How it all began!

When I joined the Indian joined the Indian Hospitality Industry in late seventies– after having worked for seven or eight years in Beirut and UK – the ‘HR’ was not as evolved as it today. In its place there was the ‘Administration Department’ which performed the function of recruitments, appraisals and the related day to day clerical work including  oddoffice jobs that go alongside. This administration department further evolved and later came to be known as, ‘The Personnel Department’.

Fortunately, my first job in India was with one of the ‘Government Organizations called ITDC’, where unionization was slowly seeping into the system. I was lucky to have had a little exposure to the beginnings of new world HR trends, where the leadership under the stalwarts like S.N.Gadhok, AjitKerkar, M.S.Oberoi created a highly motivated man management trends. At the same time I also witnessed the highhanded approach of the management, implementation of unfair policies and nepotism, which to my belief was responsible for the rise of labor unions to guard the interest of the employees.

Then as usual the political parties started patronizing  these unions - intentionally - as these  were their vote banks – thus giving rise to hostility, indiscipline, insubordination, defiance, militancy other such ‘penchant’ in the hospitality industry.

I have a strong conviction that ‘Unions ‘are born out of autocracy, frustration and constant oppression of the employees by the management. There can be no other reason for the employees to lay siege on the property where they come to earn their bread and make a living. I give full marks to the management for disruption of services or any such event – History remains a witness. If someone believes otherwise, he needs a few lessons in the theories’ of causation.  

In this Blog I wish to site some interesting examples, which are eye openers, along with the  ‘Road Map’ the Industry followed including my personal experience.  I trust my colleagues and friends in the Hospitality Industry will find interesting.

1980 –Airport Restaurant and Flight Kitchen at Dum Dum, Calcutta

Back in 1980 when the ITDC took over the Airport Restaurant & Flight Kitchen from a local Restaurant owner Kathleen, the management shortlisted Ravi Seth Senior Assistant Manager and myself, Assistant Manager for the posts of Manager for Flight Kitchen and Airport Restaurant. Although I was the only qualified Flight Catering Professional, but the Interview Board selected Ravi and I was put on the panel. Ravi Seth joined the Calcutta Airport on ITDC take over, fortunately or unfortunately within a week he resigned, blaming the Company and the difficult job (he now lives in America “God bless him”). On 10th February 1980 I was asked by my boss Ms. Psyche Nigam to immediately report at Calcutta Airport, and this was the beginning of my toughest and most challenging assignments. The Airport Restaurant & Flight Kitchen were separate entities from the Airport Hotel Calcutta having common administrative control of the hotel. ITDC Administration was not very effective, on other hand Calcutta was (and is even today) one of the most unionized cities of India. The hotel was not making profits and the staff wanted more salary in the hotel (nothing to do with my unit).

Come Dussehra and the staff went on a lightning strike, having a common Union, the hotel union leaders decided to disrupt the working of the Flight Kitchen, by forcing the Airport Restaurant staff to go on strike as well. The next 7-8 days, my team of Officers, three Chefs and four Managers had to produce approximately 2000 meals every day. In the process I was able to shed approximately 15-20 kgs’ as we were working round the clock with no breathers in between. Surprisingly enough, my staff that was forced to go on strike sat outside the restaurant and appeared to be very unhappy with the situation, some of them were even crying, to see us work so hard.

The Air India Union Leader called Mr. Bandhopadhya who headed the ITDC Union in Calcutta, as he was also the Union Leader of Calcutta Airport, with phenomenal organizational capabilities. ITDC, being the largest hotel chain in India decided to break the strike at this point. It flew in 20 management trainees from Delhi to help my team; so that the In-Flight catering doesn’t get affected (this move was not in my knowledge). As the aircraft carrying these 20 men landed they were literally kidnapped by the union staff, from the TARMAC. They were held hostage somewhere, they were given proper accommodation, food & everything. Even today, I still wonder how they came to know that they are coming from Delhi, when even I was not told about this. To cut the long story short, Mr. Bandhopadhya forced the hotel to accept all their demands, and on the 8th day, they withdrew the strike. Full Union Executive Leadership, came to see me, and apologized for the inconvenience; this was indeed an amazing lesson.

Thereafter, I stayed in Calcutta for three years and worked with the Union, and was able to create a team of the most loyal and hardworking staff (including the Union Officials). The best compliment I got was from Mr. Bandhopadhyay when he said, “I am not scared of the ITDC or Air India, but I’m only scared of you, because you are the only one who can replace me.”  ITDC was one of the worst managed  companies as far as their ‘Industrial Relations Policy’ was concerned. they were managed by highly egocentric Human Relation Managers like Om Varma. Today when I look back and evaluate the causes for ITDC’s decline, I conclude that it was only because of very thoughtless Human relations and egoistic hoteliers with a high handed, unfair Labor practices.

1984 – Pizza Fast Food Restaurant Chain

In 1984 I joined Mr. VijayaMallya and Mr. Kisan Mehta as a General Manager of Fast Food Division, McDowell & Co to open a chain of Pizza Restaurant in Delhi & Bombay by the name of McDowell’s Pizza King. This was the first International Fast Food chain coming to India, we had a knowhow from a Brand called Shakey’s. Within six months we launched the first outlet in Connaught Place, followed by others at South Extension & Greater Kailash. Altogether in Delhi and Bombay we had nearly 20 outlets before we closed.

