Catalysis for Camas

There is such a surfeit of hotels; much more than Ahmedabad can sustain. We are pulling on because of our loyal clientele,” states Jehangir R. J. Cama, chairman and managing director of Cama Hotels Limited that runs Cama Hotel in Ahmedabad and Cama Rajputana Club Resort in Mount Abu.

According to the former president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, "Bombay, Poona and Bangalore are suffering a similar fate... Everybody thought the market would expand at a particular rate. It has not. Quite a lot of the new players are in difficulty already. Today the investments are so big in the hotel industry that five star chains like Marriott are in difficulty…”

Cama Hotel in Ahmedabad

Last year the Camas tied up with Keys Hotels, the mid-market brand of Berggruen Hotels of America that is entering the Indian market. This tie-up marks the presence of the 10th Keys Hotel in India and will help Camas with the management and marketing. Currently Cama Hotel being a business hotel has 40 percent occupancy whilst Cama Raj-putana in the band of seasonal hotels has 40-45 percent occupancy. "By partnering an upcoming brand like Keys Hotels with a national reach and presence and new professional operational styles, we will take the grand old lady of Ahmedabad to fresh new heights,” declared Cama at the press meet announcing the launch.

Jehangir and Mehroo Cama

Appreciating that "Cama Hotel is Ahmedabad’s first ‘Boutique Luxury Hotel’ and a landmark since 1960, Sanjay Sethi, managing director and chief executive officer of Berggruen Hotels stated, "It is well known for its special brand of hospitality that makes it a memorable experience… Through this partnership we will leverage our strongly integrated domain knowledge, market reach and talent pool to create a world class business hotel that will meet all requirements of the business and leisure travelers.”

As compared to 10 years earlier "the business climate is on the upswing but the rate of growth has slowed down. Because of government policies, economic reforms are not continuing at the same pace,” Cama points out.

Whilst the earlier generations were keen to launch their own business, the entrepreneurial spirit is now on the wane, regrets the hotelier. He referred to his grandfather Jehangir Dadabhai Cama who started the first bicycle shop in the country in 1897 under the name of Dinshaw D. Cama. Seven years later he made a trip to England to get an agency. His father Rustom who started Cama Hotel "had no money.” Yet with his vision that Ahmedabad would grow, he went into business with Hindu partners. Supporting him was Chinubhai Chiman­lal, then mayor of Ahmedabad. "We opened Cama Hotels in 1960, a day before Gujarat state was formed.” Over the years the Hindus who have been on the board of Cama Hotels are Chimanlal, Rohit Mehta, Jayantilal Bhikhabhai, Pankaj Desai and Mahendra Patel.

"Entrepreneurship has to come from within you,” declares Cama explaining how he developed their Cama Rajputana Club Resort in Mount Abu. When he first visited the place, the structure built in 1866 was a "khandar/bhangar (in ruins and decrepit) site. But I had a vision, I said I want to revive this place.” After its restoration it has 40 luxuriously decorated rooms and two elegant suites overlooking panoramic views, modern business amenities as also sports and recreational facilities.

"I am an automobile engineer,” says Cama whose family also owns Cama Motors. Wife Mehroo studied medicine and was just six months away from a doctor’s degree. But marriage and the birth of their mentally challenged daughter Aiyesha soon thereafter required her to put her personal ambitions on hold. When she was needed to help out with the family business Mehroo took over as managing director of Cama Motors after the demise of her father-in-law in 1965. Cama Motors was the dealer for Hindustan Ambassador cars for 49 years and Ma-hindra and Mahin-dra Jeeps for almost as many years. Later they had the agencies for Mitsubishi Lancer, Mercedes Benz for 12 years and Skoda cars. In fact they were the first dealers for Mercedes in Gujarat and Rajasthan. For many years they were also the agents for Hertz and Budget hired cars for Ahmedabad.

Presently they have diversified from cars and have the Ducati super bikes agency.

"I never regretted the decision as I myself came from a business family background,” mentions Mehroo. Her father Faramroz Pirojshaw Wadia of Rajkot was a dealer for General Motors before independence and Premier Automobiles thereafter along with other agencies including Burmah-Shell, Tata Chemicals and Hindustan Lever. Her brother Sam Wadia was instrumental in starting Wadia Body Builders in Ahme­da­bad, one of India’s leading manufacturers of special purpose vehicles (see "Bountiful bodies,” Parsiana, March 21, 2008).

In 1989 they decided to set up a full fledged IATA (International Air Transport Association) recognized travel agency — Camarro Travels — as a "natural sequel to the hotel business… With our already established contacts and reputation for business ethics it was an easy task for me,” mentions Mehroo. "We expanded our fleet of taxis and made many contracts with corporate clients who have remained loyal to us… We choose our clients carefully and offer them the best services and the best prices for all their travel arrangements, domestic and international,” she explains their working. Whilst originally it was an all ladies team, they now have two men working at Camarro, one of whom handles accounts, and the other, passports.

