The Man Who Brought Hyatt To India

- Joseph Rozario

OLD AGE HAS HARDLY BEEN ABLE TO PUT THE brakes on Radhe Shyam Saraf, who, at 87, is still amazingly fit and hands-on with his sprawling hospitality business that goes beyond national boundaries. Friends, family, business associates—he’s in touch with them too, and paucity of time makes him wish for more than 24 hours to his day. Few men wouldn’t want to be in Radhe Shyam Saraf’s shoes, whose life, it seems, is truly blessed. Health, wealth, success, long-life, happiness—he has them all!

A veteran hotelier who owns and manages a dozen 5-star properties, with several more under construction, Radhe Shyam Saraf began his journey 70 years ago as a trader in Kalimpong, in sub-Himalayan West Bengal. As he begins to talk about his life’s journey, his son, Arun Saraf, takes his place close to his father, to help him with his impaired hearing and articulate the narrative. As the duo takes us back to the Sarafs’ past, the story that emerges is that the family originally is from Ratangarh, in Rajasthan, from where some 200 years ago, the Sarafs shifted to Manipur, lured by better business prospects. Later, relocating for a second time, the family moved to Guwahati, where Radhe Shyam Saraf was born.

An entrepreneur at 17