Mr Narula's dream, Ebony, which first opened in Delhi in 1995, is today a must-see, must-do place on every diehard shopper's list. "India is still a virgin market for retailing. The consumer, employee, bureaucrats and government are not used to the concept of shopping malls and changing this mindset has been difficult," says the 45-year-old businessman. He says that it has taken him 4-5 years to perfect the model of retailing in India, which is the main reason why Ebony did not move to locations beyond South Delhi's hippest market, South Extension, in the initial years. But come 2002 and Mr Narula hopes to have at least 15 Ebony stores all over India. He has four already-in Noida, South Extension, Rajouri Garden (West Delhi) and Chandigarh. A fifth one was added in Ludhiana last week.

"I have not been fully happy with the retailing situation that exists in India. But now I feel we have perfected the model and I am ready to open more stores in other parts of the country," he says. His perfect model looks at every single unit as a profit making centre and must make sound business sense. No one centre can live off the profits of the other, he says.

Mr Narula prides himself on being a strategist. The strategy behind Ebony has been to provide quality goods for the price-conscious bourgeois class. "The new Indian wants the ambience, the location and all the trimmings, but does not want to pay a penny more," he points out. This is the main reason that Ebony began importing a lot of stuff on its own and also developed an in-house line. "By importing the products ourselves, we have ruled out the payments made to middlemen, pricing our products at least 15-20 per cent lower than normal rates," he says.

Mr Narula says Indians do not shop for leisure. The concept of shopping being a family outing like going to the movies is an incorrect picture, he feels. "The biggest commodity is time and people here don't want to waste time while shopping," he says.

But Mr Narula is not just Ebony. He has his finger in many pies. He runs a highly successful construction and real estate business in Canada, the UK, the US and India. He has two hotel chains in the UK, which give him more than just his bread and butter.

In between juggling his core business areas, Mr Narula says he tries and spends weekends once a month with his family. His wife, Surina, is a social worker turned politician. "She is planning to run for the local government elections in the UK," he says.

The couple has three sons, of whom one is in college and two in boarding school. "Every month, we spend one weekend together, either in the UK or in Chicago," he says. Last summer, Mr Narula took five weeks off to holiday at his beachside home in Lake Michigano, yachting and swimming off his private beach with his family and a few friends. "Of course, I had my laptop and mobile with me to keep in touch with my business," he says.

Mr Narula attributes his success to one of his main management mantras-identify the right personnel and delegate work to them. "Most of the people who work with me have been home grown and I can rely on them, which is why I can take five weeks off and not be worried about things going wrong," he says.

"I spend my time working on business strategies and so have to delegate work to others. Business is a passion for me, not a compulsion," he says. That's probably why he never forgets to take a break at 5.30 pm every evening to go for a jog, no matter what part of the world he is in.