“Show me the frame,” Dipti Salgaocar tells the photographer as he gets ready to shoot her and husband Dattaraj (Raj) at their beautiful estate in Goa. “You have to take a tight shot, compose it well,” Raj adds, and the photographer’s bewilderment is apparent. After all, not many subjects are as hands on. Dipti and Raj, both scions of famous families, are different though.

“I have always been hands on,” Dipti tells us. “Whether it is raising my children or looking after our homes, or even running a school, as I do now, I have to be involved. In fact, I used to call myself a domestic engineer, because that is the skill required to manage everything.” Not that she should have had any problem acquiring those skills—she got them as a legacy from her father Dhirubhai Ambani.
 
So did Raj—his father V M Salgaocar started from “scratch”, as he himself puts it, and went on to build one of Goa’s most well known business houses with interests in mining and hospitality.  “We have a lot of similarities. Both our fathers were self made men; they both started from scratch and rose to great heights. In fact, they were both good friends.”

Marriage
So, was their marriage a coming together of two big business houses? “Actually, it wasn’t, because we had a love marriage. I was in Mumbai to study, and lived at Usha Kiran building where the Ambanis also lived. Mukesh and I are the same age and we were good friends. So was Anil, who is two years younger than us. I met Dipti, we fell in love and told our families, who agreed immediately. It was the first wedding in her family, but the last wedding in mine, because I am the youngest of seven children,” Raj narrates.

Dipti admits that for a “pucca” Mumbai girl like her, coming to Goa was somewhat of a shock. “I remember I came to the house and was shocked at the size of it. I thought to myself that this is a hanging garden. And for that moment, I missed living in an apartment. But my in-laws, especially my father-in-law, were wonderful. They made sure that I had everything I needed to be comfortable.”

Even though, she admits, that it was not always easy. “My mother-in-law could only speak in Konkani and my need to communicate with her was so great that I learnt Konkani,” she smiles. When I got married in 1983, there was nothing in Goa, and I remember cribbing to my dad about it. And he would say to just do whatever it takes to change it. At that time, we had nothing here, so he installed a huge satellite dish because we had to watch CNN. He gifted me a fax machine and he used to send me faxes every day. Even for my kids, ever since they were two years old, my father would communicate with them via fax. And those were the days when there were no fax machines in Goa at all.”

Children
No wonder then, the Dhirubhai Ambani stamp is evident on the two Salgaocar kids as well. Both Vikram and Esheta were extremely close to their grandfather, but Vikram especially spent a lot of time with him. “We keep teasing him that he has been educated in the Dhirubhai Ambani University. My father took keen interest in him, and in honing his business sense. He was his first and favourite grandchild.” 

Vikram, who graduated from the Wharton Business school last year (the same university that his father and uncles went to), is currently working in the US, but Raj makes it clear that coming home figures in his son’s plans. “There is so much to do here. India is booming. He has worked with Mukesh in Reliance Communications and with Anil in the mutual funds business, so he has an idea. He himself is keen to come back and join the family business. Maybe in a year or two,” he adds.

Dipti admits that she does miss her children not being at home (Esheta is also studying in America), but what with activities in Goa and frequent visits to Mumbai, there isn’t much time to sit and brood. “I don’t miss Mumbai anymore, but I love Mumbai. I love the buzz of the city, the fact something is always happening. However, I consider myself a born again Goan now.  I still feel that the quality of life we have given our children here is something we could never have done in Mumbai. We have spent a lot of time with them and they have come out very well-grounded. “We keep visiting Mumbai of course, because my family is there and that is a big draw.”

Family bonds
When the topic veers towards family, it is but natural to ask about the strife between her two brothers. Dipti is known to be close to them, so has the Ambani feud affected her at all? Noticeably, her voice drops several notches when she answers the question, almost haltingly. “I am still very close to both of them… for me it’s been fine throughout this whole phase. I have tried to maintain a balance and I have come out a winner in all this… we have such strong bonds between all of us that I have not let any of this affect me much. We have all emerged out of this closer than before.”

Does she hope for a reconciliation? “It’s destiny, if it happens, it will. I don’t want to comment on it any more. My father always told me, destiny is a matter of choice, not chance. I believe in that very much,” she says with a note of finality.
 
j_shilpa@dnaindia.net