Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

  Sept 16, 2020   (9 of 12)   REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987-     “ God has been kind to me.   I made money from Beach Luxury Hotel and eventually bought a Hotel in Lahore (Nedous Hotel) on Public auction which I converted from Nedous Hotel to Park Luxury - and I was about to convert it to build the Lahore Hilton.   By this time, my son Byram & I had discussed whether we were content in running the Beach Luxury or wanted to grow (and naturally we chose the latter).     This then propelled me to say that success does not come without pains or losses...    The Beach Luxury in the 50s and early 60s (when we spoke), made its money through cash sales which were not recorded because of the high taxation- and actually became our capital.  We agreed that firstly we have to bring all our businesses on the books because without a strong bal...

  August 18, 2020   (8 of 12)   REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987-   “ Beach Luxury Hotel started construction, Partition took place, and the Sind Government once again requisitioned my Hotel. They said that as a Minority Member I will run away and they needed the building for Government Offices. This was somewhere around December 1947, and I gave them a written assurance that I will open the Hotel by our Zoroastrian New Year, 21st of March 1948. One week before the Opening, I had no furniture, cutlery, crockery or glassware.   Always, in my times of problems, God has come to my rescue. I believe in intuition and like the time when I left Quetta the night before the fatal earthquake - because of my intuition - I was once again intuitively led to read every inch of the newspaper that day.   I saw this advertisement of the British United Services Club, which was called the Bus...

June 18, 2020 (6 of 12)   REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987-   “ Sir Sidney Ridley confirmed to me that he would protect me and would ensure that the Hotel, if purchased by me, would not be requisitioned during the Second World War for the Army, Navy and Air Force, as was the custom.   So, putting up my entire life’s savings and borrowing the rest, I went to Mr.  Wyseman and purchased the Bristol Hotel for Rs.100,000/-.  Mr Wyseman agreed on one condition- that Khorshed and I learn the hotel business with him for a few months.  So, every morning at 4 a.m. I went to the Empress Market to purchase all the groceries, and the mutton, beef, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits.   (Photo credit- Empress market- https://www.parhlo.com/30-rare-unseen-old-pictures-karachi/ ) As soon as six months training were over and Mr. Wyseman handed over the Hotel to me and left Karachi...

April 29, 2020 COVID … COVID … COVID!  We will PREVAIL but that doesn’t mean we forget all other social ills ☹ . I don’t recall the source or location of this Twitter picture but KUDOS to the inventor for this simple ‘ garbage collector ’ system to capture debris, rubbish, flotsam, etc. So much of Karachi’s industrial waste, rubbish & sewerage finds its way into the Sea through its identifiable & controllable outlets & nalas (nala = stream).  There are manifold advantages to this simple model- ·         It’s cheap & easy to make - really, all it is, is a modified fishing net!  ·         Easy to set up & operate – the way I visualize it is that you place it over the city sewer and “stormwater drain” outlets where they discharge into the creeks & canals leading into the sea.  Not only will it contain all the debris, stopping its passage int...

April 26, 2020 REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987- (4 of 12) “ Next day I went to Dr. Kanga's house for lunch and I was surprised to find that his wife had a boutique from which she was earning Rs. 100/- per month. After lunch, I asked her if she would instead like to earn over Rs.300/- per month. I trained her as an Insurance Agent for only one day. The next day, she brought insurance of Rs. 50,000/- from Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, the Grandfather of Miss Benazir Bhutto and earned a commission of Rs. 1500/- at the first shot. I had all the Punjabi and Parsi Agents in Karachi working for me and all did very good business and made very good money. I sent for my younger brother Rathan from Bombay to come and stay with me where he was attending a College, and as my Father had asked me to look after him because when my mother died he was only One year old. I got a two-bedroomed flat at a rent of Rs. 50/- per...

March 13, 2020 REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987- (3 of 12) (Vita steamship- Photo credit- https://picclick.co.uk/CANARA-1942-British-India-Steam-Navigation-Co-cargo-233507144190.html ) “ I accepted Karachi because I used to read articles on the Late Mr. Jamshed Mehta in the Jam-e-Jamshed and was highly impressed. He asked me in how many days I would like to go over and open the Karachi )Office. I told him within 48 hours I would go to Karachi, as I require one day to go to Udvada and Navsari for Prayers and for meeting my relations and friends and the next day I would go to Karachi. He told me that the Manager's Agreement require  at least 8 days to be made ready, signed, stamped and completed and therefore, I could go within 10 days. This Offer was a God sent gift to me. When coming to Karachi, I travelled by Steamer 'VITA' in the first class, and I became acquainted with Mr. Pesi, So...

