MOHAN SINGH OBEROI ON HIMSELF (1900-2002)
I was born on August 15, 1900 in a small
village, Bhaun in Jhelum, Pakistan. The story of my life has been, in many ways, a dramatic one -- full of difficulties and hardships, in earlier days and later a spectacular rise to the position I now hold.
When I look back to those days, I am thankful that I was able to accept this challenge and make good.
These reflections also make me feel humble for I realise it was with God's help that I achieved what the world calls 'success.'
My father, Shri A S Oberoi was a contractor in Peshawar, who died when I was six months old. The family consisted of my mother and myself. My earlier days were spent in my village.
My studies were cut short after inter as our already meagre finances began to dwindle. This was a moment of anxiety in my life .I learned shorthand and typing to get a
job .
My uncle helped me to get a job in the Lahore Shoe Factory. For a while, things looked brighter but the star of ill
luck was still in the ascendant and soon the factory was closed down for lack of finances and I was compelled to return to my village. In India the importance attached to marriage is beyond all reason. Here I was penniless, jobless and almost friendless, but in spite of these very real disadvantages, my marriage was arranged .
Then a virulent plague
epidemic had broken out and With
Rs 25 in my pocket, I left for Simla to appear for the exam for post of government clerk and failed .
This did not lessen my depression. One day, while passing the Hotel Cecil in Shimla, I suddenly had the urge to go in and try my luck. I had nothing to lose, so I went up and asked if the manager I could have a job in the hotel.
The manager was a kindly English gentleman named D W Grove. I was given the post of billing clerk at Rs 40 and living quarters. With my wife , we started to settle down in our modest home. The quarters were in a bad shape and far from clean, but we were thankful to have a roof over our heads. We had to whitewash the walls ourselves, causing blisters on my hands. Soon after Mr Clarke succeeded Mr Grove as manager. For the first time a small piece of luck came my way.
My knowledge of stenography helped me take over the post of cashier and stenographer to Mr Clarke, and thus began my grounding on how
hotels run. I worked and maintained an interest in my job.
It was while I was working in this capacity that Pandit Motilal Nehru came to stay at the Cecil.Panditji had an important report, which needed to by typed speedily and with care. I sat up all night to complete the report and when I delivered it to him the next morning, he took out a hundred-rupee note and handed it to me with a word of thanks.
This gesture of Panditji's brought tears to my eyes and I quickly left the room. One hundred rupees, which the wealthy throw away, was for me a fortune and made a big difference in my salary.
In 1924, Mr Clarke decided to go into the
Hotel business for himself. He obtained a catering contract for the Delhi Club and asked me to join at a salary of Rs 100.
The Delhi Club contract was only for a year and soon The Clarkes Hotel in Simla was opened. After five years, Mr Clarke decided to retire and made me an offer. Acceptance meant that I would have to mortgage my few assets and my wife's jewellery. The opportunity seemed almost a Godsend. I took over the proprietorship of Clarkes Hotel with the help of a uncle.
It is a strange coincidence that nearly every turn in my life has been associated with an epidemic of some sort. In 1933 there had been a cholera epidemic Calcutta. The Grand Hotel had been closed ever since.
I took the hotel on low leasehold and rented it to army .The fact that I converted a cholera ridden hotel and helped the Army in the time of stress and difficulty had come to the notice of the government. In 1941, I was awarded the title of Rai Bahadur.
From now on my good luck was assured. In 1943, I bought out the controlling shareings of Associated Hotels of India Limited .In this way, I gained control over a big chain of hotels .I employed as one of my general managers, the son of my former boss in Simla, Mr Falleti. The wheel had turned a full circle. I gradually added more hotels to my chain.
India was now independent. I began to feel the world was my oyster -- that I could succeed in anything I attempted.
I was able to open the Oberoi Intercontinental Hotel in 1965.The reward for my labour comes through the fact that this hotel has become one of the most prestigious establishments in India.
My hotels continued to expand outside India . This has been no mean achievement for the village boy, who left his plague infested village in search of a job.