Would you ever think that an auto-wala from our country would someday end up in Switzerland? Ranjit Singh Raj – an auto-wala from Jaipur who is currently living in Geneva, knows how to speak French, and has his own YouTube channel!
According to a report by NRI Affairs, Ranjit Singh Raj’s story starts from Jaipur, where he drove an auto-rickshaw to make ends meet. He came from a poor family and was dark-complexioned, for which he was insulted and often assaulted, he revealed.
“I was poor and dark-skinned, and I was often at the receiving end of taunts. I used to get very angry. Now I have calmed down as I can see things in perspective.”
“It happened many times when I was insulted, even slapped. I used to feel disgusted. Is it a crime to be poor? As it is, I struggle with my poverty, and you are pulling me down further.”
He was 16 when he started driving an auto-rickshaw.
“I am 10th-fail. I wasn’t good at my studies, but my folks sent me to school ‘to become something’.”
However, Ranjit had a hidden entrepreneurial spirit waiting to come out. When he saw how other auto drivers spoke in foreign languages like French and Spanish to attract tourists, he had an idea. He decided to learn English and open his own tourism business. He soon started to show tourists around Rajasthan.
That’s when he met his future wife. She was from France who visited India with another friend. He showed her around Jaipur and soon, they fell in love.
After she went back to France, they spoke on video-call often and soon realised that they wanted to be together. He decided to go to France to visit her.
But then came the problems from the French Embassy, who rejected his visa several times. However, his girlfriend came down to India, the two met officials from the Embassy who then granted him a tourist visa for 3-months.
In 2014, the two got married. They even had kids. Ranjit then applied for a long-term visa. He was told to learn French, and so he did!
Ranjit also runs a YouTube channel where he teaches his audience how to cook. How did it start? Well, after landing in France, he suffered a culture shock. The French ate completely different kinds of foods which he wasn’t used to. So he started cooking for himself and over time, he got better at it. He then decided to share his cooking with the rest of the world digitally. He hopes to open his own restaurant one day.
“I do not believe that being a school dropout or being a B-Tech makes such a big difference. I believe it depends on a person’s attitude. If a person makes the right life choices, works hard and follows his passion, success will follow, with or without a formal education,” he said.
What a wonderful journey this man has had!