Understanding different religions and different ways of living in India was an essential part of growing up in Kolkata and studying in Loreto, a past pupil of Loreto House recalled during an online chat with fellow alumnae last week.
Priya Paul, chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, was speaking about her school days and the life lessons that school taught her.
“Even though we went to the chapel and attended mass, there were many different religions that we were allowed to understand. Our classes had Christians, Hindus, Muslims, all types of communities... that was really good about growing up in Calcutta and maybe in Loreto particularly,” said Paul.
“I think that’s what education taught me, to get along with different types of people and to understand different ways of living in India. Those were the valuable lessons for growing up in Loreto,” Paul said.
The programme, Class Credo — divergent paths to success, was organised by the Loreto House Alumnae Association. Moderator and Loreto House alumna Oindrilla Dutta was in conversation with Paul and filmmaker Shonali Bose on Saturday. Paul had logged in from Delhi and Bose from Mumbai.
Paul moved to Delhi after college in the US and joined her family business in 1988. She had wanted to work with her father from a young age, she said.
Dutt asked her if it was difficult for her to join Park New Delhi and not Kolkata and how she overcame the challenges of working with a “big hotel with 200-plus rooms” during the Covid pandemic when “very few rooms were occupied”.
Paul spoke about lessons she had learnt in the late-1980s that came into good use during the pandemic.
“When I came back (from the US), my parents had moved to Delhi... This hotel in New Delhi had opened and we were trying to stabilise it in a very poor economy and my father asked me to start working with him there... I cut my teeth and learnt hard lessons in challenging times,” she said.
“The economy was not in great shape in 1988 when I joined the business. I have to say managing those hard times held me in good stead when it came to the pandemic because I have seen how low and how bad things can get when you build your business. That really helped, that resilience and ability to face challenges in my early days,” said Paul.
Bose, director of films like Margarita with a Straw and The Sky is Pink, had spent 10 years in Loreto House.
“What the nuns teach you is steel in your spine and I feel I have got that steel in my spine,” she said.
A piece of advice from the filmmaker and the entrepreneur to women was to follow their passion.
“Be able to be free and just be and do what you want and don’t go by what society and family expect from you. Because I think that’s the biggest hurdle we face,” said Bose.