Slice of Life: ‘Our food biz keeps us occupied after kids leave for school’

Chennai

Two years ago, I opened a food cart. Previously, I used to cook biryani, but I left the job after some issues with the people I was working with. Here, there is a steady stream of business that comes in. I only have to work from 4 pm to around 10 pm, whereas I used to work nearly 15 hours in my previous job. People here at Ennore are fishermen, who eat a lot of meat. They enjoy the mutton and chicken dishes very much. The people here are very different from where I used to work – they are very rough and speak rudely sometimes. This makes dealing with them difficult. Well, in my previous job, my employer was scamming me. When people asked who was the cook, he would take the credit for himself and then sign up for jobs using my name. But none of the money came to me. Once I found that out, my brother and I left the place, and we opened up food carts of our own. My wife prepares some food and I help her every morning. All of these are my family recipes, and so people really enjoy them as it tastes of home-cooked food and not things bought at hotels. This way, after the kids go to school, we have a way of keeping ourselves occupied. I don’t want the children to enter into this business. I’m getting them educated because we could not get proper education. They should get into good jobs. But if one of them gets into catering, then you’ll see how well I’ll start preparing my food. It’s good now, but if my kids want my help, the food will be absolutely spectacular, you just watch.