The pair of black handcrafted John Lobb opera shoes with red insoles and black grosgrain bow brought to us by a liveried young retainer says it all. Prithvi Raj Singh ‘Biki’ Oberoi is all about classic, timeless style.
“There aren’t too many people who wear a dinner jacket anymore,” sighs the 78-year-old hotelier whose surname bears a weighty legacy that belies his diminutive frame.
“But I used to throw formal, black-tie parties in Delhi right up to the late 1970s... Now these shoes are a bit tight for me.”
His eyes twinkle as he enunciates the last bit in his impeccable accent and lights up his Cohiba for the nth time on a muggy Sunday afternoon. Obviously there’s no question that the shoe fits when it comes to hoteliering, as we sit chatting at the 55-acre green haven on Delhi’s outskirts that the chairman & CEO of EIH Ltd calls home. “This is the only home I’ve ever had,“ he says of this modest Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired building. Till he bought and renovated Naila fort in Rajasthan and recently finished a 40-acre retreat in Bangalore, that is.
“This place hasn’t changed since it was built in the 1970s,” say the man who heads the Rs 1,115 crore Oberoi empire comprising 32 hotels and luxury cruisers in five countries, flight catering, tour services, air charters and more.
As he nurses a china mug of his favourite Earl Grey tea with a chocolate labrador and black spaniel snoozing at his feet, a surreptitious 360 degree glance around the room confirms what Lobb and Cohiba assert: classic style. A Castiglione Arco (the iconic lamp of the late 1960s) swoops out from a corner as a distinctly Satish Gujral fireplace soars between the living and dining areas; greenery soothes the eye from large French windows and the raucous call of peacocks pierce the heavy air outside.
Like the Barcelona chairs in his office, the Husain and Kishen Khanna paintings and silver framed photos of his children, there’s nary a nouveau piece to jar the eye: everything has an air of, well, aptness. Not surprisingly, this underlines Oberoi’s own idea of luxury: everything in its place.
source: Economic Times
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