After nearly one-and-a-half years, 76 blogs later and having met some 108,000 people, it is now time for me to move on and do what I have always done, well, for almost 35 years it’s what I’ve been doing.
And that is to go back to my ‘den’, the kitchen.
Or, in other words, I should just head back into my restaurant at least seven days a week, if not more!!
It’s been a privilege to write down my experiences, share my recipes, hear your feedback and mull over what blog to think about. Such thoughts are great when it’s a Golden Age and the Sun is Setting, the coffers are full and all’s right in the world.
However, times are tough and, as the saying goes, “When the going gets tough. . .”
Well, given the present situation I say, “Get back to basics.”
It’s just like in cricket. When the runs dry out or the wickets are not coming, it is time to sit back and think about the little things that you need to do to get back to the ‘winning streak’.
Business at my restaurant is ‘slow’ and there is no immediate sign of things ‘turning around’.
So the team sat down and decided that the best way to fight this ‘downtime’ is to make sure that both the ‘food and service’ do not descend either.
I mean, this is not the first time we have been ‘quiet‘ and it’s definitely not going to be the last.
The difference, however, between this ‘drop’ in business and the previous years is that we were aware of what was ‘coming’, and so we prepared ourselves accordingly.
Not this time.
There are days when we are overbooked and there is no room for any walk-in customers, but then there are days when nobody books a table and there are no walk-in customers either!!
This is very, very surprising and something that I have not experienced in my 20 years, or so, of running a restaurant in Australia.
But then, this is no time for any retrospection nor a time to become an amateur actuary.
Now is the time to act before it is too late!
So, friends, thank you for your time and all the feedback that you gave my blogs. I genuinely enjoyed all your comments and it was great while it lasted.
Before I sign off, however, there are a few people who need to be thanked from the bottom of my heart:
JS, John Slaytor, the photographer, who made my blogs sing with his. . .!
Pip, who made the dishes have a ‘sense of smell’, and of course, did the ‘edditting’ [sic]!!
My son, Aniruddh, who is just a great guy to have around when you are cooking and last, but certainly not least, Meera, my wife who has been the ‘inspiration’ and also my reality check and the photographer, since June this year.
Yes that’s right, folks! Did you notice?! I’m sure you did not realise the transition had taken place (well, almost) from JS to MJ!!
But before I put my pen down and pick up my knife, and meet you somewhere in some other avatar, please always remember and spread the word that Indian food ain’t no “DAMN CURRY IN A HURRY”!!
And last, but not least, you never know, I might return with yet more stories about what’s going to happen in the forthcoming months and ‘how we got out of this downtime’ but in the meantime, because I can’t pull myself away from the blogs entirely, I’ll be posting some previous blogs that have been the most popular, for whatever reason: the characters in them, the spices used, the reminders of our youth a certain dish creates. . .So, it’s not the final curtains quite yet, folks. Watch this space!
Anah Daata Sukhi Bhava!!