Dr. Narinder Ravi Goyal was born in Barnala, Punjab, India in 1954. His father Sh. Jot Ram and mother Sarffi Devi were part of a freedom fighter family. His nickname was Ravi, and after starting to write in College, was referred to as Narinder Ravi.
In 1965, when he was in the fifth grade, he began selling radishes in order to collect money to send for donation to support the Indian military who at the time were in a war against Pakistan. In fact, he was the most successful fundraiser, and was awarded a first- place prize.
In 1966, at the age of 12, he attended All-India Indira Holiday Home Camp in Kasoli (now in H.P.) for 22 days, and received best volunteer award.
In 1967, he played the role of Jangam (a religious monk of Lord Shiva) as part of a festival and received first prize. He was also part of the basketball team in school and won runner up, Inter-School tournament.
In 1968 he joined S.D. College in Barnala and completed his B.A. with Honors in Political Science.
During his College time, he was a part of the Football Team, and won the inter-college tournament held in Punjabi University, Patiala. He was also part of the College Volleyball Team, and was runner-up in the inter-college tournament which was held in Faridkot. As Secretary of the Friend’s Volleyball Club, he organized the All-India Volleyball Shooting Tournament, held in Rambag Grounds in Barnala. He held a position as editor of the College Magazine.Not only was he actively involved in student politics, but also attended the All India inter-university youth festival held in Lakhnow and was the winner of group song. He was also a member of the NCC and NSS Cadets.
In 1971, all students of the three colleges of Punjabi University (SD college Barnala, Mansa and Budlada) had been suspended for two years under UMC (unfair means case). The reason was because the University accused the students of copying each other during their English Exam. Against the decision of the University, all 500 of these students decided to make a committee to take action. Dr. Ravi and Major Singh Sohar were the head of this committee to fight for their rights against this injustice in the High Court of Punjab. The committee led some protests infront of the Punjabi University and were all arrested temporarily. This case spent one year in the High Courts, with the aid of the lawyers, Mr. Jaganath Kushal & Mr. Kapil Sibbel-both former law ministers of India. At that time there was much conflict with the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. Due to it being so dangerous, they travelled to the courts during blackouts. Ultimately, we lost the case but that case was very popular and important during those times.
In 1974, he joined Punjabi University in Patiala for his Masters in Philosophy, and then received his Ph.D. Scholarship in Comparative Religion. During his tenure at Punjabi University, he was General Secretary of the Research Scholar Association. He also pursued and completed his Bachelor of Tibetian Language, and stood first in his University in this program.
Finally, after finishing his studies at Punjabi University, he left with Masters in Philosophy, Master of Literature in Religious Studies, and Ph.D. in Comparative Religion.
Prof. Ravi also taught in various Colleges in Punjab. In fact, at the young age of 22 years, he was appointed as Professor of Government College for Women in Ludhiana. At the time, there were two separate colleges, one for men, the other for women; on his first day as Professor there, he was initially denied entry to the College by the gatekeeper and jokingly told to go to the Men’s College, as this was girl’s only; only after confirming with the College Principal, did the security guard apologetically let him pass.
He later transferred to Government College in Mukthsar, and then later to Government College for Women in Amritsar, and finally to Government College in Kotkapura until 1987.
In 1978, he ran for Barnala City Counsellor, and unfortunately lost. After that, he decided not to run again due to an incident he experienced while campaigning. While canvassing, a member of the community asked for Prof. Ravi’s promise that he would get him a job, although the voter had only completed the eleventh grade. Prof. Ravi knew how difficult the job market was so he did not feel comfortable making the promise, since he knew he may not have been able to fulfill it. Afterwards, he was told by senior members in his support that in Politics, you never refuse to make a promise, even if you know it cannot be fulfilled.At that point, Prof. Ravi decided he would never contest any future elections, as this did not sit right with him. After this, he joined Punjab Tourism as Senior Project Officer; as part of this job he worked in QueensflowerNeelon (between Ludhiana and Chandigarh), Chandigarh, Bhatinda, Shambu, etc. He had such an excellent record of bringing Hotels that were going into financial losses into profits, , so much so that the Gov’t of Punjab refused to accept his resignation.
In 1980, he married Kamlesh Bansal, who at that time had just completed her Masters in English and joined Women’s College in Jaitu as Professor, and then later worked as founder Principal of Pharmacy College in Moga.
In 1987, Dr. Goyal came to Canada with his wife and two young daughters Kimmy and Fenny. Due to financial obligations at the time, they put their teaching careers on hold and began a small business, which then grew to a large, successful furniture company- Simmon Furniture Ltd.- with stores in both retail and manufacturing. He had stores in Koslov Mall in Barrie; Central Parkway Mall in Missisauga; Georgetown’s Marketplace Mall; Galleria Mall in Toronto; and other stores in Oshawa, Scarborough, Snelgrove, and Brampton.
He also spent both time and money contributing to the Liberal Party of Canada and remained a close personal friend of some Ministers, MP’s, and MPP’s.
He also has multiple articles published in various Indian Newspapers in Toronto from 2006-2008. Some of the more popular articles included: ‘Paul Martin as Finance Minister Hero and as Prime Minister Zero’, ‘Captain Amrinder Singh vs. Mahraja Sher Singh Patiala’, ‘O Mind Remember Your Power’ (this article was for all IAS and IPS Officers of India to help them realize their rights and responsibilities), ‘City Election of Brampton 2006′, ‘Who Am I?’, ‘What is the Concept of God, and How Can we Recognize and Where Can we Find?’.
In 2009, he published a book entitled ‘The Importance of a Perfect Living Master’ in the United States. He is now working towards writing his two latest books, Kathputli (Puppet) and Seva&Simran (Service & Meditation).
He retired in 2008 and has been living in Brampton for the last 27 years, with his wife, and three kids, all of whom are now grown. His eldest daughter is working as a Family Physician in Brampton, another has completed her MD and his son Dr. Ankush has started family practice in Brampton.
On July 4th 2016, he opened B&C Medical Centre in Brampton. Under the same roof this medical centre provides physiotherapy, chiropractor services, urgent care, walk-in, and family practice, IDA pharmacy, sahara counselling, and vision centre. This urgent care and pharmacy opens 365 days and Dr. Ankush Goyal along with 3 other doctors look after this urgent care. Dr. Ravi is the CEO of this organization. Also, in 2017 he started a radio program every Monday on 770 AM, called Mind and Body. Due to the success of this radio program, Dr. Ravi also started a TV program on E-Awaaz called Mind and Body which airs every Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.