They also enjoy exclusive marketing rights for their own properties. "Marketing Cama Rajputana Club Resort is for me the icing on the cake,” says Mehroo. "We keep devising innovative packages to beat the competition in Mount Abu. There are many palaces converted into heritage hotels but ours is the only one to offer all ‘club’ facilities as well… In addition to family holiday packages we have become a popular venue for corporate conferences and intimate weddings for 200-300 people from all over India. Our New Year’s eve package is very popular…”

Cama Rajputana Club Resort at Mount Abu with well-furnished room

Their son Rustom has ventured into organic orchard farming, choosing to go beyond the conventional family businesses. Having always "been very close to nature,” he has purchased land in north Gujarat and Rajasthan and manages three farms, cultivating apples, mangoes and pomegranates. Although he has not started reaping the fruits of his labor, he hopes to do so in the next couple of years and even has plans to set up processing plants. Their younger daughter Laila Bhullar, based in Canada, is a financial advisor for Primerica.

There are nearly 250 people who work for the Camas but not a single Zoroastrian. "I don’t go out of my way and say Parsi chhè” so he should be absorbed. Cama recalls his efforts in trying to promote Zoroastrians when he was on the panel of interviewers at the Institute of Hotel Management and how embarrassed he was when a Parsi boy refused to accept an opening beyond Bombay although a girl from the South was willing to take up an offer in Srinagar.

The Zoroastrian community in Ahmedabad, according to Cama’s estimate numbers around 1,600, with more professionals than businessmen. Although there are more deaths than births, since migration is limited the population is fairly stable, he observes. There are two agiaries in Ahmedabad, the Vakil Adarian run by the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat and the second agiary, owned by the Wadia family. At the Vakil Adarian, the priests have to follow the trustees’ diktats. Earlier the priests were at liberty to perform jashans on premises where non-Parsis were seated but the new priests refuse to do so. "What the hell is so sacrosanct about a jashan?” Cama enquires. When the Camas celebrated their golden jubilee in 2010, they invited priests from Vadodara to perform the thanksgiving jashan.

From left: Rustom, Mehroo, Laila and Jehangir Cama

Likewise he does not concur with traditions that do not permit non-Parsis to view the face of their deceased friend. The decision for the final disposal of the body should be "by choice and not under threat of denial of prayers which is grossly unfair,” he is convinced. He mentions that when community historian Rashid Medora passed away in Ahmedabad, the trustees circulated a letter advising non-attendance at the prayers because he had chosen to be cremated. In the absence of vultures and solar panels that don’t work throughout the year, "death with dignity is a valid argument,” he states. Neither does he believe that men in the community deserve an exalted status. "Why should women be discriminated against in this magnificent religion of ours?”

"We are a very cosmopolitan society in Ahmedabad,” states Jehangir who was sent to Tutorial High School because his father believed he should know Gujarati if he wanted to prosper in Gujarat. "Even today I cannot count in English. I write in English but count in Gujarati,” says the man who is "very proud that I have grown up in Ahmedabad and it is where we have raised our children.” He values though the time he spent at Ford Motors, Dagenham, UK where he went for apprenticeship and dealership management training.

Whilst the paternal side of his family were keen businessmen, the maternal side of his family were into literature: maternal grandmother Meher­banoo Adenwalla wrote books; his grand maasi (aunt) Jerbanoo Kothavala started Saraswati, a Gujarati magazine in 1901; grand maamaa (uncle) Prof Firoze Davar was a Persian scholar and considered an authority on Shakespeare.

Motivated to improve living conditions in the pilgrim town that led him to become the president of the Foundation for Development of Udvada, Cama says, "Every time I went there I was ready to cry.” Amidst a Zoroastrian population of around 70, he could see "old buildings, ready to fall.” Had it been developed as a tourist town it could have offered "opportunities for employment, to make money, buy land, develop agriculture,” he is sanguine referring to a function under the auspices of the Indian Hotels Management graced by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who of his own accord offered to contribute Rs 1.25 crore to develop Udvada. Critical of the supporters of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) who chose to object to the development he does not understand why they wanted "to keep it a dull, sleepy place with poor roads and sewerage. It is an absolute crime.” The controversial property development by a non-Parsi in the vicinity of the Iranshah could also have been averted, he says. If WAPIZ "had not intervened, this situation would not have arisen. It took a Muslim to bring us together.”

Besides having headed many professional bodies connected with his business like the Ahmedabad Automobile Dealers Association, Hotel and Restaurant Association in Gu­jarat as also western India, Ahme­dabad Petroleum Dealers Association, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jehangir has been active with the Central Board of Cricket in Ahmedabad, serving as its president. He is also the president of the Gujarat Sankat Niva­ran Society, the Blind Persons Association and the Parsi Gymkhana in Ahme­da­bad. Mehroo too makes time for social service activities, being president of the Gujarat Sarvar Mandal and Ahmedabad Sarvar Man­dal that gives medical aid to the poor. She is additionally vice president of the Zorastrian Ladies Industrial Cooperative Society that endeavors to provide employment to poor Parsi ladies by engaging them in preparing snacks and meals.

Their plans for the future? "Retirement,” promptly responds Jehangir, reminding us that he is 74. Yet, ever the entrepreneur he refers to the "cyclical nature” of hotels and hospitality: "Delhi which was going through a bad patch five years ago is today at the top. Five years from now hotels in Ahmedabad should do well...”