"A Chinese Quote: Ten Thousand Miles Journey Starts With First Step; And My Journey  of Public Relations Commenced in 1972"

Year 1972-1975.… Place… Pandara Road, New Delhi… My friends use to call me "A Moving Directory" of Pandara Road and around. It was probably my first step towards Public Relations.

Year 1976-1982… Jalandhar, Punjab… Started "ART EXPO" to promote fine arts and more particularly  "Theatre" …  my second step towards Public Relations. In early of 1983...Left Jalandhar and shifted base to Amritsar.

Year 1983 – 1988… Amritsar, Punjab… Re-started ART EXPO to continue my urge to promote "Theatre"… My third step towards Public Relations.

ART EXPO’s  last show in Amritsar ( Feb. 1988) unforgettable words of Mrs. Sudesh Ahlawat, the then Principal of B.B.K. D A V College for Women, Amritsar, at the end of the show  about me.

“ Suresh Gaur” came to this city as an unknown man… and now when he is leaving this city, he has already become a household name. He has given culturally a lot to this city through his theatre activities… his name will always be remembered as the Pioneer of Hindi Theatre in Punjab”.  

Year 1994… Place New Delhi… while working as Manager in the head office of Oriental Bank of Commerce, on the personal request of Sh. P K Mehra, the  Head of HR deptt. of the bank and a close relative of Pandit Vishva Mohan Bhatt - Creator of MOHAN VEENA and the winner of the GRAMMY Award in 1994 - alongwith Ry Cooder for their World Music Album “ A Meeting By The River” , had organised a press conference at Press Club of India, New Delhi to introduce the GRAMMY AWARD WINNER to the press which was largely attended by the journalist friends from the media.... My fourth step towards Public Relations.

Year 1996… Place New Delhi… Oriental Bank’s first ever press conference was to be held since the bank went public in the year 1994. Sh. P L Ahuja, then In-Charge of CMD office told me that Sh. S K Soni, the CMD of the bank wanted to meet me. I was taken to his big cabin situated at 3^rd floor of Harsha Bhawan in Connaught Place and was introduced to him. Sh. S K Soni asked me “Do you have good contacts in the media?” Since financial results of the bank are to be announced in a press conference, can you organise a press conference? With all my confidence, I replied “YES” I can. And the press conference of the bank was organised at Hotel Le-meridian, New Delhi which was attended by the business editors of all major newspapers and was a grand success. After the press conference Sh. S K Soni patted on my shoulder and said “ WELL DONE Mr. Gaur”. More then 100 newspapers and magazines carried the news for many days in a row..... My fifth step towards Public Relations.

Year 1996… Place New Delhi… Our new CMD Dr. Dalbir Singh joined the bank. He asked for a Public Relations Officer to assist him. I was introduced to him as Public Relations Officer… the final step towards Public Relations……and an unending journey of Public Relations begins…..

Year 2004…Merger of GTB in OBC…. Someday of July last week, I was on my way to bank’s head office in Connaught Place, New Delhi I received a call on my mobile around 9.30am or so … on the other side was PS to the CMD Sh. B D Narang. I was asked to come straight to CMD office as the CMD wanted me to see him immediately. I was with him by 9.45am. Sh. Narang told me that a very important announcement is to me made to the media… how quickly I can arrange the media for the announcement. I said Sir, with in next 30 minutes. Without losing a minute first I made calls to all my friends from electronic media, as I was sure that they would be there immediately with there OB Vans. By 10.30am maximum number of friends from electronic media assembled at CMD floor and CMD’s chamber became a makeshift TV studio. And then CMD made the historic announcement “OBC takeover GTB”. The news flashed live all over the country and created the desired effect on the worried and agitated account holders of GTB. That day from 10.30am till late night Sh. Narang was busy in meeting all possible media. At 11pm when we came out of Zee Studios in Noida, I could feel the satisfaction of accomplishment the work assigned to him by the Govt. of India.

During my tenure as Public Relations Officer of the bank i.e.Nov.1996-May 2007, I organised many successful advertising campaigns, press conferences, events and shows for the bank. Each of the events helped me in growing as a Public Relations professional.   

Year 2008… I took VRS from the bank to pursue my interests in the area of public relations and communication...set up ‘P R 4 You’, a public relations company to train individuals in image & perception management, took teaching PR as an opportunity to spread the knowledge of public relations.

Year 2012... Made a TV serial " JUNOON" under the banner of G W Films for DoorDarshan's Kashir Channel . 

Year 2012… Authored “Public Relations 4 You- A Guide To PR Theory & Practice". The book is an outcome of notes which I prepared while pursuing PG diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication, Diploma in Senior International Relations, and during course of my teaching public relations at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, IMSIT YMCA and EMDI. I am sure that my book on PR will immensely help all those desirous in pursuing a career in the field of public relations and corporate communication.

Lots of PR <3