Two Masala Dosas, please

The frail looking short man entered the restaurant near the bus stand of the district town. He sat on a chair at the corner table and wiped the flowing sweat on his face with the long towel around his neck. The summer heat and stay outdoors since morning had made his appearance a big mess.  The dhoti and shirt he wore were indeed white when purchased from the cloth shop, but due to continuous use in the dusty fields had now turned yellowish orange.  He placed his worn out leather bag on the table and beckoned the waiter boy.  The boy moved casually with a steel tumbler of water, placed it on the table and looked at the man quizzically. "Two Masala Dosas, please" said the man.  "Where is the other person?", asked the waiter.  "There is no other person.  Both dosas are for me.  Put them in the same plate and bring it fast.  I am in a hurry to catch a bus", said the frail man. The boy had not seen anyone order two masala dosas for oneself.  He was surprised. "That would cost two Annas. Do you have the money?", derisively asked the waiter. In those days, fifty years ago (1965), sixteen Annas made a rupee. Though decimal system was introduced in 1957 and a rupee was made up of 100 "Naya Paisa", meaning new paisa, Anna was a common usage for sometime thereafter as well. "Do not worry about the money.  Do your job. Bring the Dosas fast", said the man as he moved to the wash basin in the corner of the hall to wash his face and hands. When he returned to his chair, the boy again looked at him. "Have you ordered the dosas?" asked the man.  "You have not yet shown me the two annas", said the waiter boy.

*****  

Christine Francis was the personal assistant of the owner and Managing Director of the big Hotel.  The hotel was in financial trouble and the owner was unable to get renewal of the mortgage due that week.  Many in the administrative circle of the hotel knew that the hotel may be up for sale.  The owner of a large chain of hotel was arriving that day for discussion and finalization of the purchase. Everyone of the employees, Christine and Assistant General Manager McDermott included, were tense and worried about the continuance of their own employment. On the way to lunch, Christine stopped at the AGM's office and realized that he was seized with many problems at the hotel that had cropped up all at once. One of the problems was that one of the guests was moaning heavily in his room. Having come to know that the name of the guest was Albert Wells, she recalled that he was a regular guest at the hotel.  She remembered the name specifically because during one of his earlier visits, Albert Wells had a complaint about a laundry bill of 75 cents.  He insisted that the bill did not relate to his room.  The supervisor offered to waive the charge with a view to avoid a complaint.  The guest did not accept waiver, but insisted that it be withdrawn properly and not treated as a waiver. On verification of the records, it was found that the bill actually belonged to some other room and was deleted.  Since he was a regular guest at the hotel, Christine offered to check on the guest personally.

When the room was opened with a passkey, it was found that Mr Wells was very sick and unable to breathe due to acute bronchitis. He had very little luggage and modest belongings.  The old man was shifted to this least preferred room by the front office staff to accomodate another guest as Mr Wells would not protest such a change.  The air conditioner of the room was not working properly and the guest became very sick.  Christine acted swiftly, arranged a doctor and got the guest shifted to a better room. Wen the doctor advised hospitalization, Wells did not agree and asked for a attending nurse round the clock.  The nurse was arranged, but Christine was worried about payment of the bills.  On her advice, the credit investigator of the hotel contacted the bank through which earlier payments were received. The bank informed that Mr Wells's cheques would be honored by it.

The old man invited Christine and the AGM for lunch at one of the expensive dining rooms of the hotel, as a gesture of thanking them for their prompt action and arranging for medical aid.  Christine wondered how this man could pay the heavy bill of the restaurant.  On his visits, the old man stayed in modest rooms and his bills were always small.  He was not known to spend on tips and luxuries.  She did not want to burden the host.  She found a way out by contacting the head waiter at the restaurant.  A small bill was to be presented to Mr Wells and the remaining amount to be debited to Christine's account.

