Before the world taught me anything, my mother, Shantaben, did. My first classroom was not a school. It was my mother’s lap. That is where I first heard the stories of our epics — stories that carried lessons far deeper than any textbook ever could.

One story stayed with me.

The story of Kaushalya from the Ramayana, a mother who watched her son, Lord Rama, give up the rights to his kingdom and leave Ayodhya to walk into exile for fourteen years. As a child I did not fully understand the depth of that sacrifice. I could not yet grasp what it meant for a mother to stand there and watch her son walk away into an uncertain future.

But many years later, I began to understand that moment differently.

At sixteen, I left home for Mumbai with almost nothing in my pocket and only a young man’s belief that he must try to build something of his own. 

My mother let me go.

I have thought about that moment many times over the years. A mother who had given her youngest child everything she could, and then found the courage to let him walk into the unknown.

In that moment, I sometimes wonder if she remembered the very stories she had once told me.

Perhaps every Indian mother carries a little of Kaushalya within her, the quiet strength to let her child step away from the safety of home and into his own destiny.

Many decades later, when we launched the Adani Indology Initiative on the day of the Ayodhya temple inauguration, I found myself thinking again about those childhood evenings listening to my mother.

Those stories did more than entertain a child. They planted in me a belief that civilizations endure when their values are remembered and passed on from one generation to the next.

And over the years I have come to believe something deeply.

There are beautiful storytellers in our country. But there is no greater storyteller of our epics than an Indian mother. Through those stories, our mothers quietly pass on courage, sacrifice, duty and faith. Values that shape a lifelong before the world begins to measure success.

If my mother gave me my values, my wife Priti has been the keeper of my conscience.

When we got married, Priti was a qualified dentist with a promising career ahead of her. Yet she chose a very different path. She stepped away from her profession and in many ways from her own identity to dedicate her life to building the Adani Foundation.

What began as a small initiative has today touched over 10 million lives across 22 states of India spanning education, healthcare, sustainable livelihoods and community development.

But what moves me most are not the numbers.

Every evening when I return home after a long day at work, Priti typically has a story waiting. A story about a child whose future has changed. A farmer who now sees hope. A girl who stood up for what she believed in. A family that now has opportunity.

And if there is one way to end a demanding day, however late I get back, it is by listening to these stories that Priti waits to tell me. Because they increasingly remind me that progress is not measured by what we build but by whose lives we improve.

In public life, people often see the leader. They rarely see the partner who is the compass. Priti has been that compass for me.

I have two sons — Karan and Jeet. For many years I quietly wondered what it might have been like to have a daughter. And so when Paridhi and Diva entered our family, they did not join us as daughters-in-law, they became daughters from day one.

Both of them have built impressive identities of their own. Paridhi is a remarkable lawyer — thoughtful, sharp, and able to engage across an extraordinary range of subjects. Conversations with her are always stimulating because she brings both clarity and curiosity to everything she discusses.

Diva expresses herself in a very different way. She is one of the most imaginative designers I know, bringing creativity and artistry into everything she creates. But what I admire most is her deep compassion and her commitment to working with the specially-abled, using her creativity to make a real difference in their lives.

And beyond their achievements, they have brought something equally valuable into our family — diversity of thought, fresh perspectives and new energy. And with the arrival of Karan's daughters, the balance in our household has certainly shifted.

Because in our family of nine today, six are now women. Which means quite simply that in our home we have no choice — every day is Women’s Day.

And now I come to the three apples of my eye, my three granddaughters. My colleagues know that when I am in the office, it’s all about intense discussions. But there is one interruption everyone has come to recognize and that is the moment my granddaughters walk in through the doors. 

In that instant, the Chairman in me disappears and a grandfather quietly takes his place. Their laughter has a way of dissolving the seriousness of any boardroom. Their curiosity reminds me how beautifully simple the world looks through the eyes of a child. And when their tiny hands reach out for mine, I am reminded of the extraordinary trust that the next generation places in us.

A man can spend his life building ports, airports, power plants and businesses. He can spend decades chasing scale, ambition and progress. But when a granddaughter climbs on to his lap and looks at him with complete trust in her eyes, everything becomes clear.

Why we build!

Because the world we are shaping must be worthy of every child growing up in this country. 

So, today, on this Women's day, I simply want to say thank you.

To my mother, who gave me the values that shaped my life.

To Priti, who has been my conscience and the quiet force behind a mission that has touched millions of lives.

To Paridhi and Diva, who brought strength, talent and perspective into our family.

And to my granddaughters, who remind me every day that the future must be worthy of the next generation.

And if the world remembers anything from my journey, I hope it remembers this — the strongest foundations in life are not built with concrete or steel, they are always built by the people who shape who we become!

Happy Women's Day to all!