Before we opened the first Pizza Restaurant in Delhi, the total market for Pizza (mainly Nirula&Ashoka Hotel) in Delhi was about Rs. 14,000 – 15,000 per day, within the opening of three Pizza Restaurants we were selling over Rs.1,00,000 per day in Pizza King alone, and today’s market is over 2-3 crore per day.

Fast Food Restaurants in India are highly staff driven, where the staff is required to produce food in the shortest possible time. We in Delhi alone had six Restaurants and a Central Kitchen with a total workforce of nearly 300 people.I had one of the most highly motivated team of young professionals from Catering colleges who were well paid. We even gave them a salary of Rs.1000, where the minimum salary was Rs. 400.

The question is then why did we have labour problems? In an effort to analyze what went wrong, we discovered that we had hired a large number of  people from the same community for the kitchen. The story is that my Manager Development, Ravi Dhawan had a servant, so when we were hiring staff, Ravi went out of the way and appointed that guy to work in our kitchen (this was before my joining). This single man kept on bringing people from his community/relations who were working in different restaurants in positions of Commis II and III, and before we would know, they became a group of 45-50. One community guy was supported by Militant Union (C2). When this small group of people started disrupting our Restaurant operations, my remaining team members including the senior staff took over the charge of the kitchen, and the operations continued, till these guys started harassing the Customers / Clients. We then went to a prominent lawyer, and got a Legal Order for them to stay 500 yards away from the restaurant.

C 2 was the strongest Union in the Restaurant Industry in Delhi, plus their were other Restaurants whose operations got affected because of our coming and they were also financially supporting them. We along with the Staff started getting harassment attacks, not by our staff, but from the staff of the other restaurants. One day in Connaught Place these guys came and broke all our glasses by stoning the Restaurant, all this happened while the customers were sitting inside. We did not give in, and within 3 hours we had all the glass restored, and the Restaurant was functioning properly. We asked for Police support, which was given to us. Slowly and steadily C2 became frustrated, they went to the Labor court, and I still remember when I visited the Labor court for the first time, the C2 members from the other Restaurants tried to manhandle me. Finally we won this blatant blackmail, and nearly terminated all the bad employees, did not pay even a single rupee as compensation.

One of the top C2 leaders told me, “This is the first time we have been defeated”, this was because we were on the right side, and we paid good salary and took care of our staff, and had a highly motivated team of staff and officers.

 Some lessons learnt in the process are:

A. Never bring too many people of same community or relations. It always results in formation of groups.

B. Neither victimize nor let anyone harass or victimize yourself, however big or strong he may be.

Some of the people who worked with me in this pizza chain are doing exceedingly well, and I would like to thank them for the support they extended to me that time. They are as follows:

1     1.   Sanjay Anand – Senior Vice President American Express

2.    2.   Vijay  Suri– Today, a sucsesful business man

 3.   SmitaAnand–Managing Director Asia Pacific, Korn/Ferry International

 4.   Shekhar – Managing Director, Largest Kitchen Equipment company in India.

 5.   Sameer Puri – Managing Director, Restaurant Chain

 6.   AshutoshBhagati- In America teaching Americans about Automobile company

 7.   Sanjay Wadhera and many many-more.

Centaur Hotels – Srinagar & New Delhi

Part 1 - Centaur Hotel, Srinagar My next experience is a fine example of how India’s most profitable Hotel and Catering chain got destroyed, because of a poor functioning of the Human Resource department, especially under leadership of a gentleman  called Mr. Ranjan -Director Administration, Hotel Corporation of India.

I visited Srinagar to meet the Director JTDC as a Consultant. I was put up to stay in Centaur Hotel and was forced to extend my stay for another two nights because of heavy snowfall. I still remember getting up on the 2nd day morning and reaching the lobby, I saw lot of commotion, there were about 7-8 rowdy Union Leaders who had ‘Gherowed’ the General Manager Jagmohan Mathur and were dictating certain instructions. Not far in the other corner I met Mr._Arora Vice President Sun’n’Sand Hotel, he seemed rather unhappy with the hotel services and the minute he saw me, he started complaining about the hotel. He told me, “Virat my wife’s mangalsutra which she had kept under her pillow is missing, and I am requesting Jagmohan Mathur (General Manager) that if he can’t take any action against the hotel staff, at least he could arrange to lodge an FIR so that I can get some money through insurance, he seems to have a problem with that too”. When Jagmohan came back, after talking to the Union, and informed him that he will not be able to file the FIR because the Union will not allow and it will create Industrial problems.

Then in June 1986, I took over as the General Manager of the same hotel, my boss Mr. Anil Bhandari was not happy with my going there, because it was a common knowledge that this hotel was considered the worst Resort hotel in the country. A study conducted by an international consultancy firm confirms the fact and had rated us as the worst luxury hotel in India. The interesting part was that, the staff and officers of the hotel were untouched by what our reputation was whether any guest came or not.

