Ready to serve, again

The kitchen is the woman's domain. She is the queen and mistress of that little niche at home from where no male has ever sought to dislo...

The kitchen is the woman8217;s domain. She is the queen and mistress of that little niche at home from where no male has ever sought to dislodge her. But why then, are all public eating places from the humble dhaba to the prestigious five-star hotels manned by men? But times are changing and women have decided to move out from the micro and move on to the macro. They are opening their own restaurants and making a huge success of it too. After all from feeding their family to cooking for the junta, is not a very big step.

Take Bina Chandra. Her Bina8217;s Golconda at Pingale Farms, is a name to be reckoned with for absolutely finger-licking Hyderabadi cuisine. Then there8217;s Neelam Seolekar charging ahead on her Bullocks. Organising food festivals, starting pool table facilities, she has made Bullocks a high profile hang-out for all ages. If College of Military Engineering CME now boasts of a restaurant, Ting-ling, the credit goes to Arti Bayas. Absolutely low-profile but doggedly running a hotel, Le Garden Court, with 21 rooms and even catering for weddings conferences and the prestigious RSI, is Mona Patel. Then there is Sangeeta Keswani who has her a good clientele for her Kuku8217;s Kitchen at Viman Nagar. These are just few who come to mind. There must be so many more of them tucked away in the many satellite townships, springing up all over Pune.

What was the impetus that propelled them out of their own private kitchens?For Bina it was love for entertaining. 8220;For nine years after marriage, all I did was entertain at home. I was quite fed up of my useless life so I jumped into this. I chose Hyderabadi food because it is fantastic. You can see the kilos it has added to me. So I thought why not spread it around little,8221; she chuckles in her inimitable jovial style.

Neelam already had a hotel background, having worked for Siddharth Continental, New Delhi, for almost three years. Working as a guest relations executive, she received a thorough training in handling every department from kitchen to front office, food craft to interiors. From there to opening her own place was just a logical step and she was involved in every process, planning to decor.

Arti was executing an interior job at CME and found that, 8220;there was not a single joint on the premises where I could have a decent lunch. So when they floated a tender for a restaurant, I applied for it.8221;

Mona was into computers at London for many years after marriage, but when they moved back to India, she started taking an interest in the family hotel business and now that her children are all grown up, she spends the entire time looking after the hotel.

Did they find it tougher managing staff or clients or government officials, because they were supposedly the weaker sex?

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8220;It8217;s silly to say that it8217;s tougher because you are a women. It8217;s easier actually,8221; quips the irrepressible Bina.

All of them agree that when you are doing business, it doesn8217;t really matter if you are a man or a woman. Says Arti, 8220;Then I don8217;t think I am a wife or a mother. When I am working I am a professional. Sometimes problems with the staff do crop up, but that happens everywhere and one advantage of being a woman is that they do not talk back beyond a certain point.8221;

Neelam and Mona agree completely with this, with the latter adding, 8220;Of all the encounters that I have had, only five percent have been difficult ones, the rest are all treasured memories. 8221; Well, that8217;s not a bad average at all and as they say being a woman has nothing to do with it.

If Arti has a few problems, it is because of the organisation, 8220;here there are a lot of restrictions,8221; but she feels that she can handle it better being a woman.

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Actually there are many plus points being a woman. Given their familiarity with cooking, their judgement of spices and taste comes instinctively. When the cooks tries blackmail her by taking leave, Sangeeta has no need to bow down before them. She simply takes up the spatula and completes the client8217;s order herself, just as if she was at home. Bina in any case, did all her cooking for a complete year.

8220;I would cook limited amounts, may be just two kilos of each item. And when I did hire a cook, it was an untrained guy who could just about differentiate between a potato and an onion. I prefeed it that way because then I could train him accordingly and keep a check on him. If you take on the smart ones they think they know better than you.8221;

Tackling the various hassle of permits and licences is tough too, but here again they find that they are treated with more respect simply because they are women.

As for the raw materials, each one of them prefers to do her own shopping. Drawing from their experiences as housewives, they know exactly the aroma, colour and texture of the items they are looking out for. They may have to go early to the market to ensure the best fish, meat and vegetables, but their idea is that if they can do it for their families why not for this? After all, it is their reputation which matters. Besides, this way they can keep a better reign on expenses. Again like conscientious hausfraus.

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With centuries of practice tending the hearth and pot, there is no question that these intrepid women have made their mark on the restaurant scene in Pune. All we can say is Viva le Women and lick our fingers in appreciation.