• Sondhi, according to the hotel management, passed away in his favourite sacred room in the hotel, which he had turned into his meditation chamber, facing the gardens he so loved, with the Indian Ocean breezes over his body.
• During the Kanu regime, he was nominated as a councillor in the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council to represent the tourism sector.
Image: HANDOUT
@Yobramos4
At around 10am on Monday, about 30 members staff at Reef Hotel in Mombasa were called into one of the facility's halls by the management.
It was a dark day for the 48-year-old facility. Veteran Coast hotelier Kuldip Sondhi, its owner, had breathed his last. He was aged 96.
In the hall, the head of human resource, accompanied by Sondhi’s two relatives, addressed the staff.
The ‘Lion of Mombasa’ passed away in his favourite sacred room in the hotel, which he had turned into his meditation chamber, facing the gardens he so loved, with the Indian Ocean breezes wafting in.
Although the management did not reveal the cause of his death, sources said he was constantly on oxygen as his advanced age meant he needed extra supply.
Sondhi, also an aeronautical engineer, poet and playwright, had just said his routine Indian prayer in his room early Monday morning.
The two relatives recited the prayer Sondhi used to say every morning and played his recorded voice as he recited the prayer that morning.
They removed their shoes in the process, a sign of respect for divinity. Sondhi’s surreal voice then broke the silence in the room, cutting through the almost tangible sombre mood that had engulfed it, the reverence palpable. Sondhi’s sister broke down, her grief infectious.
They had all lost a mentor, a brother, a friend, a leader, an extraordinary boss, and above all, a shoulder to lean on, especially during this Covid-19 crisis that has ravaged the tourism industry.
“He gave us hope amid all this adversity,” said one of the staffers.
Born Kuldip Raj Sondhi in Lahore Punjab, India, in 1924, he moved to Mombasa as a young boy in the company of his grandmother and immediately fell in love with the town.
But his mischievous and adventurous nature saw him and his brother Jagdish sent back to India to continue their education in a boarding school.
In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, Sondhi was admitted to a university in New York, from where he graduated with an aeronautical engineering degree in 1946.
He joined the prestigious firm of Bristol Aerospace working on turbines.
In London, where he met his wife Aase Jorid Haugberg, he would be frustrated by a poor colonial attitude towards people of Indian descent. He decided to return to Kenya, later convincing his lover to follow him. They then got married.
“Kuldip veered away from his engineering education and discovered his passion for writing and went on to write many short stories and was awarded several BBC prizes for his radio plays,” said the Reef Hotel management in a Facebook post.
All his 10 plays written when he was already in his 70s were produced to great acclaim at the Little Theatre Club in Mombasa, where he was a member and trustee until his demise.
“His themes were brave takes on multicultural mixed African, Indian and European love stories that were often taboo subjects not always comfortable for the audience at the time,” the hotel wrote.
“After taking a break from being a handsome beach bum and writer when he started his family he began one of his many enterprises that were to become his legacy as a hotelier.”
In 1972, he built Reef Hotel, Mombasa, from scratch and later built the Diani Reef Hotel, which he later sold, and another Reef hotel in Shimoni, Kwale county.
During the Kanu regime, he was nominated as a councillor in the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council to represent the tourism sector.
Kenya Tourism Federation chairman Mohammed Hersi led tributes to Sondhi from different stakeholders, mostly from the tourism industry.
Describing him as a second father and mentor, Hersi said Sondhi made a case for single gauge railway line way back in the 90s and it came to pass.
“Although not exactly as he wished, it moved huge numbers for tourism,” said Hersi.
During Mwai Kibaki’s reign, Sondhi managed to get the ear of the President, who would invite him for meetings at State House, Mombasa, and other different hotels just to listen to and consider his views on the tourism sector.
“Mzee Sondhi and I one time got invited to the high table to sit with then-President Mwai Kibaki and he wanted to hear directly from tourism leadership. I still recall that encounter,” Hersi said.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho described Sondhi as a charming man—always energetic and full of life even as he aged gracefully.
“His passion for literature and poetry was unmatched, testimony to the numerous accolades, awards and adulation he received the world over,” Joho said.
Father Gabriel Dolan of Haki Yetu Organisation said Sondhi was an extraordinary man, active in business, writing and Mombasa life.
“A real legend, his creativity and zest for life was top notch,” Father Dolan told the Star.
The family will be meeting on Tuesday to make interment arrangements.
Tourism CS Najib Balala mourned Sondhi as his mentor in the tourism industry.
“He was a passionate hotelier and very outspoken about sustainable growth of beach tourism in the Kenyan coast.
“It is a gift to have had a mentor, a friend and a father figure like Mzee Kuldip,” Balala said.
Businessman Suleiman Shahbal said the tourism industry has suffered a major blow following Sondhi’s death.
Describing him as a guru in the sector, Shahbal said Sondhi immensely contributed to the growth of the tourism industry in the Coast region.