While I was trying to build the hotel, within two months, one of the Senior Managers from Headquarter Human Resources & Administration, Mr. Shinde visited the hotel to meet the Union, to resolve some pending issues. While the meeting was going on in my office with the Union Leaders, he showed his inability to resolve any of the pending issue because he had not received clearance from our friend Mr. Ranjan. Union Leaders asked him that if he did not have issues approved why did he come to Srinager on pretence of meeting them and made them wait for three days. His reply and attitude really made Union Leaders wild, they manhandled him and ‘gharowed’ us, and said that they will not let anybody leave till this one year old issue was resolved. As the General Manager it was my duty to protect anybody coming to the hotel, I was really taken aback and I requested the Union guys to be more considerate. They turned around and told me that they have no problems with me, they want to tackle Mr. Shinde and his boss, a person who had been taking them for a ride and, that I could go out, no restriction for me. I refused their offer and aftera long negotiation of 3-4 hours, and requesting our dear friend Mr. Ranjan in Bombay, I was able to partially resolve this issue. Later on while talking to Mr. Shinde, I realized that Mr. Shinde was intentionally set up as a Stooge, as  theDirector Administration himself wanted to project himself as the final authority in the day to day functioning of the hotel and Shinde was not one of his favorites.

As there was mismanagement and we also needed to take disciplinary  action against the staff, within the next 30 days I took the following action:

1.   All justified demands; I approved and cleared (thanks to the support of the Managing Director).

2.   I suspended three office bearers.

3.   Thanks to my highly competent Director Human Resource - Mr. Lamba, he prepared a note which every employee had to sign that they will not disturb the services of the hotel, if they did so, we could take strict disciplinary action against them and they would have no objection against it.     

Come September and winter  setting in Kashmir, now was the hibernation time for the hotel staff, very little business, heated hotel with good food and no work. My action resulted first in a flash strike which lasted only 24 hours . Sitting out in cold was not an interesting proposition. Next day, Union President came and apologized and signed all the documents which we wanted them to sign. Three Union Leaders remained suspended, it was decided that we will conduct a quick enquiry and terminate them for intimidation & physical violence. Unfortunately or fortunately we had no controls on that, after the enquiry the paperswere sent to the Head Office for the final approval of termination. The Human Resource-Mr. Ranjan kept sitting on the documents till July next year. In August, ten days before TAAI - one of the biggest conventions  being hosted by Centaur Srinagar - I got instructions to take the three suspended staff back, all their unreasonable demands were met. You can imagine the morale of the officers and hardworking staff. Still, I personally invited these three guys, revoked their suspension, hugged them and welcomed them back.

Within three months with good man management practices we were able to overcome negativity, and they became one of the most sincere & hardworking staff, but then I got a letter from my dear friend Mr. Ranjan, instructing me to terminate their services. Any such action when Industrial relations were at their best, the staff highly motivated and business was good, would have resulted in a disaster. I stuck to my guns and did not terminate them, it’s worth mentioning that for the first time in the history of Hotel Corporation of India, we ourself negotiated and finalized the agreement with the Union, with no trouble whatsoever, we did not allow Mr. Ranjan and his cronies to interfere in what we were doing.

The two points I would like to carry from this experience:

1. As far as Industrial Relations are concerned, decision-making should be efficient and without               prejudice.

2. If we accept high handedness / gross indiscipline that would be a decline of the hotel operations, all must know that smooth day to day hotel operation is the most important criteria for long term success of any hotel.

Centaur Hotel, New Delhi

Part 2 - I was subsequently transferred to Centaur Delhi. This property had a reputation of being the most indiscipline and Violent Union. Every General Manager was manhandled; the guy whom I replaced had a 24 hrs bodyguard to protect him from being roughed up by violent union members.

My teacher in man-management was my uncle who taught me three very important lessons:

1. Our loyalty should be first to the hotel, second to the employees and thirdly to self.

2. Similarly employees should also take care of the hotels, and if I take   care of them there will be no problems.

3.  There should be no group, the seat of the General Manager must be the most unbiased, and all the employees must be judged by the same parameters.

In Centaur Delhi I made it clear to all my employees including the Union, that I will function in such a way that all the employees / Union will have no problems, and will be satisfied with my decisions. I would like to place below a few incidents which occurred before we had a smoothly operating hotel, these incidents are amusing but scary as well.

1.  There was a Union Leader who went up to the General Manager Mr. JagmohanMathur, GM, opened his palm and put a bullet in his hand and said, ”Ispeteranaamlikhahai”, that employee was suspended finally. After about 2 years, I was able to waive off his suspension after his commitment that he will not misbehave again and he, didn’t.

2.  Before Mr. Mathur left, he intentionally issued a circular – without my knowledge - which he could not implement, because some militant staff would get annoyed, when I came to office about 100 people barged in shouting slogans against me, anyway it took me about 6 hours to sort out the situation. I remember my colleague, General Manager from Chef Air fight Kitchen, told me, “If this would’ve happened to me, I would’ve resigned and gone.”

3.  The Managing Director of the company was not allowed to enter the hotel, and right before me, when he tried to enter they gharowed him and tried to manhandle him. My first job was to   create a strong team of officer and staff, so that if I invited the MD again there would be no problem and total group of officers and sincere staff would stand by me to make sure that Mr. Bhandari was not harassed. Well I am glad that I was able to do that and Mr. Bhandari started staying at the Hotel without a problem.

