The fiesty C P Krishnan Nair is full of life at 90. The nonagenarian chairman of India’s high- end Leela group of hotels goes for his early morning walk, attends meetings with top executives, takes active interests in steering expansion plans of his hospitality business and is also coming out with his first biography aptly titled, Krishna Leela which will be launched at a gala function at Kovalam (Kerala) today.
Quiz him on the secret of his energy and enthusiasm, pat comes the reply, “I always think positive. I am a Karmayogi and that’s what I am doing. The energy and the yearn to excel are as high as ever.” But Nair never had it easy in life. Despite being born in a poor family, he had a flair for reading books of Swami Vivekanand, Ramkrishna Parmahansa, Ramathirtha and also of Napoleon Bonaparte. Recounting a line from Napoleon’s book, Nair adds, ” There is nothing impossible in this world. The word impossible doesn’t exist in my dictionary. If you ask me, I have followed this till today.”
A brush with the past
What is common between Nair and Osama Bin Laden? During his early years, Nair stayed at Abbottabad ( now in Pakistan), the same place where Osama Bin Laden was killed this year in May. “Yes, the same house which has now become famous, where Osama was captured and killed was there at that time but it wasn’t like this, it was very small.” At Abbottabad, Nair stayed with Abdul Gafar Khan who was the pillar of Indian National Congress.
The turning point came when he was 17 and an encounter with a sanyasi changed his life forever. Says he, “I was in Rishikesh in search of Rishi ( Sanyasi), I roamed and looked around but couldn’t find anybody, then I traveled to Haridwar where I saw a man dressed in saffron clothes, sitting in a small hut on the banks of river Ganga meditating. Next day I came and saw him again and he was sitting in the same position and meditating, unaware of what is happening around, he used to start his meditation in Brahmamurta ( at 3 am) and sit for several hours in one position, and I used to observe him. Initially he asked me why are you following me? This continued for seven days. I slept in a small veranda on the floor as there was no home for me to stay. Then on the eighth day, I asked Swamiji-I want Diksha. The sanyasi looked into my eyes paused and then said, ‘Son, you still have to perform your duties, do good for the people, which is why you are born. So go and do what you have been told as you won’t get diksha in this lifetime.” I was moved by his thought and immediately touched his feet and he blessed me. I later even built a home for this Sanyasi who was homeless but he refused to stay there.”
‘I always think positive. I am a Karmayogi and that’s what I am doing.’
“Having observed his meditation, the Sanyasi also told me another important thing- that I should sit near the Ganga and close my eyes and meditate. I did this during Brahmamurtha and after a while, I heard chants of Om coming from the river Ganga. It was as if somebody was chanting it loudly. When I informed the sanyasi about this, he said that you have found your true calling. I realised that Om is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omninitive. That is how I developed patience and self- confidence.” Nair reveals that the sanyasi was Swami Shivananda, adding, “Every year until his death I used to visit him.” Post this experience, when he entered the corporate world, Nair was a different man altogether.
These and many other such anecdotes are abundant in his biography written in Malayalam that is penned by a young boy called Taha Madhai from Nair’s native place, Kannur. Mr. Nair has this to say about his biography, “I would be distributing my biography to all schools of Kerala and every student must read it and take inspiration that if a simple boy from a poor Nair family of Kerala can build a business empire, then why can’t they? However, non- Malayalees need not lose heart.”
Nair informs us that Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor will interview him and come out with an English version of his biography. Interestingly, Tharoor is one of the distinguished guests at Mondays book launch that will also be attended by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and actor Mohanlal.
Bring back Swiss money
Nair is bullish on the topic of his country, “India has a great potential to be a superpower and can overtake China, provided we bring back the money which is kept in Swiss Banks and tax heaven countries and use them for building superhighways, interlinking rivers, augmenting foodgrain production, solar power and replacing slums with buildings.” He asked the government to constitute a body named India Development Authority to carry out these works. He foresees a day when India will have enough food production to feed the starving countries and help their economy.
On Kerala temples riches
Asked about his views on the new-found riches from Swami Padmanabha Temple in Kerala, Nair replied,” First a trust should be formed and a competent person should lead it and this wealth should be utilised for the overall development of Kerala.”
On hospitality
Reflecting the core values of his hospitality business, Nair, a quintessential Indian who believes in the saying Atithi Devo Bhava, reasons, “For us, the guest is our god. We treat them with the best service and also offer him the latest of cars like BMW and Rolls Royce for transportation.”
