Thread by @surbhig_

End of an Era: The iconic house of Patiala

The house was owned by The Late #Seth Charan Das. A Visionary,Pioneer Philanthropist with businesses in airlines, cinema theatres, iron & steel.

He was the one who first took Naresh Goyal (@jetairways) under his wing.
A thread:

Naresh Goyal(NG)was from #Patiala. He lost his father very early in life. His mother was an adopted sister of Seth Charan Das, major-domo to the Maharaja of Patiala. She begged Das to take NG, the youngest of four brothers, under his wing.

In the late 1960s (1965 to be exact) few used airlines for international travel. At that time, it was Seth Charan Das who offered to become general sales agent (GSA) for what was then called Middle Eastern Airways.

The GSA was a concept that began in India. Although international airlines like British Airways, Air France and KLM had huge offices, they had no wherewithal to cater to passengers who were coming straight from villages in Punjab, for instance.

The GSA recognised and serviced the distribution needs of big international airlines for a commission. In those days, Jalandhar was the main hub for Punjab and the KLM and British Airways GSA used to operate from there.

Seth Charan Das was a strategic thinker. He managed to get the GSA-ship of Air France and two other European airlines as well. By the time NG came to him, Seth Charan Das had established a business but needed someone to run it day-to-day. NG was that person.

Seth Charan Das founded the RL Group with the belief - “ If you can dream it, you can do it.” It is a leading GSA Company in India with +50 years experience and a current turnover of +$100M. in.linkedin.com/company/rlgroup

Seth Charan Das also founded the iconic Bakery House in 1977: Bakemans. In the 1990s, it gave Britannia and Parle sleepless nights with its aggressively priced offerings in the Marie and Glucose segments with a 13% share, mostly from UP - until it decided to go national.

It was acquired by Sri Lanka-based Ceylon Biscuits Private Ltd. google.co.in/amp/s/wap.busi…

Coming to the Cinema Halls: Nishat Talkies, one of the first cinema houses in the Northern region, began as a hall for private touring theatre companies for performance of plays.

The cinema house was purchased by #Seth Charan Dass, owner of Patiala’s Phool cinema, in partnership with Id Mohammad and gave its name ‘Nigar Cinema’. During the marriage of his daughter, He gifted his half to his son-in-law, who in due course purchased the other half from Id

For more on Bakemans bakerybazar.com/2012/10/the-ba…

For more on NG read google.co.in/amp/s/wap.busi…