4. The first Union election took place within couple of months of my joining. The backside corridor was nearly 200 yards long, and was plastered with posters & banners. The Centaur Hotel didn’t look like a hotel but an Industrial factory, and none of the Senior Officers could dare to pass through the corridors, because of slogan shouting and other Election activities, but these officers were very much a part of the Politics. At 4:00pm in the afternoon I decided to walk into and look into the corridor, I was halfway through when some of the Union Leaders saw me and instantly they tried to gharao me, but by that time, my goodwill had reached to most of the staff. Still one of the Union Leaders shouted to make all the staff excited by saying, “Officers are trying to interfere in Staff Elections.” I quietly smiled and told him,” if you have evidence you should give it to me and I promise; I will suspend the officer, irrespective of his position.” To my amazement, all the staff started shouted slogans in favor of me, and that was one of the major turning points in converting a Militant Union to becoming a more professional Union. After that my request to not deface corridor wall was accepted without bias and they never did it again.

5.  We had incidents of Violence amongest the staff, and when I forced the Security to do the inspection of the staff lockers, we were able to find over a dozen knives and even a gun, which was handed over to the Police. We did not lose one man day for the 3 years I worked with them. I was the only General Manager who was given a farewell by the Union in the history of Centaur, Air India.

Basically the staff was Unionized by the Headquarters and their power struggle. They promoted / backed the Gundas, corrupt staff and  groupism . All this was so strongly visible and supported and backed up by our dear friend, Mr. Ranjan - Director Administration. It was thanks to our ManagingDirector, that I was able to make the Director Administration’s politics null & void and create a good team that resulted in 100% occupancy in the next 2 years, salary increase, service charge increase and we slowly saw the negative guys also changing and for once started working for the betterment of the hotel. It could be worth a mention that, the Air India owned  Centaur Hotels, were  one of the worst managed hotel & catering Chain in India I ever knew and worked with. If they were well managed  they would be a major profit Centre for Air India.

Jaypee Hotels – Vasant Continental & Siddharth Hotel, New Delhi

I joined the Jaypee Hotels in 1993-94 as a Senior Vice President Operations; At the time of taking charge Vasant Continental had an average room rate of Rs. 800, and Siddharth Hotel had an average room rate of Rs. 700. I was given a task to increase the room rate to Rs. 3500 in the next 3 years.

On joining, I found out that the company doesn’t believe in firing incompetent offers / staff, but they tried to create situations so that they can resign,  that would only happen If they had morality, and unfortunately most of them did not. Surprisinglyinspite of being a Private Sector Hotel, they had a very strong Union. The Union derived its strength from the fact that Mr. Jaiprakash Gaur our Chairman was very sensitive to any slogan shouting or placement of posters etc. because of this demand the management had hired half a dozen Human Resources Consultants who created more problems than solutions. 

The Union came into being a few of years before my joining .To solve this problem management decided to hire some Gundas as employees, unofficially their job was to thrash or intimidate the Union Leaders. This worked for about a year till one of the Gundas became very strong, and the man behind all this my dear friend MrSreePrakash, Director in the company, decided to thrash him in front of the staff, this resulted in this Gunda joining the Union, and the rest is history. We had to deal with the Union with soft gloves at times even put political pressure, so that they do not create any problems. Fortunately, I had my own style of functioning. I motivated the management to take the following actions:        

1.  The salary of the staff was very low, it was nearly doubled.

2.  Created a Moral Code of Conduct for all.

3.  Sat down with the Union and convinced them that by creating problems we can only make situations more difficult, only if the hotel does well they will have more money in their pockets.

I got full support from my staff, the Union and the officers, and the room rate from Rs. 800 / 700 went up to Rs. 3500 within 8-9 months. We renovated both the hotels, we professionalized the system and after 2 years we again increased the staff salary substantially. When I left after 3 years, the room rate was Rs. 6,500 for Vasant Continental and for Siddharth hotel it was very close to Rs. 5000, with a very high GOP.

Fortunately for us! In today’s world, the Hospitality Industry is offering very good opportunities to the employees / officers. The Industry requirement of professional / trained workforce is really ten times higher than what our catering Institutions are producing. Along with that, the International management style has come in with the foreign chains, as they are progressive and understand the value of a motivated staff. I sincerely hope that this trend continues, but at the same time we must also be ready for the pain, effort and hard work which would carry the team forward, rewarding people who are producing results and bringing in money to the ownership and keep them fully motivated and satisfied. 

 Written by : Anil Chak & Virat Varma

VV's Travelogue

A life altering Travelogue from the distant past - 

When the sweat was sweet...!

The recollections of crisp Mediterranean August are as fresh as the morning dew - the year was 1969.  My dear Bhisham Uncle walked into my room with his usual panache and announced that he had got me a scholarship   for a ‘Study & Training’ program in Michigan, Detroit, where I would get trained in one of the best and busiest restaurant in America - thanks to his American friend Smiggie. Indeed I was excited and happy.

Alas! The feeling was not to last long, for the very next day, Uncle Raj called Bhisham Uncle to inform that the family restaurant ‘Sirena’ in London was in a miserable state, and that it urgently needed to be salvaged. Uncle Bhisham then came to me and asked me to choose between my career and saving the family restaurant from withering away. It was indeed a ‘Hobson’s Choice’ - I chose to restore ‘Sirena’ and family prestige, the rest is history.

