For our special Hyderabond segment, Sukhbir Singh, who is from the industrial town of Jamshedpur, joins The Pioneer and shares his affinity, love for the city.
Shraddha Neware
Sukhbir Singh is no stranger to the city of Nizams, as he first came to Hyderabad back in 2011 on January 17. Pacing out 12 years later, he was once again back in the city last year, this time as the General Manager of Novotel Hyderabad Airport.
After working in the hospitality industry for more than twenty years, he seems to know every nerve of the business. Speaking to us about his association with Hyderabad, the Jamshedpur-born says, “The city was extremely kind to us. It’s an easy city to live and grow in, and it does not have too much discrimination for people from outside the city or within. The warm and kind nature of people in the city continues to be so even now.”
Comparing his hometown, Jamshedpur, to the city of Hyderabad, the former director of sales and marketing shares, “My hometown is a small industrial town and we grew up in a township. People work on shifts and that’s about it. There’s not too much hustle, bustle, or trade that happens. Hyderabad is a bustling metropolis today, competing with some of the major cities in the world.”
Coming to the changes he has witnessed in the city since his last tenure here, from 2011 to early 2014, the former General Manager of Accor Mumbai area speaks to us about the changes he has witnessed: “The traffic has of course gone up in the last 10 to 12 years. But I think there’s been a lot of infrastructure developed. The city was designed to make people’s lives easier.”
He further shares a titbit with us about the land behind Novotel Hyderabad Airport: “In 2011, we were a hotel, 40 kilometers away from the city. The space behind the hotel used to be nothing but rugged terrain, and we would advocate for the SUV car companies to bring them here so that they could do a bit of a trial run for the customers.”
As a person now associated with the development of hospitality, he has contributed to many sustainable projects, one of which includes a small patch of exotic vegetables being farmed to sustain the hotel.
Talking about a life-changing memory, he mentions that it relates to both his work and family because he wanted to be a hotelier. From a salesperson into an operational role, he shares, “I had come in here as a director of sales and marketing. From my family’s perspective, I think they were elated with the idea and supported my decision. When you are making transitions, there’s a lot of hard work that needs to be done. My wife made sure that she supported the entire endeavour as much as possible. Now I am in my 11th year as a general manager, thanks to Hyderabad and the hotel.”
He further compares driving in Mumbai versus Hyderabad from his residence to work. He says, “What was different from Mumbai was that I used to calculate the distance in time. Whereas the people in my team, who were local, used to calculate that in terms of kilometers. So for me, Banjara Hills was 30 minutes away and for them, it was 37 kilometers away.”
He explains people being puzzled at this, but for him, driving 30 minutes from his residence, which is 2400 sq. ft. according to him, unlike the 700–800 sq. ft. ones in Mumbai, was a welcome thing. He adds, “Language is not a problem, which is typically what people believe in the north—that when you go down to South India, you could have a barrier from a language point of view. We didn’t have that.”
For him, his wife has been a shadow throughout. He gleefully shares, “My wife loves that song, Tu jahan jahan chalega, mera saya saath hoga. She’s been my shadow, and she has been with me for the last 20 years. Having to move every two and a half or three years, my wife has gotten too good at packing up her old house in two days and then moving pin codes and moving states. He shares that his wife had a big influence in making the decision to move to Hyderabad since she too enjoys the city.
Kind is the word that comes to his mind when thinking of Hyderabad, saying, “The city has been very, very kind to us.”
