Indian Hospitality Industry 22

                                   PAMMI THAKRAL MY DEAREST FRIEND 

My Lalaji

I vividly recall meeting this highly polished gentleman, immaculately dressed Indian with proper British accent, walking into my office with the request of booking few rooms for his guests in Centaur Hotel cum convention Centre, Srinagar in the October of 1987. He was Head of Senator Group, who was    building three Hotels in Kashmir. I was a little taken aback with his introduction; however it didn’t take us much time to figure out common friends. He invited us for drinks at his place and that was the beginning of a long friendship which he ended today forever by God’s wish. Now I hope that maybe he will wait for me in heaven to show me around. But my fear is that I, most probably will go to hell, unless the Gods think otherwise.

Paramjit Singh Thakral was the youngest sibling , with his older sister and two brothers. Being good in education he was sent to London for a Hotel Management course. He stayed in London for more than 7 years during which he got transformed from simple Sardar of Punjab to elegantly dressed suave Indian Gora with impeccable British accent to match his demeanor fit for a distinguish hotelier. There he was selected by Air India to help in opening their first Airline Hotel in Mumbai, India. Centaur Mumbai, when opened was rated as one of the finest Hotels in India, with highest occupancy rate in the country for over a decade. From there he was picked up by ITC Hotels to manage famous Sea Rock Hotel at Bandra and from there he was transferred to open there flagship Hotel for South in Bangalore. From there he took over Hotel Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu for many years and when I met him he was head of Senator Group in Kashmir. A highly professional guy with the disposition of an introvert, he was an outstanding Hotelier and a man of principals which he lived up throughout his career

What can you say about a fine man, a great Hotelier and a dearest friend for over 37 years? We use to meet nearly every day, if we were in town. He was my dearest friend and will remain so till I am alive. There was nothing in his life which I was not aware of and same was with him.  Friends and colleagues all use to be little surprised of our closeness and not only him but also his wife who is an equally close friend and their kids were family. Usually I had reputation of people taking me for granted/ride, but as compared to him, I think, I looked crooked, that’s how noble was my friend. Always full of smile, I never heard him with any kind of negative view about any one. He only looked at the positive side of each situation or person.  

Pammi was great connoisseur  of good music and dedicated fan of Talat Mahmood songs, he even sang beutifully  but being married to family of singers, he kept a very low profile in singing. We were lucky he sanged his last one for us

As a professional hotelier, he was par excellence. Great innovator, true professional and was just amazing in man management. His first job in India at Centaur Mumbai, he created a finest example of high turnover, outstanding superlative service and some of the most successful F&B concepts, which assisted Hotel with unprecedented service cycle in the history of Hotel Industry in India.  He was a man of high integrity, thoroughly professional and was humble as well – indeed a very rare combination of multi-faceted virtues all rolled into my dear friend Pammi. As a friend I followed his career path and he became an inspiration to people like me. Miss you dear buddy.

Written By Virat Varma &  Anil Chak