*****  

"You have not yet shown me the two annas", said the waiter boy. Summer heat and hunger had made the man tense already.  This derisive comment by the boy infuriated him. "Call your manager or owner.  I want to talk to him", said the man in a high voice.  The boy was now afraid and did not know what to do.  "Dosas will be ready by now.  I will get it fast", he said.  "I do not want dosas now.  I want to talk to your owner", shouted the man. Hearing the commotion in the restaurant hall, the owner of the place came to the table.  "What is the problem, Sir?" asked the owner politely.  "I asked for two masala dosas. Your waiter boy wanted to see my two annas before ordering the dosas.  I now want to buy your hotel. Please fix a price and I am ready", he said.  Before the owner could say something else, he took out the wide belt from his dress.  The belt had many pockets  with wads of currency with them.  He placed them on the table and told the owner, "Cash is ready.  If this is not sufficient, treat this as an advance.  Fix a fair price for this place and tell me the amount.  I will be back with the remaining amount tomorrow morning to conclude the deal", thundered the frail man.

Parappa Basavannappa Patil was short and frail, but he was one of the biggest farmers of the area.  He was also a commission agent and brought the produce from other farmers and by years of hard work had built an empire.  Cotton, Chillies and pulses were his forte.  His appearance was deceptive and he never flashed his status or financial strength.  The owner of the restaurant and others present there profusely apologized and pacified him.

*****

While having lunch with the old man, Christine enquired about his profession and what he did for a living.  When he detailed his life's story, Christine suddenly realized that Mr Wells actually owned a Gold Mine and such other things.  The Assistant General Manager asked, "If you will pardon my curiosity, other things such as what?".  "I am not sure of all of it. There is a couple of newspapers, some ships, an insurance company, buildings and other bits and pieces.  I bought a food chain last year".  The head waiter presented the bill.  The old man looked at it, smiled, signed it off.  He had understood what was the reason behind the small bill. As the startled Christine and AGM stared at the old man, he smiled mischievously and said , "I wanted to tell you tomorrow.  I may as well tell you now.  I just bought this hotel." Then they realized that the old man's frequent visits to the hotel was actually to study its status and strike a deal without anyone suspecting it.

*****      

My father had been on a to a trip to North Karnataka in 1965.  He told Parappa Basavannappa Patil's story to us on his return from the trip.  Christine and Albert Well's story is a part of the famous novel "Hotel" by Arthur Hailey.  This novel was also first published in 1965.  Details differ but the central theme remains the same. In both instances, hotel staff doubted the capacity of the guest to pay the bills.  If arrogance was the underlying feeling in Patil's case, it was compassion in Albert Well's instance.

The message from both stories is simple and straight forward.  A person is not to be judged from his appearance or habits alone.  There are many who lead a simple life despite their affluence.  This also applies to knowledge and scholarship. Those with depth and profound insights may keep a low profile.  Empty vessels often make much more noise!          

Calamity or Opportunity?

In a post titled "From Post cards to Chappatis"  I had mentioned about how marketing opportunities are en-cashed by the wizards who lead by examples. Another such stalwart who is a role model for budding entrepreneurs was one who converted calamities like epidemics and wars into business opportunities to give a thrust to his marketing forays and built a business empire of his own.

A calamity is defined as a great misfortune or disaster, especially one that causes extreme havoc, distress or misery. Epidemics in the form of dreaded diseases like Plague and Cholera have consumed millions of lives in the early part of 20th century.  Wars are no less severe in bringing such distress and pain. Opportunity is defined as an appropriate or favourable time or occasion for an attainment of a goal. Is it possible to convert such epidemics and wars into an opportunity? Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi has showed that calamities of epidemics like Plague and Cholera as well as wars can be converted into opportunities, with foresight and hard work. Acting smartly during such adverse times, from a penniless hotel clerk he rose to become a pioneer in luxury hotel industry. His life story makes an excellent case study for students of marketing. It is true that every salesman who reads his case cannot become another Oberoi. But the case can motivate them to think out of the box and see an opportunity even in calamities.