The Backdrop

This is the story of a young lad “Virat Varma” and his rather audacious escapades of early life, when his joys were substituted by challenges, trials and tribulations. It is Indeed a quaint paradox that it all started with the most thrilling drives of his life which was at the threshold of a turning point – Now imagine ‘Virat’ driving from Beirut to London when he was just Nineteen - given the fact that ‘This Guy’ had never traveled alone - leave alone staying in a hotel in a foreign land or back home in India. But he had the support of his dear Uncle (Chacha) his ‘Guardian Angle’ –who always very reassuring with words like he said, “that in case of any problem remember I will be  just a phone call away”. Thus began his maiden journey of life full of outlandish ironies – As they say each of us is peculiar, that in turn means unique in every sense  – So be it.    

The Preparation

Preparations for London started on a low key. To reach this coveted destination, I was to drive through eight countries over seven days - today it may sound like a motivating chronicle. Transit visas were applied for all the countries on the way, road maps were carefully studied, some clothes were bought for London winter. My Chachaji (Uncle) gave me a book called ‘Road Map of Europe’ in which the recommended route was to drive through Beirut-Syria-Turkey-Bulgaria-Yugoslavia-Italy-Switzerland – France and finally London U. K. (6000 miles flat). My ‘Chariot of Fire’ was a Red Convertible Fiat 1500 cc with manual gear shift, hard top, duly fitted with record player with four speakers. Thus began the biggest adventure of my life. It was Tuesday – A day when I go to a temple – even today.

In this blog I try to elucidate how life changes its course without our knowing and when the moment presents itself or by the time you realize, it’s a little too late as you are in the thick of dealing with the cardinal aspects of life and the comedy of human existence. But all said and done, I like to submit in all humility, that I have no regrets to have answered the clarion call of destiny in a positive manner at that point in time and would also like to believe that it was ordained.  Even today I am humbled at the thought of HIS GRACE who gave me the courage to accomplish the challenge hurled at me by fate and considers myself truly blessed – Such is the dichotomy of life. 

DAY ONE

Tuesday, 28th October 1969

My date with destiny & departure from Beirut was fixed for 28th of October 1969. In the morning I was all set and ready to leave, my car fully serviced, I looked at the mirror all dressed up in a black trouser, black shirt with a silver belt a red scarf and a double breasted London coat with silver buttons and of course my Ray Bans Aviators and with my killer Casanova appeal, I was all known to be a philanderer of the sorts-I looked good.

To my surprise, I found a travel companion who was also our old Chef Pratap Singh- wearing my uncle’s old suit and felt cap. (He was trying to run away because some people were forcing him to marry a girl against his wishes, and he had come the previous night to ask my uncle for help). Chef Pratap couldn’t speak English, couldn’t read map or navigate and slept through the trip. To cut the long story short, I started my journey early next morning at 6 A.M. The drive from Beirut to Tripoli and from Tripoli to Syrian Border was a breath of fresh air. On one side there was the Mediterranean Sea with valleys and mountains on the other. In a couple of hours I was out of Lebanon plowing the road through Syria on way to Turkey.

In 1969 compared to Lebanon, Syria was not as developed, the roads were bad throughout and we could not find one good restaurant for a meal. We stopped at a petrol pump for a refill and thats all we could get. Before crossing into Syria, on the Turkey border there were few shops selling Coke & Cream Biscuits, we helped ourselves with these small eats and some very special Arabic bread which was made more like a shell with a loop. 

(They make a hole in the bread and put some Za’ater ( Za’ater is a savory blend of dried herbs and spices). There were hardly any people at the border. The whole exercise of exiting from Syria and entry into Turkey took just 15-20 minutes. People were polite and spoke in the local dialect. Somehow with the help of my broken Arabic, I was able to resume our journey towards the unknown land - Turkey.



First Episode – Mother’s Grace
A small incident that has not left me even today, and must be recorded as it relate to my mother’s blessings - to who I was so very dear. When I came from India I brought with me my mother’s comb, it has been with me in my briefcase all along. I always used it to comb my hair. While getting into the car my hair got ruffled, to groom them back for my ‘Cool Killer Look’, I took it out from my briefcase and sloppily left it on the bonnet of the car. When we stopped at another petrol pump after 220 kilometers drive, I was surprised to see that this comb was still on the bonnet - as though a part of my mother was with me for my protection.  Years have passed but, I still use my mother’s comb even today, It is symbol of my mother’s protection .More importantly, it The Comb still makes me feel like a young Casanova as I comb my graying hair. Although time & tide waits for none, but in the minds we remain young - as if it was only yesterday.

The journey from Turkey was rather harsh. This stretch of the journey was bad and the roads were very poor, going up and down through the mountains. I even had a flat just after 30-40 kilometers of driving into Turkey, but after that I did not have any problem till I reached London.

The first day of the journey was very tiring but we reached Antakya - our destination for the day by 5 pm. Back in 1969 Antakya was a small town with a kind of village high street on a higher altitude overlooking the rest of the village or town. There were about 15 odd restaurants, along with other shops all around the street selling ‘Shish Kebabs’. We checked into a small hotel and came down to one of the restaurants where,  as a vegetarian I could only get a very limited choice-  bread and hummus with salad while Pratap Singh relished those lovely sheesh kebab .We slept early as we had to start in the morning. The night in Antakya Hotel was uncomfortable and scary as the hotel was not at all comfortable.  

Second Episode - Nightmare at Antakya

Imagine the thrills of this young lad staying in a hotel- in a foreign land-for the first time in his life with over £1000 in his pocket given by his rich uncle for expenses on the way back in 1969.Must be feeling rich – In sixties it was hell of a lot of money.

