Oberoi, up there with the ‘best of the best’

The one accolade that M.S. Oberoi probably never received in his lifetime was that of pure effrontery. He displayed this in converting what ...

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The one accolade that M.S. Oberoi probably never received in his lifetime was that of pure effrontery. He displayed this in converting what is quintessentially a pedestrian Punjabi surname, Oberoi, into a marquee that today spells class and had, in his lifetime, become a badge of honour in the glitzy world of global hoteliering.

This was a snooty world he conquered with only two very basic weapons — and both of them also Punjabi in their roots. These two core qualities were a mien-host variety of genial hospitality that was combined with a razor sharp eye for every passing big opportunity. These native qualities catapulted Mohan Singh Oberoi from his birth in the undivided Punjab of those years in 1898. To create a chain that epitomised the best that the world would want from hotels. All founded on MS’s belief that the one thing he wanted to do was, in his words, always ‘‘offer the best’’.

An empire spanning seven countries and with over 37 luxury properties under his belt, M.S. Oberoi was much more than just the grand old man of Indian hoteliering. He belonged to a tiny global elite of businessmen whose very name signaled that you would be granted quality. Did this quality come from Rai Bahadur’s (as MS was usually referred to) sheer ability to manage human beings? Probably. He was a master at making every employee around him (and his employees numbered a staggering 12,000 people by the time he died) make magic.

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Many years ago a particularly prized designer was reluctant to design one of Rai Bahadur’s dream projects. He then cajoled the lady (which incidentally was yet another tribe he lavished his attention on, rather successfully) into changing her mind by pure emotional blackmail. Simply relying on an anecdote that his then recently deceased wife and he had always wanted this very designer to take on the assignment.

I remember similarly how, as a reluctant interview subject years ago, Rai Bahadur fussed infinitely over the quality of the pomegranate juice he served me at his farmhouse. This bothered him more than interpreting the balance sheet of his companies — which today have a market cap that exceeds $ 700 million. Up quite a bit from the petty Rs 20,000 he paid to buy the Clarke’s Hotel in Shimla, where he had started as the hotel’s coal supply clerk.

A hundred and four is a grand old age to pass away at. And Rai Bahadur had been preparing several times over to pass the baton on. Losing an elder son who had initially been groomed to run the business; seeing the exit of a son-in-law, who had his own stint at the big wheel and then watching as his younger son and then his grandsons come to grips; all are parts of the MS management saga.

Obsessed, as Oberoi was with hotels, Rai Bahadur was a man who recognised and played his part in public life. He certainly is the only businessman of his stature who did three terms in Parliament — twice in the Rajya Sabha and once in the Lok Sabha. This sprang from his fervent, which he expressed to me colourfully saying that ‘‘we could be the world’s favourite destination forever’’. But it also came from his conviction that business needed to do its bit for nation building.

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Today Rai Bahadur’s empire goes well beyond the target that he had originally set for it. That, was a promise to his daughter that by the time she grew up wherever he would travel there would an Oberoi hotel. Today he leaves behind a legacy of grandly built properties, of restored palaces and of new-age luxury spa-like resorts. This is a legacy that requires nurturing. Will this empire grow as rapidly as during the old man’s time?

One thing is certain — Rai Bahadur’s empire will continue as long as the core values he inculcated, are treasured.