When you set out to interview women of another generation, who have done work par excellence, you can be certain of returning back with one souvenir – admiration. Sitting across the table of Mrs. Radha Bhatia, Chairperson Bird Group, which is today one of the largest travel conglomerates specialising in aviation and hospitality, I was a little nervous about asking questions to the icon (more like a teacher-student fear), but when she smiled warmly at her colleagues who had accompanied me and referred to them as “children”, I realised that behind the stern demeanour is a soft-hearted person, who has contributed immensely to the rise of an empire. We are fortunate to have her as part of BOTT’s Mother’s Day Special Series.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Born and brought up in Meerut, Mrs. Bhatia completed her Masters Degree in Psychology from Raghunath Girls Post Graduate College, Meerut and went on to teach in the school from where she had done her schooling – Sophia Convent. In 1972, the era where arranged marriages reigned supreme, her family received the proposal of a boy who was a “travel agent” – a term that was not defined in the dictionary also then! An extremely career driven person, Mr. Vijay Bhatia, during the 9 months of courtship period would even keep his call with his young bride-to-be on hold if there was a business matter that needed immediate attention, remembers Mrs. Bhatia.
Once she settled in Delhi post marriage, her life as a housewife began – a role she carried with utmost zeal and dedication till her first born – Ankur Bhatia came along in 1973. Ankur was only 6 months old when Mrs. Bhatia started accompanying her husband to work and getting involved in small jobs, such as, organising the reservation cards etc. Ankur was sent to stay with his maternal grandmother in Meerut while the senior Bhatia couple toiled hard to make the business grow. In 1977 came her second bundle of joy – Gaurav Bhatia, just as the elder one was getting ready to be back in Delhi and start school. “Since I had studied in a convent, I particularly wanted my children to have co-ed education and one of the best options we had at that time was Modern School Vasant Vihar, getting into which was a herculean task even way back then!” she reminisces.
As both her sons started going to school, life moved on with different set of challenges. She would come to office at 9:00 am in the morning, pick her kids at 1:30 from school, take them home, feed them and then again be in office to work until late evenings. So was she inundated with work? “I would cook in the morning and evening on a barter deal with my husband that he would do the salad and the dishes! Both the boys were trained to do housework from a very early stage. Tidying up their rooms, helping me around with the household chores were values instilled in them at a very young age,” she shares with a twinkle in her eyes. While Ankur was the more studious one with keen interest in computers and maths, the younger one, equally bright, was more inclined towards sports. After finishing school, both boys were sent abroad to complete their education and when they came back, they were full of ideas and plans to take the family business to the next level.
“When Ankur came back, it was the same time that Amadeus wanted to enter the India market and we partnered with them. He put his heart and soul into that venture, which went on to become a roaring success. Meanwhile, Gaurav became the ground-handler for Lufthansa in India with offices spread across the length and breadth of the country. With time, Ankur has diversified his business interests into hospitality while Gaurav ventured into lounges and retail,” she shares, the look of a proud mother clear on her face. Talking about the achievements of her sons was a topic we left to another time (also because it wouldn’t be possible to talk about the phenomenal growth of the organisation in a few words or a paragraph) and steered the conversation back to her life.
They say – once a teacher is always a teacher. Way back in the late 90s, when the rate of attrition was very high in the travel trade, Mrs. Bhatia initiated setting up of BESTT – Bird Education Society for Travel and Tourism, with the sole objective of skilling and training the youth and bringing them at par with Bird employment standards. Numerous accolades and awards have been bestowed upon the academy by IATA and many other travel recognised bodies since then. They also have tie ups with MoCA, AAI, NSDC and more for providing skilled manpower and also efficiently run a Hunar se Rozgar centre in Chandigarh.
With a firm believer of giving back to the society, Mrs. Bhatia today is best known for her social work, which she carries on diligently and quietly. Associated with many NGOs, she feels strongly for women issues and carries out numerous activities for their support and development. “We hire and pay salaries to trainers to skill the underprivileged youth with computer knowledge at numerous venues – one of them being Arya Samaj Mandirs. We have also given many computers to the disadvantaged members of our society in our endeavour to prepare them for a better life ahead. Besides giving scholarships, we also help the trained individuals get jobs in fields of their choice. We are associated with NGOs who provide free-training to girls to help them stand at their own feet,” she shares.
A proud grandmother of four, her eyes lit-up at the mere mention of them. “We all stay together. We try to eat dinners together on the weekends and annual holidays are a must! My message to the young mothers today would be to let children interact with nature. Make them tough, teach them to work with their fingers, eat home-cooked meal and stay away from junk food as much as possible,” she points out.
Well, a lady who wrote an entire book on ‘lassi’s just so her grandchildren would understand the dish and benefit from it (along with a whole lot of others), Mrs. Radha Bhatia is truly an epitome of grace and magnanimity and her values are reflected in the way her next generation is running one of India’s largest travel conglomerates.