We had checked in a small hotel overlooking the high street, the room was on first floor with no air-conditioner. All I can still recall is the nauseating stench of kebabs in the air; we had to keep the windows open as it was quite suffocating. My travel mate Pratap Singh was snoring away to glory. The bed bugs and stench kept me company through the night. It was indeed a nightmare at Antakya. This was also the night that changed the way I was to live in hotels in the future.

Throughout the journey then and even today, I always make it a point to choose the best hotels in the town for my stay and have not compromised ever since.           

DAY TWO

Wednesday, 29th October 1969  

The morning was nice, a bit chilly yet bright and we started for our next destination Ankara, the capital of Turkey. This part of the drive was scary yet memorable, I remember going down the hill into the valley, and I spotted a tea shop, a comforting sight indeed. The temperature must have been close to 3 or 4° C, the strong winds whistled past our eardrums. We stopped at the tea shop, and were served tea without milk and some buttered bread. Famished as we were, this was the best snack we had after a long time. I was surprised at myself to think that here was a man who had never had tea in his life was enjoying his tea even without milk. This was one place where I can never think of spending the night. The rest of the journey was typically a high way ride and we were able to cover the stretch rather quickly as the traffic was also very scant. We were able to reach Ankara by 11 AM. Ankara was a clean looking town with few smart buildings. The place reminded me of Chandigarh of the seventies, in many ways, very green and spread out. I don’t remember the name but it was the best looking hotel, we decided to have breakfast. The menu was limited, clean toilets very clean environment. We spent an hour or so to relish their courtesy and then decided to move on to our next stop - Istanbul. Although I don’t remember the name of the hotel where we had our breakfast but I would love to go back and look for on my next visit to Ankara.

The journey from Ankara to Istanbul was all about driving up and down the hill, but we reached comfortably as it was a double carriage well made highway. Rest of the ride was quite smooth and the road was straight. It was here for the first time, I saw the illusion of ‘Horizon’ the LINE where road meets the sky- it was a breath taking sight. Traffic on this road was quite intense and we drove at top speed. One scary part of the journey was, when I was trying to overtake a cart, a big truck was coming from the opposite side, this fellow got so annoyed seeing me moving into his lane, he chased me out of the road into the green fields. Fortunately there was no damage and we continued the journey. As imagined Istanbul was beautiful, there was a distinct difference between European and the Asian part of Istanbul. The Asian part had a skyline of old 14-15 century buildings, while the European side was  more modern, with wide roads and to top it all it had the look and feel of entering Europe. Both the parts of this city were equally beautiful, with a unique charm of their own.

Because of the unpleasant experiences of Hotels, I was very apprehensive and tired, I started looking for an accommodation to spend the 2nd night of the journey, I was looking at the tallest building on the European side when I saw Hilton and I checked in. The 900 Kilometer drive had left me exhausted, I slept early. I knew that next day we were to enter into a different world altogether – A communist country then called Bulgaria - and did not know what to expect.

DAY THREE

Thursday, 30th October 1969

As always, I woke up early in the morning, got ready, and loaded some food which we might require while driving past Eastern Europe. On entering Bulgaria, we could feel that we were passing through an under developed country. The Russian architecture was predominant all around, most of the buildings  looked similar to the USSR Embassy in Delhi - cold and strong.

Driving to Sophia the Capital of Bulgaria was tough. Out of 650 kilometer 550 roads were not tarred and were made of stone- it was one bumpy ride. My cousin in Beirut had described these roads as ‘dug-dug’ roads. We were rather tense and kept on praying for my car to stay intact and not collapse on the road. We did not stop anywhere and were able to reach Sophia by 7.30 in the evening. In the city, traffic was quiet and scanty and the best hotel was Sophia International. This hotel was very good and fully occupied, the reception staff was courteous and friendly they offered assistance for all what we required. We went to our room, freshened up and came down to the dining hall. They had a fix menu. We ate what we could. Staff serving food was polite. They all look well fed and were happy to know that we are Indians. In sixties Indians were favorite of communist world because of our relationship with Moscow. We decided to call it early night as next day we had to reach Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Third Episode – The Beautiful Bait

At about 10 P.M. somebody knocked at the door. By this time Chef Pratap Singh was snoring away, so I went up to the door, I opened the door and saw a very pretty and well fed girl who was speaking in broken English she asked “can I come into the room?” Thinking she is a hotel staff I let her come in. Only after she got inside the room I realized that it was a mistake. She offered to spend night with me if I gave her 20 Dollars and she also offered to call her friend for my sleeping friend (Chef Pratap Singh) on the second bed. I remember my uncle’s lecture on growing up where he had told me never to pay for such things. I politely offered her some chocolates and requested her to go - What a Dumb Ass I was!

DAY FOUR

Friday-31st October 1969

For any Indian, Belgrade the capital of Yugoslavia was a very important destination. Marshal Tito was the President of Yugoslavia and was a close friend of our country; we had grown up listening Tito and Nehru stories. The a small part of journey next day again was on the Dug Dug road, but once we entered Yugoslavia roads were good, beautiful Landscape. The feel of the area was much liberal and relaxed as we comfortably reached Belgrade in the afternoon. Total journey was about 400 kms thus far. We stop at a highway restaurant and had something to eat and when we were close to Belgrade we realized that  Zagreb was only 350km away and we decided to drive past.  The road was good and we reach Zagreb at 8 pm and checked in a hotel called International hotel. This was a nice hotel with modern facilities and we could see people moving around within the hotel and outside on the road.

