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The Silent Heroes<br />
The genetic line that I come from makes me uneasy with any form of public<br />
interaction. But, the making of <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong> has been an incredible experience and I am<br />
happy to share my story, as witness to its unfolding. While most people will naturally<br />
be documenting my mother’s effort in this, I write this as a tribute to my father, along<br />
with a grateful acknowledgment to the universe that birthed me to two of the nicest,<br />
albeit differently built people. I know that mom and the most incredible job she and<br />
her team have done to build this Centre will be talked about in-depth by many, for a<br />
long time to come, but the silent, invisible ‘Mr. India’ in this project has been my dad<br />
Sanjiv Beri. You may not see his contributions at the design stage or at the conceptual<br />
level. And even if you do, it’s probably somewhere where it’s not looking ideal.<br />
The most admirable quality of my dad is his uncluttered mind when it comes to his<br />
decision-making ability for his family. <strong>Ichol</strong>, like many other decisions before this,<br />
was never an inspired, strategic, or thought out decision, where he sweated over a<br />
budget or laboured over the function or ideals of the centre. It was a decision that<br />
stemmed from a simple thought – ‘would it make Ambica happy’.<br />
At an early age, I learned that I could bargain for pretty much anything from my<br />
father, if I produced a tear at the right place and the right time. That’s how easy it<br />
was, not only for me, but for the entire family, to get anything out of him. I too have<br />
inherited this trait which makes my decision-making fairly simple - would it make<br />
mom happy? I know how hard my mom and nana have worked on <strong>Ichol</strong>, but I also<br />
know that without papa giving a them an absolutely free hand to use, misuse or<br />
downright abuse his infrastructure in Maihar, <strong>Ichol</strong> could not have been conceived,<br />
nor be the place it is today. I remember the day our huge pay loader got stuck in the<br />
mud at <strong>Ichol</strong> and it took the mine staff three days to get it out of there and back to<br />
the mines.<br />
There are many silent heroes among our staff at SNS Minerals (our family-run<br />
company), whose lives have been thrown out of gear on more than a few occasions<br />
when it came to dealing with mom, Narayan or nana. I owe gratitude and thanks<br />
to Himanshu Kothari ji, RD Singh, J. P. Chaurasia, Ravi Singh ji, Chowdhury ji and<br />
photo courtesy: art ichol
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