My seven months stint in Chennai...

"At last the Sun rises in South..."
This is what I wrote when I got an employment opportunity in ITC Chola Sheraton, in Chennai--a populous city of South India. I remember visiting Chennai first [the then Madras] in 1997 with my father on our way to Bangalore-we stayed there for 6-7 hours & then proceeded to Bangalore--we explored only a few places in our stay of the limited time, like the Marina Beach, few restaurants etc.

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Again I visited Chennai in early 2008, for some interviews, however, stayed there for 2 days & visited only a few places--Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore, Chennai and Vivekanandar Illam[House of Swami Vivekananda], apart from the beach. However, in this short visit, what striked me the most was that people dont speak much Hindi. So I had to communicate with people using broken english, & some time tits & bits of Hindi.

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After my career Sun rose in South, I had to relocate to Chennai...Aah...Chennai..home for pure dosas & medu vadas [& I like them so much.... ]. Since my accommodation[provided by the company] was close to my work, so I never had to spend more than 10 minutes walking to the work. However, the demerit was, if some guy is not on duty because of some reasons, I was being called for & no matter how long shift it is going to be. I have had longest shifts there--from 7AM till 12 midnight..& the following day from 7 am again...again some other week, 6 am till 10:30 pm...across the week...n sometimes, 12 midnight till 3 pm...throughout 1-2 weeks. Since, it was a proper western kitchen, I had the hands-on experience of making brown sauce, demi glace--in bulk. Also bolognese & many other stuff. I used to prefer morning shift, since I wanted to make the foods for the lunch buffet...n then back home..by evening. Sometimes, a small trip to Mylapore for the Giri trading bookstore followed by a visit to Ramakrishna Ashrama.On the ekadashi days, I tried either to take a day off or morning shift, so that I could attend the Ramanam in Ramakrishna Mission & the lovely halwa at the end of the Ramanam distributed amongst devotees as prasad.

During my employment there, I met a few good people, one of them being N. Thangapandi--who was my colleague, roommate & a good friend--with who I shared all my stories.Again, working with someone who was too complex for me...the exe. chef. He is one of the tough guys I have ever worked with & on the other hand, he can also stab you from behind. Anthony Bourdain said, "This industry makes assholes--which is our chief export...". He is so true...Long shifts were customary here, with working with high fever [Fortunately, I have never taken a single sick leave for the past 2 years of my employment-good God's grace!!!] or sometimes, being called over to shift, when another colleague messed up some guest's food, whose preference I knew better than anyone else. This was a pain....

I remember, another guest, who was really a hard nut to crack--A german guest, if I can recall, who started abusing when he got his lamb steak well-done. "I want it bloody rare....", he said, "I want beef--not interested in lamb, pork or wutever....". I said, "Ok...it will be done...tomorrow for sure..."
It was a testing day for me...& successfully I passed in that examination & since then people used to tell me, "Chef, your best friend has checked in again...", whenever he used to come back to stay in our hotel. Once I served him black angus beef, as usual cooked rare, he was so happy that he praised me to skies & offered, if I could join him for a steakhouse, if he plans to open one. I was definitely flattered!!!

In between, I did so many overtimes & a couple of months without a single weekly day off, I was too tired & wanted to visit my hometown, accumulating all my day offs, comp offs for about a week. I gave a surprise visit to my mom & it was on her birthday!!!! And she assumed that I resigned from my job & came back to kolkata...Poor Gaurav.

Going back to Chennai after vacation was painful, as it was becoming difficult for me to adjust there, since I was not in a mood & this heightened when the Exe. Chef told me, in front of everyone, "I can run this bloody continental kitchen, without you...". My contribution to this hotel is over--I'd rather search for jobs elsewhere--such thoughts were lingering over & over again,when he once told me again, "You dont know anything...", I kept quiet. It is his chance to speak & my only option was to listen to him...I was trying for opportunity overseas.

Again I visited the coastal regions, taking all the pending weekly offs, specially, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari & Trivandram--after which my birthday was celebrated by the kitchen employees. It was really fun, when I was bathed with cream, cake, milk & eggs.....

The first offer came from Crowne Plaza, Bahrain, offering a meagre position & meagre salary too. I was interested but the chef over there, was getting too crazy....I was wondering, how crazy will he be, when I actually join him....I started trying for Ritz Carlton, Dubai...& when I got the Visa for Dubai, the Exe. Chef of Crowne plaza, started calling me...but I didn't pick up the phone. He wanted me to join him asap--I told him bluntly, "Every company has some rules, which I should abide by--I need to serve 30 days notice to my present employer. For some quick gain, I cannot ditch my present employer. What if I do the same thing to him??", he never bothered to revert back.

My resignation was like a slap on the executive chef's face, who didn't think that I would be able to leave his company--"Well, I cannot stop you from going...", was his only response, when he signed my resignation. When I gave resignation for the first time, for Crowne Plaza, he refused saying, "You have bright future in this company..." & wutever, so called excuses.
I left Chennai on October 14th, for which I bought tickets 3 months before, considering I'd visit home for Diwali. Well, the planning came to work. Yes, I cried when I left Chennai, specially, the places I would miss--it gave me an opportunity to visit Tirupati twice, explore the Southern coastal regions, my frequent trips to Mylapore..the pure south indian foods, a colleague, who used to supply my joint, when I was too tired & too much bored...

"After you complete 24, you will go to the place of your choice", was the prediction by Nadi astrologers. And I moved to Dubai after I completed. Co-incidence?Destiny?I have always worked near the coast/sea..Mumbai, Chennai & now Dubai. Next???? God knows.... :)