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stood the Western way of life. And after eight years abroad, he no longer felt quite at home in his native country. Although unable to meet his relatives’ expectation that his future wife would bring a large dowry into the family, it was important to him that they at least meet the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life.
Rajive believes that there are no wrong decisions in personal or business mat- ters. You must have a feeling for what’s right at any given time. In 1985, he proved it to Beate with his decision [to leave India], although it was not yet clear where they would live. Beate wanted to adapt to his needs: she “wanted to go to another English-speaking country at that time, because Rajive didn’t speak German.” But he argued that she had tried his country, so he would now go with her to Germany.
That’s how they both ended up in Bergisch-Gladbach, then later in Bonn – right on the Rhine, where they fell in love
with the view. The Rhine soon became his second girlfriend, says Gupta. “I can’t leave the Rhine, and therefore I can’t leave Beate.”
In 1987, Beate joined the Market- ing Department of Reynolds Tobacco in Cologne. Rajive’s first venture, mean- while, was to set up and run a stand at a Christmas market in Bad Godesberg selling Indian belts, Indian pictures and some Carrom boards out of a self-made booth. Sixteen years later, Rajive received a surprise visit from Peer Steinbrück, the then Prime Minister of North Rhine-West- phalia. He was greeted by Steinbrück with “I know you! You sold me a Carrom board at the Christmas market.”
I Consummate
Carrom player
In 1987, Rajive had a residence permit,
but no work permit. All his products, including the Carrom boards, sold so well that he started thinking about making a living from it. This idea got an extra
boost when Carrom was mentioned by entertainment show host Jürgen von der Lippe in 1988 and demand for this Indian “finger billiards” game grew rapidly. Coin- cidentally, Rajive also demonstrated the game at Cologne’s well-known game store Feldhaus around that time. After his demonstration he was asked which Carrom board he would recommend. Looking at their prices, he said “neither of these, they’re much too expensive.” Rather than get angry, the store employee promised to buy cheaper products from him. Similar contacts were made through Toys R Us.
Rajive got Indian relatives to supply him with demo copies, but the quality of the boards required refinishing. So, he var- nished them on the balcony of his apart- ment before taking them to Feldhaus. Soon, he had his first order from Feldhaus for 100 copies, and an even larger order from Toys R Us. The new publishing house Queen Carroms Spielwaren GmbH was now officially registered to Beate Haas-
Rajive und Beate:
The Gupta team since the late 1970s
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