By L Aruna Dhir
Spic and span, spotlessly clean bathrooms were the first hook that drew me to Cheetal and, later, Cheetal Grand, one of the most prominent pitstops on the Delhi-Dehradun route. Soon, the other major facets that have always set Cheetal apart were going to pull me in, headlong and with a sense of long-lasting affinity!
But first the bathrooms!! Even when Cheetal was a smallish place with a tin shed but beautifully located adjacent to the Ganga Canal, it had its major mandate cut out. That of providing clean loos – where you are categorically told not to tip the attendants – to all travellers, in the most egalitarian fashion. A manna for women, who are simply deprived of hygienic relieving public spaces in India, the owners of Cheetal Grand had decided to do this service with a zeal and conscientiousness not seen even in starred properties. As a Hotelier, I know what I am talking about. From Indian style, brick-walled squat-holes that were washed after every use to modern washrooms with marble flooring and swanky faucets, one thing has remained constant at Cheetal – commitment to cleanliness, well-mannered attendants and strong orientation towards customer service.
Travelling between Dehradun and Delhi as a freshly-minted teenager, I insisted on taking a luxury coach, as only these stopped at Cheetal. And then having migrated to Delhi for work the same insistence carried on each time I made a trip back home to the valley. Once I had bought my first car – a petit, Fuchsia Maruti 800, halting at Cheetal Grand was par for the course.
The other major constant was the three very cordial and smiling faces that greeted all visitors either at the old, waterfront place or the big, new dig that came about close to it; or the most latest on-the-main-highway avatar. The three Rana brothers have watched over their meticulously run motel with ardour and pride that can give a masterclass to most hoteliers.
Shariq Rana, the hugely popular and most amicable Owner-Motelier of the universally favourite Cheetal Grand departed for his final journey to meet his Maker a few days ago. From the string of obituaries that have poured out on Social Media, each accompanied with a personal anecdote, Shariq Rana has carved a place for himself in the hearts of all the Cheetal patrons and guests. He has also left behind an enormously impressive legacy that has been built on honest work ethics, the goal to be peerless in the face of competition – even from new eateries or international brands, the resolve to remain guest-focussed, and the assurance to adhere to business best practices and quality control.
Under Shariq Rana’s hawk eye it all seemed to have been done with consummate ease. Every server, man at the door and the staffer manning the cash register – all have been dyed in the wool Cheetal loyalists, who one has seen on the premises down the ages. As have been the patrons! Once you began coming to Cheetal, you just never stopped; even when Subways, Burger Kings, Starbucks, Haldirams sprang up in the vicinity.
But you never came just for the food. It has been the complete package that Cheetal, under the sharp and benevolent guidance of Rana, has consistently offered.
In the earlier place in Khatauli, after freshening up, you could take a leisurely stroll in the manicured lawns and immaculately landscaped gardens replete with an overwhelming range of seasonal flowers in almost every hue under the sun. You could choose to eat indoors on high tables or more formally in the AC enclosure. Or opt for alfresco dining on pretty wrought-iron furniture under aesthetically placed umbrellas and gazebos.
No matter where he parked his wares, Shariq Rana carried along his deep fondness for flowers, maintaining prizeworthy gardens.
But Rana’s most commendable, hallmark attribute was his proximity with all his patrons. He knew that I loved my Cold Coffee as a young kid and now would always order Cheese sandwiches and Paneer cutlets, the former without Mayo. He also knew that my husband likes Cheetal’s Adrakwali Chai without sugar. So many times, the tea would be ready to be served just as we would be crossing the expanse of the restaurant to greet Mr Rana. Now multiply that with the number of his regulars and you find a mind-boggling statistic that would set a modern guest management system into a tizzy. But not Rana, who seemed to have done it all with panache, integrity and old-world gentlemanliness.
Once I became a published author a couple of years back, I discussed with
Mr Rana the prospect of conducting book signings at Cheetal. He felt that the restaurant visitors were not ready for something like that. But he quickly offered to showcase my book on the big bookcase placed strategically near the Ceramic ware seller, who, incidentally too, has been with Cheetal for aeons of time. You will find my Bestseller nested amidst books by Ruskin Bond – easily India’s most loved author.
Shariq Rana will be deeply missed by everybody who has been grandly ensnared by his innate goodness to become a Cheetal cohort. He will continue to live in our collective nostalgia, in the beautiful gardens that will always bloom at Cheetal Grand, in the freshest of food that is served with utmost care, in his family and team members who will undeniably carry on flying the flag of “moteliering with kindness and gentility” that Shariq Rana has set a fine example of!
(L Aruna Dhir is the author of the Bestselling Memoir – Hotel Adventures with the Stars. She is also a recognised International Hospitality Writer, a national poll-winning Corporate Communications Specialist, Poet, and India’s first-ever Creative Writer with Archies Greetings!)