Mohan Singh Oberoi was born on 15th August 1898 in village Bhaun, near Rawalpindi, in the undivided Punjab.  He used to mention his birth year as 1900, two years later, and it was believed that this was because he did not want to be seen as dating from 19th century. He could study only up to Matriculation due to family financial constraints and worked in a shoe factory as a supervisor. The factory too closed down due to losses but taught him to always wear shining shoes. He was forced to move out of his village due to the deadly Plague that hit Punjab and killed thousands. Recently married, he moved with his wife to Shimla. He chose Shimla because it was the summer capital of the Britishers who were ruling the country. His knowledge of typing and shorthand skills and well-knotted tie and shining shoes got him a job in Cecil Hotel in Shimla. Some years later when his boss wanted to sell the Hotel, by then known as Clarkes Hotel, he mortgaged his wife's jewellery to buy his first hotel. From then he went on adding more hotels and at his death  his empire comprised of 35 hotels spread over India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Egypt, Australia and Hungary.

Calcutta's famous "Grand Hotel" was closed down in the aftermath of the Cholera epidemic in 1933. More than a hundred foreign guests died in the outbreak of the disease. The hotel remained closed for five years due to fear of the epidemic lying latent in its water supply system. M S Oberoi found an opportunity here and took lease of the hotel by raising funds from relatives and friends. When hotel owners talked of Goodwill, he silenced them by arguing that he be paid compensation as the place only carried Ill-will and not Goodwill due to its history of deaths due to Cholera! He got the entire water supply system thoroughly cleaned and yet guests were unwilling to arrive. He promised incentives like cheap or free boarding facility to attract customers. 

By that time Second World War had started and Calcutta was the pooling place for troops to fight on the eastern borders. The government had the authority to acquire any building for war purposes. He apprehended  that the hotel could be a potential target. He improvised 1200 beds at the hotel and approached the authorities with an offer to provide accommodation for the soldiers at rupees ten per soldier per day. The offer suited the war managers as they were free of the botheration of managing rations and food supply. The losses in room rents were made up by charging extra for other facilities provided to the soldiers. This ensured full occupancy of the hotel during the war period as well as avoiding losing control of the hotel. British Government honoured him with the title "Rai Bahadur" in 1941. In 1943, he started to secretly buy the shares of Associated Hotels of India Ltd. They were the days of  "Share Certificates" (Demat was not yet born) and he walked into the Annual General Meeting  of that company with canvas bags full of share certificates and presented them to directors. Controlling interest passed into his hands from Spencer & Co and his hotel chain expanded further. 

M S Oberoi is also credited with bringing many changes in the hotel industry and providing comfort to his guests at the hotels. His introduction of chambermaids in 1957 with vacuum cleaners in their hands raised a furore and was debated even in Parliament. Probably this led him to try his luck as a parliamentarian and he won a seat in the Rajya Sabha 1n 1962. He won an election to become a member of the Lok Sabha in 1967 and returned to Rajya Sabha in 1972. He lost four Hotels in Pakistan during the 1965 war, but raised money in Saudi Arabia to invest abroad in new hotels. He chose this route due to tight money controls in force in India then. His partnership with Inter-continental group in 1965 started the Oberoi Intercontinental. From then on, he specialised in spotting and refurbishing run down and undervalued properties and expand his hotel chain. His service to the industry was recognised by his peers by making him as the President of Hotel and Restaurants Federation of India. He was awarded Padma Bushan in 2002.

He believed that "too often efficiency and high standards once established are taken for granted" and hence made personal checks of how his hotels were run.  Called "Conrad Hilton of India", his belief in business is summed up in his statement "You think of money and you cannot do the right thing.  But money will always come when you do the right thing". He lived a full life and died on 3rd May 2002, at age 103. Even by his admission of year of birth as 1900, he lived for 101 years and was active throughout his long life. An active life this long is itself a great achievement, even if other successes are not counted.