For the first time since we started a journey from Beirut we were enjoying ourselves. After a wash and change we came down, went around the city, had a nice meal in their restaurant it was a great evening spent. We were also excited, because tomorrow we were going to cross over to Italy. 

DAY FIVE

Saturday, 1st November 1969 

Zagreb looked progressive and a well planned city from the 7th floor of the hotel room. I could see many modern buildings, people were smartly dressed, and few of them could even speak English. It was 6AM, I was in two minds, whether to move on or spend another night. I guess the duty called and by seven in the morning we were back on the road to Venice - Italy.

It was a pleasant drive, the roads were smooth, this was a stretch of over 50 Km road running parallel to the sea, the weather was pleasant and sunny and so was the journey. It did not surprise me when I reached the out skirts of Venice by 10 AM., in minutes we entered Italy and were on Motor Ways going all the way to Milan and Turin. Without wasting any time after entering the city we decided move on to Milan. Driving on the 3 lane motor ways was something what I had only read about but never experienced. First time I could step on my accelerator to touch the speed of 150 /160 km, promising myself to visit again I said good bye to Venice. 

Italy as a country always used to excite me, may be because my favorite Italian cuisine, specially Pizza and Ravioli besides the best brands of clothing in Beirut were all Italian. 

I used to imagine that every nook and corner in Italy would be serving Pizzas and Pasta and designer clothes. Unfortunately, I did not see any such thing, but still what I saw did impress me. Most impressive were their drive-in restaurants. I remember visiting one particular restaurant built like an overhead bridge across the road. The Bridge Part was a proper restaurant, we had lunch there. Restaurant was properly laid out with table clothes, wine glasses and smart waiters. As I perused excitedly through the menu I had no luck with the pizza, but they did have chicken curry and rice. Finally we had to do with soup and a sandwich. Driving on Italian Motorways was pure luxury and by 2o’clock we were on the outskirts of Milan and once again I decided to move on to Turin which was approximately 150 km from Milan. Journey from Milan to Turin was uphill and the weather was getting pleasant and nippy. We decided to spend the night in a motel on outskirts of Turin.  

Fourth Episode – Italian Motor Ways, Maserati and Adrenaline rush

My Fiat 1500 with five gears was a very good sport car of that time and could touch about 160-165 km on Italian Motor ways. I remember driving from Venice to Milan at a speed of 140 km an hour. I was holding on to hard top of my car because the buckle which holds the hard top roof was loose. Driving at high speeds against the wind, with adrenaline flowing through my blood, the music from my record player was not audible because of the roaring sound of engine and the wind. I was in the 2nd lane and wanted to overtake a car in front, I gave the indicator to get into the third lane and try to drive faster so to overtake the car in front. When I crossed that car there was a flash from back indicating that I was off the lane to 2nd lane. With my all effort when I came to 2nd lane I saw a beautiful sport car with man and woman talking to each other and next second they zoom passed me. Only thing I could notice about car was W. I have never seen a car being driven at that speed with driver and a companion sitting and talking. As though they were moving around marine drive, later on when I found that car was Maserati. For me even today the best car in the world is Maserati.

Fifth Episode- Chef Pratap Cooks Indian Meal in Turin

The Motel at Turin on the road to Mont Blanc tunnel was rather quiet. We got a room on the first floor, once we checked in; Chef Pratap almost had a nervous breakdown. He begged me to go to the manager and request, if he could cook some Indian food for both of us. With slight hesitation, I walked in the manager’s office; luckily he could speak and understand good English. After listening to my request he smiled and asked me again if Pratap was a genuine chef or just an Indian wanting to eat Indian food, when I told him Pratap was a very good Indian chef, and has been managing our restaurants. He put his condition, he said this time of evening we are 7-8 of us working in the hotel, I will give you permission to cook but he will have to cook for all of us. It was memorable evening as Pratap cooked nice chicken curry, some pulao and vegetables for them. They were kind enough to make a pizza for me. We all sat together and had a great meal and mind you, they did not charge us a penny for the dinner and for breakfast next morning.

DAY SIX

Sunday 2nd November 1969

Next morning was cloudy, allowing sun to feast on snow Clad Mountains in the north. The Motel being next to highway, we were able to get on the motorway quickly. Just after a few kilometers we came on the regular mountain road. In 2 hours we were at the entry point of the longest man made tunnel in the world, 

The Mont Blanc Tunnel, it is a highway tunnel in Europe, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. The passageway is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes, cutting through Mont Blanc Mountain with entry from Italy and exiting in France. Immigration for Italy and France both were cleared before entering the tunnel. There were two lanes on each side and there was a speed limit of about of 60kms an hour. Next half an hour was amazing journey, as though I was making a history. We came out on the other side of the mountains overlooking the beautiful valley - we were in France. Little further down we could see Geneva.

