One of my favourite Indian writer ' Partha Chatterjee ' stated in one of his book " To be a successful person one should have dreams of success ". Dreams actually reflects the desire to do something particular and achieve a goal through hard work.
The writer cited the example of such a dreamer to make his concept more clear.He was Mr Oberoi .
Oberoi belonged to a poor family . He lost his father when he was only 6 months . He was brought up in his maternal house. When he was 15 years old, he started earning his first wages as a salesman in a small shoe store . While working , he completed his Stenography course. But, even after that when he could not improve his financial condition , he shifted to Shimla with his wife and daughter . He expected some better opportunity there. Simla is a hill station where lots of tourist visits every year.
India was under British rule at that time .He managed to get a job in ''Sisil Hotel ' and his task was marketing and housekeeping . He did his work so dedicately that within a short span of time he was able to win the trust of the manager " Mr. G. Clerk". After a few days Mr. Clerk bought a small hotel and made him the manager. Oberoi engaged himself in the new job and started dreaming of being the owner of such a hotel .
Mr Clerk was from Britain . Due to some work he left for his native place. Before leaving Mr Clerk sold 1/3 portion of the hotel to Oberoi at a marginal price and made him the caretaker of the hotel. This was a blessing for Oberoi . He changed the whole scenerio of the hotel. After a few years, Mr Clerk wrote a letter to Oberoi where he requested Oberoi to purchase his hotel as Clerk would not be returning back to India. He took some time from Clerk and managed the amount by borrowing from some of his friends.
Thus, Oberoi who came to Shimla empty handed , became the owner of a hotel . His business started to flourish soon. After a few years, he got the information that one of India's famous "Hotel Grand" in Kolkatta would be sold. Hotel Grand was the top most hotel at that time in India. In 1933, due to plague the hotel had to be closed down for years. The hotel could not be opened by owners group due to heavy debt.
Oberoi took the responsibility of running the hotel in lease at a marginal price. By then, the second world war broke out. Oberoi provided the food and lodging facilities to the armies of Allied Forces. Thus ,in this way he earned a huge amount of money. With this money, he purchased ""Hotel Grand " from it's owner Spencer company at a price of Rs 60 lakhs. From then onwards, Oberoi never looked back .
At present, the Oberoi group of hotel is famous all over India and even abroad . When Oberoi died, he was the owner of 37 five star hotels in different parts of India . Besides , Indonesia, Morocco, UAE, Egypt etc also has Oberoi group of chain of hotels.
Thus , in this way, Oberoi who dreamt of becoming the owner of a hotel in Shimla became an icon among the Indians due to his consistent efforts to fulfill his dreams.
