On his 95th birthday, KP Singh shares his mantra for success and some life lessons

It was an evening of business and life lessons, and some anecdotes as property baron and entrepreneur KP Singh took over the stage to interact with a small gathering a couple of days before his 95th birthday. From sharing risks and challenges that he took as a business leader to his life philosophy, KP Singh delved into various topics during the conversation with his friend and author Pavan K Varma and author and leadership coach Aparna Jain. One thing that often comes up in any discussion with Singh is his “mantra for longevity” and he shared, “Always be positive in life, look positive even in darkest situations, every cloud has a silver lining. Always have a vision, never give up, work hard and be active, in my view these are the fundamentals of living happily and long. I followed it and I am sure you will also follow the same,” he said.

‘I wrote a 22-page letter for my family after my wife passed away’
During the conversation, Singh shared some bits from his personal life and one of them was about a letter that he wrote for his family after the passing away of his wife Indira Singh. He shared, “When my late wife, whom I loved dearly, passed away after 65 years of very happily married life, I wrote a letter for my family. I know what she did for me, the backing she gave me, but my children, grandchildren would not know about it. I took the courage on the third day after she passed away and I thought that I must pen down a letter for them. I sat down at 9.30pm and finished at 4am. It was a 22-page letter. It is all about what contribution she made to my life to make me what I am today. It was in that context a historical document to leave behind. Normally such letters go to dustbins, but I suggest that my children and grandchildren read that time and again to know what happened in the lives of their grandparents.”

‘I want to share my story, experiences, how I succeeded with others’
After his autobiography, Singh has also come up with another book, Why The Heck Not, co-authored by Aparna Jain. When asked about why come up with the book now, Singh said, “There is a distinction between retired and tired. Yes, I may have retired from my executive role, but I am never tired. When I go through a memory lane of my life, my long term memory is extremely sharp, I remember every incident. So, I thought that before I move from here, I must share my experiences. When I look back at my life, it was always two steps forward but always one step back. I took decisions which I thought were prudent at that time and time has indicated that. I thought I must share my experiences, particularly what I believe in, it is not necessary that everyone has to follow that, but this becomes a blueprint of how I succeeded. The autobiography is a narration of your life as you remember it, that’s it, there is no conclusion or lessons that come from that. This book is different. I thought that there could be lessons, suggestions I can leave behind for others to keep in mind. By following those I succeeded, so it is good to share your thoughts, it is not necessary that others should also follow those. This is about different aspects of my life, not just about my business.”



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