(2 of 13) REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987- “ I want to tell you that I was very ambitious and hard-working and I used to go down to an  Irani  Restaurant after office hours, sit at a table and would call the people in the room to come and have Tea and biscuits with me (at my cost of course). Remember that the charges for this was One Anna per person. Round about 10 persons used to join me every day and I used to give them a lecture on the advantages of Life Insurance. Do you know that, by my offering them tea and Biscuits and giving them lectures, seven persons out ten would agree to insure their lives with me and the very next day, I used to take them to Doctor Adi Kohiyar, the leading physician of Bombay in the early morning at 7.00 a.m. for Life Assurance Examination. This tactic of mine resulted in generating the largest amount of Life Assurance sold in any one month, in the whole of Bombay Pr...

February 14, 2020 I surprised my future wife with a romantic(?) Valentine’s dinner the year we were dating; and then for the next few years after our marriage... …and just as suddenly those romantic dinners stopped J , not for want of trying   … I just “forgot”! There is no religious significance of Valentines Day to the general public in Pakistan.   However, we all like to celebrate it as a means of entertainment. Valentine’s occasion brings activity to Pakistan’s society in general.   It’s a means of entertainment- besides eating and drinking, there’s not much more one can do in a large city like Karachi. I’ve found that occasions like Valentine’s increases market activity; there’s a positive vibe in the City; employment and commerce is generated by eating places.   Besides this, roadside sellers of flowers have a boon.   Patisserie orders increase (…so does your waist line!). Pakistanis are not celebrating any religious ang...

January 17, 2020 On several occasions I have written extracts about my late grandfather, Dinshaw B. Avari, who was the patriarch of our Group. I recently came across a “ REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B. AVARI GIVEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNCTION HELD BY THE PARSI COMMUNITY OF KARACHI TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th BIRTHDAY on NOVEMBER 5, 1987 AND FELICITATE HIM ”. I also sincerely believe that “we are who we are because of our grandfather and my father’s” sincere, hard and untiring efforts and work ethics. I thought the best way to share the hardships and tribulations that my grandfather went through to establish his family is to reproduce his speech – in short blogs over the course of this year. There are some life’s lessons to be learnt from his words and I hope my family can emulate even a fraction of what he has done, for our children and future generations. Dinshaw =============================================================== (1 of 12) REPLY ADD...

October 15, 2019 (In Gujrati, “Naatak” = “play”)   “ Mix Breed ”, based on a Parsi family who have to face “intermarriage” issues, is a light portrayal of the real-world issues our Community is facing.    With double meanings and inflections, the cast (90% of whom learnt Gujrati “ on the job ”!) entertained the Gujrati speaking communities of Karachi. The Script was written by Mrs Huzan Wadia, who has successfully acted & directed it in Mumbai; and selflessly extended the script on a gratis basis to Natalia Karanjia in Karachi, this play being the latter’s directorial debut.   Yay to Natalia! This is what Karachi, and Pakistan, lacks- ENTERTAINMENT.   We have food & drink and ………… hmmmmm.   Play and theatre is picking up in Pakistan but to a very restricted market.   The mainstream citizens do not get to enjoy theatre on a regular basis- whether drama, comedy, musical.   Our cast explained to me the ‘power’ of theatre – they...

(photo credit- https://grabcad.com/library/golden-spoon?locale=es ) June 24, 2019 About 50 people have over 26 years of service with our family just at Beach Luxury Hotel (not counting our other hotels) – NINE of whom have been with us for over 40 years! Why would someone choose to work for 50% of his or her LIFE with one family !? Our family’s CORE philosophy stems from my grandfather’s, late Dinshaw B Avari, life & upbringing.   Born in 1902, studied in the Petit Orphanage in Bombay, gave tuitions to support his & his siblings educations, my grandfather was truly a self-made man. He always taught my parents & us – “ Your father was born with a Silver spoon in his mouth; and you’ll are born with a ‘golden’ spoon!   Never forget your roots – never forget what it took to give you your current lifestyle & education ”.   That has always been front & center of our upbringing and in our childr...