Being a Lebanese driver fast and rash when I tried to move onto the main road without stopping, the French policeman stopped me and gave me a spot lesson on how to enter the main road for next 20 minutes. And then he asked me if I have any foreign coins. I took out a handful of them from my pocket; he selected quiet few and let me go. In the next half an hour we were in Geneva. A beautiful town with a lake in the middle and as usual my hunt for a good hotel started. I spotted a nice big hotel close to the lake, it was called Hotel D’Angleterre. I checked into this hotel in Autumn of 1969 they charged me approximately 30$. Even till today I have never stayed in better hotel in my life. Rooms were very spacious and fantastic view overlooking lake. In the middle of lake I could see fountains shooting jet of water to about 150 feet high. I had my bath, got ready and put on a suit as I was going to meet one of my old girl friends who had moved to Geneva- I guess not was another my story.

The Lunch at d'Angleterre was memorable, being a vegetarian I found it to be very satisfying there was a large variety vegetarian Hor’devours and other salads spread over the buffet counters. I still remember relishing vinaigrette Artichoke, asparagus, baby peas, sautéed mushroom, along with that they serve me spinach and cheese cannelloni. Food was just divine. After lunch we decided to visit the city centre which was just round the corner. I think we were the only two Indians in the whole wide world of Geneva. We ordered Dinner in the room as Chef Partap was very uncomfortable eating with fork and knife in the restaurant. Service of the hotel was courteous and efficient. I still remember in 1969 housekeeping staff giving us a night service asking me whether I require soft or hard pillow. Although there was central heating, we were provided feather quilts. They were really light and warm. We had one of the best sleep of the trip.

Sixth Episode- Virat the ‘Prince’

 Wanting to find out the best route to get into France I walked up to the concierge desk and he politely explained that the shortest route was through Lausanne. Thereafter he asked me if I was a Prince of some Middle Eastern country. I smiled and asked him what made him think that I was a Prince. He replied you are well dressed; you have a very beautiful sport car with Arabic number plate and most of all you have a body guard who does not leave you even when you are having lunch and so in all probability you have to be a prince. I laughed and cleared his ‘judgment’, and explained that I was an Indian and I live in Lebanon and was going to London and my body guard was actually my Indian chef. Isn’t it an irony that our appearances sometime attract different reactions in different countries? Partap’s appearance in my uncle’s suit and felt hat (which he never removed even while eating his lunch) most probably made everyone from Syria to Yugoslavia was that of a boss and I was a driver. But the minute I entered Western Europe the world of money, power, influence he became my body guard.

DAY SEVEN

Monday, 3rd November 1969 

Next day, after a deep sound sleep – the best in last six days of the journey – and a hearty breakfast we left Geneva at 7.30 in the morning, for Lausanne, the 70 km journey took over an hour and half and this is where we started our journey toward Dijon in France. From Dijon we got onto the motorway and were on the way to Paris, Switzerland. Motorway to Paris was really very smooth, modern and nice, 500 km journey made us reach Paris at 2 o’clock in afternoon. 

On the way to Dijon from Lausanne we came across beautiful green valleys, bright sun and breath-taking scenic beauty. [Although I lived in England for many years later in life but the only thing which comes close, to this  is the welsh countryside]. On Paris Motor Way, Drive-Inn was very modern, sleek. It is there for first time I had a beef burger. I was really impressed by the modern kitchen layout and service style.

 In Paris, only thing I remember was is the Eiffel Tower. A magnificent monument – one that takes your breath away, it was like  miracle  and I saw this humongous wonder, it was very hard to believe, something of that magnitude could be built in 18th centaury .We spend about an hour looking around Paris and then resumed our journey towards Ferry Port, Calais, then for the next one hour we went around Paris trying to find our way to Calais. Each and every person we met just refused to answer in English and said  No-Parle’ English , finally we met an Armenian guy, he was kind enough to guide us and said” my friend  they all know English but they will not answer because French always looked down at English and they have never forgiven them for murdering Joan of Arch”. We reached Calais by 4 o’clock, took a ferry and sailed for England.

For any Indian Sea Ferry journey from France to England with few 100 cars on the board along with the passenger was quite an eye opener. It took about 3 hours to cross the English Channel; boat was well designed with Restaurants, Cafes and Gift shops. They even had immigration office. Where immigration officers were securitizing passports for visa and entry permit. While I had a visa to get into England but Chef Partap did not have one. When we reach the immigration officer’s desk, with lot of persuasions he agreed to give Partap 3 month’s visa. Most amazing thing was that out of 100s of cars on the ferry, he knew that I was driving Red Sports Convertible Fiat   and being a car buff he discussed with me my journey from Beirut to France and wished me luck.

Reaching England after sun set was a tricky situation but as we were one hour away from London, we were not worried as we had already reached our destination. After reaching Hounslow we kept on looking for Sirena Restaurant and finally when we were really fed up of looking around for it we saw a police car (I had heard great things about British–Bobbys’-all good). 

Little frustrated I went over to him and asked him the location of the address. He smiled and looked at me and said are you joking, shockingly I asked him what made him think so. He smiled confidently and said the restaurant you looking for is right behind you. When I turned around I finally saw Sirena Indian Restaurant.

Thus ended this long and tiring journey, I never considered this an achievement of the sorts, but with the passage of time, as I look back  I realize that for a boy just 19 years old it was indeed,  quite an accomplishment to start with. Today the memories are alive and fresh as the morning dew when I reflect. Deep down somewhere – someone tells me to go back and do a repeat of the same journey, traverse the same trail with friends and record the changes between1969 and now. I am sure the world has changed - so have I. I feel it is important to record Europe of sixties and compare it with Europe of 2014/ 2015.

Written By : Anil Chak & Virat Varma