Hotel Heathrow
The £180m hotel that Surinder Arora is building to open in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games, will be the only hotel in Heathrow’s new terminal. The move shows a shrewd business mind hiding inside that humble man. The hotel will have near 100 per cent occupancy throughout the year and with travellers coming in and flying out, it’s once hotel that won’t have a lean season. That Arora has built his empire from scratch is an amazing achievement. He should be a model for every Indian living outside. He shows that when it comes to work ethics, Indians lead by a mile.
Sandeep Sharma
New York
Arora’s plans to open a four-star hotel at The Brit Oval in 2009, home of the Surrey County Cricket Club, in time for the 2009 Ashes series against Australia, makes me wonder why our Indian cricket establishment isn’t doing anything of that sort. The Brit Oval aims to create world-class cricket viewing and spectator facilities. Why are India’s cricket stadiums in such a bad shape. I mean they have tarps in this day and age, when in Sydney they have a retractable roof supplied by India’s Salem Steel. The Indian cricket board is sitting on a cash pile that’s equal to the GNP of a small country, and our stadiums reek of neglect. Arora has vision and the guts—sadly those are qualities we lack.
Ramesh Jayaram
Berlin
Entrepreneurs like Arora are a breed apart from the usual business community crowd. He seems to be riding this tremendous wave that has taken him from one acquisition to another. All it take is one man’s passion and the right opportunity. What Surender Arora has done is demonstrate that hard work does pay.
Suman Bakshi
New Delhi
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NRI’s best friend
L.M Singhvi was indeed a friend of the overseas Indian. It was under him in 2000 that the Indian government set up a high level committee on the diaspora, to prepare a comprehensive report on the Indian diaspora. The appointment of the committee represented a benchmark in Indian history, for Singhvi recommended dual citizenship for foreign citizens of Indian descent settled in certain countries. NRI’s all over the world should thank him for making their ephemeral links with India into a stronger connection. And that’s no small achievement.
Karuna Pathak
Singapore
Saree Surprise
One reason I love your magazine is that it’s one of the few places where I can get to see the latest in sarees from India. The Satya Paul collection is awesome and frankly I haven’t seen anything like it anywhere. Makes me wish for a second wedding, just so I can wear those gorgeous wedding sarees! I sometimes wonder whether these offering will take off in the West. American and European.
Suman Bakshi
New Delhi
In touch with nature
Your health section is superb. The previous issue had some great topics and Yogi Ashwini’s column. He makes it sound so easy and his language is so easy to follow. It’s quite a useful section that gives me a 2-minute tour of natural healing techniques that cost me nothing.
Balwant Singh
London
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