The Vijay Mallya of Chembur?

 

He isn’t a liquor baron nor does he own an airline company, but CS Narayanan has managed a little triumph that even Vijay Mallya would approve of — the very first Mercedes S 350 L to arrive in India is right now parked in his back yard in Chembur. And unlike many film stars, he paid all the taxes and the duties upfront - in all, a cool Rs 1.14 crore!

 

But Narayanan, a dapper-looking man in his early fifties, is aghast if people try to draw comparisons with the flamboyant MP-cum-business tycoon. “No, no, no. Please don’t say that. He is in a different league altogether. I am a very simple man,” he protests. A religious man, Narayanan was very particular about performing pooja and taking possession of the car at exactly the auspicious muhurat.

 

For the record, the Mallya car collection is legend and boasts Mercedes classics that few would be able to rival worldwide. Incidentally, Mallya was gifted a red Mercedes SL 500, an earlier S class model, by his staff during the extravagant 5-day golden anniversary celebrations in Goa a month ago.

 

Narayanan has no qualms in admitting that he had to work his way to the top. “I’m a Keralite who was born and brought up in Chennai and I started off my career as a door-to-door salesman,” he reveals. But he made his fortune only after he arrived in Mumbai almost three decades ago. He first stayed in Vashi and then shifted to a leafy section of Chembur around ten years ago, a stone’s throw from the famous RK Bungalow. Today, he runs a shipping agency that employs around 120 people in which he is assisted by his wife Kanchana.

 

While his younger son Arjun is still in college, his eldest son Sudarshan has now also joined the family business. “He has just completed his MBA from England where he topped the course,” says the proud father. The sea is the limit for Narayanan, not to mention he can afford a few indulgences like a Porsche Cayenne S, a Toyota Corolla and a Honda City CRV. While the new S 350 L is the fifth Mercedes he’s bought, he’s retained just one other — a to-die-for Mercedes SLK 350 sports coupe. All his cars are jet black and sport the number 8181. “Black suits me,” he explains.

 

While he relishes the trappings he can afford today, Narayanan is no man’s fool. “In all my business relations, it doesn’t matter at all if I’m not fawned over and treated like a VIP, so long as I get value for money. That’s the bottomline.”

 

 

 

Porsche Cayenne S

 

Mercedes S 350 L

 

Toyota Corolla

 

Honda City CRV

 

Mercedes SLK 350 Sports Coupe