Aron Harilela

Dr. Aron Harilela is the director of The Hariela Group. At 37, he's
next in line to take the throne of the prominent family's business
empire. He talks to Pavan Shamdasani about polo, politics, and life as
Harilela.

I grew up far away from Hong Kong. I'm thankful I went to boarding
school in England. Here, I was relatively spoiled. When I arrived at
boarding school, I really thought they had taken me to a third-world
country.

I always knew what I was going to do with my life. I wanted to do it.
I never wanted to do anything else. It wasn't a question of choice.

No, I don't live in the Harilela Mansion. I live in the house next
door, which is the best of both worlds. I have my family and yet I
have my privacy.

Though I m from an Indian family, my parents haven't pressured me to
marry. I'm still single because there simply hasn't been the right
person yet. That's it.

I used to go out a lot, but I'm getting too old for it now. I still
enjoy going out to big dinners and having a couple glasses of wine or
a martini. Generally, I enjoy people

The trait I appreciate most is the ability to listen. It's very rare
to find a listener, and as I grow older I find it even rarer.

If you do something wrong, or right, you carry the mental weight of it
in your head and you attract what some people call "karma." People
bring it upon themselves.

Not being able. to express yourself is my idea of hell. Mental
claustrophobia.

But sometimes people are just pedantic, and I hate people being
pedantic.

That said, there are two things I'm extremely pedantic about: I'm
always on time, to the minute, and I have this habit of alphabetizing
my books. I can be sitting at breakfast and if I see one out of place
it'll really bother me. It's ridiculous.

I have a fear of haircuts. I get them as rarely as possible.

My father did not have the luxury to make mistakes. He was very
precise and he evaluated things carefully. However, I do have that
luxury and as a result I can look at things more strategically.

The greatest lesson my father ever taught me was to switch off. He'd
say you must take a certain amount of time off during the week. Your
mind will not be inspired by stress. It'll be inspired by calm
thought.
I was playing polo a month ago and broke my collarbone in a few
places. I now have fourteen pins and a titanium plate in a bone.

I love polo. Unfortunately, there's no polo in Hong Kong. That's a
shame.

Hong Kong should become the equestrian center of Asia. After the
Olympics, they should take the bull by its horns and say, "Iet's
become the equine capital."

The Indian community here is quite large and very visible, but it
doesn't have enough weight in this city. We need to take a more
active role.

Hong Kong can easily knock you off balance.

But the benefit of Hong Kong lies in that it is multicultural, and we
should not get away from that, though that has been somewhat
eroded after the handover.

What they're doing to the Graham Street Market is terrible. What are
they going to do, convert every single bit of our city into real
estate? We're in a stage of growth in which we shouldn't just look at
dollars.

People have to start taking a stake in Hong Kong, .to go out of their
way to understand the issues. Essentially, they need to decide　their
own fate.

What people are beginning to realize now is that economics and
politics are extremely intertwined.

People don't make the conditions possible for their happiness.
Everybody just wants happiness thrust upon them.

HK Magazine
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