S u n d a y PEOPLE Hindustan Times Sunday Magazine May 25, 2003
CAPTAIN OF A SHIP CALLED LEELA Captain CP Krishnan Nair. Even at 80, the owner of Leela hotels shows the same kind of hardy spirit that made him defy caste norms in Kerala more than seven decades ago... By Poonam Saxena AWARDS are nothing new for Captain C P Krishnan Nair, owner of the Leela chain of hotels as well as India's premier garment export house, Leela Lace. But the sprightly 80-year-old Malayali industrialist reacts to the latest award -- the CNN Ultimate Service Award for the Leela Palace in Bangalore -- with the same childlike pleasure he probably showed as a student in Cannanore Maharaja's high school back in the 'thirties. Even then, he exhibited flashes of the hardy spirit that helped him get where he is today. As a boy of seven he rebelled against the strict caste norms of the times. "If we were walking through the paddy fields and a Namboodri man was coming down the same way, we would have to move aside. And of course there was no question of touching him," recalls Nair. But little Krishnan refused to fall in line. "I said, 'Who wants to touch you anyway? You stink!' There was a big hue and cry in the village at my attitude," remembers Nair. The Chairman, as he is reverentially referred to by his staff, is on a lightening visit to Delhi and we are stitting in his suite at the Inter-Continental (there's no Leela hotel in Delhi yet, you see), in a bright blue shirt-and-tie and grey suit. Nair is full of stories and anecdotes about his life. The son of a humble revenue collector's peon ("My father was at the lowest rung of the Cannanore maharaja's bureaucracy") he was deeply influenced by Subhash Chandra Bose in his growing years. "I attended the Tripura session of the Congress," says Nair. "Bose was ill and I was priviledged to be one of those who looked after him. He was my hero." Nair says he learnt a few things from his "hero", one of which was to go that extra mile in striving for excellence. "What is that extra mile?" asks Nair rhetorically. For him, it is an attempt to make his three hotels (in Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa) exceptional. For instance, he recently introduced a service called ButlerPlus, where butlers trained by former members of the royal House of Windsor pamper guests at the Privilege Club of the Leela Mumbai. The Bangalore Leela is modelled on the lines of the Mysore Palace. Some years ago, Nair was sitting next to then chief minister of Karnataka, Ram Krishna Hegde, during the Dusshera celebrations. "Hegde told me I should make a place hotel in Bangalore," says Nair. And that's exactly what he did. Beams Nair, "One of my guests stayed in our Bangalore hotel and said he couldn't find a single fault even after two days of looking. I was so thrilled!" His devotion to perfection is shared by his wife. When he started his Goa hotel, she turned 75 acres of sandy seaside land into a veritable forest. "Almost 100,000 lorry loads of black earth were brought to the site," says Nair. "Plants don't take root in sand, so it was buttressed within two feet of soil." In Mumbai too, Nair cleaned the slums around his hotel and greened almost 125 acres. In their Mumbai home, there is an 80-year-old banyan tree edging its way right into the house. But both husband and wife refuse to cut it. Today, in the automn of his life, Nair is lucky to have two devoted sons -- Vivek and Dinesh -- who look after his empire. His grandson is just 11, but his granddaughters are older. "One of them is studying in Cambridge and wants to become a photographer," says Nair. "The other hopes to become a journalist." With genes like these, it'll be tough for them to go wrong. Even if they stay away from hotels. (ENDS) PHOTO: Butlers, trained by former members of the Royal House of Windsor, look after guests in the Leela Mumbai. Apparently, the President, APJ Abdul Kalam wanted his own butlers to be trained at the Leela butler workshop. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################