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Mahabir Halwai had emigrated from Bihar's Gaya district
before Independence and made sweetmeats for the prosperous
Marwari community. He was retained by the likes of the Birlas
to cook at births, weddings and funerals.
When
Munna's parents died in quick succession in 1979,he failed
his 9th standard in the turmoil of his parents' passing.
There after he began to learn cooking and started keeping
his father's team of 10 workers together. "My parents
wanted me to study, go to college and do business. Fate
decreed otherwise, but I hope they are watching me build
a business," he says.
Munna slogged for nine years. In 1988 when he was 25, his
earnestness and skill was impressive and he got his first
big break. "Aditya Birla knew me because I was my father's
son ," he says. For 15 days he cooked day and night
at Mumbai to cater for Kumar Mangalam's wedding."Our
kitchen was in the old Taj Flight Kitchen near Centaur.
We used refrigerated vans and trucks to take the food to
the festivities and at the main reception at Mahalaxmi Race
Course," he says.
Since then he has been doing the big dos across the country.
Sterlite's Anil Agarwal had a seven-day party in Goa which
had everything from beach stalls to the main party, round-the-clock.
He did the super star littered Kolkata wedding for billionaire
Lakshmi Mittal. He did three Hinduja weddings in Mumbai
besides hundreds of other feasts. "Each had different
tastes-an Oswal in Ludhiana, a Birla in Kolkata, a Sanghvi
in Indore, or a software millionaire in Bangalore. My business
prospers on a trusting relationship over generations. It
is a time to be happy and neither of us can just count pennies.
Satisfaction is the key," he says.
He catered gratis to the definitive Bollywood party by the
Oberoi pool-side to fete visiting pop superstar Michael
Jackson. He did all their Big Vegetarian
Banquets. "I cook, they
serve," he says.
Munna Maharaj now has the muscle to do 15,000 dinners at
a single sitting anywhere, served up on imported China,
genuine silverware and pure crystal. His south Kolkata godown
covers two bighas, along with a fleet of packers and trucks.
He now has a national buying operation and can cater any
exotic thing anywhere, His big chefs fly, stay at good hotels
and the others take the train.
Munna has really moved up in life and lives on Kolkata's
posh Theatre Road, where RBI governor Bimal Jalan is sometimes
his neighbour. His younger brother Sanjay Singh
is in real estate business, and assists him in all his ventures.
They all live in a traditional joint family. But he continues
to drive himself.
Munna
follows a punishing schedule. He gets up at 5.30am and exercises,
eats a full rice and dal meal before leaving for work at
8.30 am. His first stop is at the old flat in Burrabazar
where he still maintains a gaddi and meets the network of
semi-independent cooks who work with him. He has a corporate
office in south Kolkata. "It
is important that I never forget where I started out from,"
he says. His
staff says he never loses his cool, addresses everybody
including the handcart man as 'Babu' and meets everybody
with folded hands in complete keeping with his role in the
hospitality industry.
The 37-year-old Munna has been making waves in Kolkata as
he begins to put a brick and mortar business into place.
He first bought out Park Street night spot Blue Fox. Then
he set up Munna's Vegetarian Gourmet Wonders and the Pub
near La Martiniers.Then came the launch of Bakers Square,
where he has a large base kitchen for his growing non vegetarian
and continantal menus under former Oberoi Grand Chef Alphanso
Gomes. He is also managing the "Agarwal Park Banquets"
at Diamond Harbour Road (near Burdwan Road crossing).
His
recent venture is a 10,000 square ft. Banquets, "Marwar",
on Judges Court Road in posh Alipore. His new venture is
coming up at Camac Street, Kolkata. Munna is also negotiating
with Jewel of the East on Loudon Street. Burrabazar's Munna
will someday own a national chain of hotels and restaurants,
as he aspires in confidence to his friends & colleagues.
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