The year was 1975. I was 25 years old and was in a cozy job
in my favourite city Chennai. Weekends were packed with activities with
friends. I was enjoying my life as a bachelor.
One day as I was about leave my office I received a call to
see the head of my unit – The Geneal Manager. He was casual but soon he came to
the point. He was contemplating to transfer me to one of our Branches in a
remote place in Bengal called Disergarh. This was a border town between Bengal
and Bihar. It was an attractive offer –
a chauffeur driven car, a semi furnished accommodation in Asansol which was the
closest town to Disergarh and 30% increase in salary as outstation allowance. I
decided to accept the offer on one major point which attracted me – I would be
close to the customer and would be the first point of contact. I was looking
for such an opportunity. Also having grown up in Neyveli an industrial town I
had not special affinity for Chennai then.
I settled down in my new assignment in September 1975. Soon
I picked up some South Indian friends at the nearby Indian Iron and Steel
Company, Burnpur. The Bengali families in my block were very friendly and often
I received wonderful food from them. But running a house was not my cup of tea.
I had difficulty in adjusting to the local food. Cleaning the house, washing
the clothes etc was a nightmare to me. I did try a few local helpers but lack
of local language as always a problem.
My Parents in down South in Thanjavur were aware of my
problems. They promised to send me a good helper from down South after training
him. Then I got the news about Velayudham ready for Asansol. I picked him up at
Howrah station and brought him to Asansol.
Velayudham tall and lanky was 21 years of age. He was
basically from Kerala but could speak both Malayalam and Tamil fluently. He had
worked over 5 years in Nagapattinam a coastal town in Tamil Nadu and hence had
the fluency over Tamil. Soon he settled down to his work. He kept the house
clean, washed my clothes, pressed them beautifully and above all gave me homely
food which I missed so much in Asansol. Later I learn that he had learnt all
that cooking from my mother in Thanjavur. He wold grind the ingredients for
Idli and Dosa every week and most of the days I would have ot dosas for
breakfast.
His fame soon spread among the Tamil bachelors in Burnpur and I
began a great entertainer serving delicious south Indian food in the week ends.
Soon Majumders my upstaits neighbours who helped me a lot in Asansol wanted
Velayudhams services for a day as they had special guests in their house. He
served the entire gathering with delicious masala dosai. In about 3 months time
I found him picking up Bengali and conversing with all the locals. He was one
of the sought after customer at the provision store opposite my apartments run
by the Dutta brothers. He was getting requests on almost weekly basis for
making Dosas in someone’s house. I did not mind him making some extra bugs as
he was fully taking care of my needs. One day as I was standing in my balcony I saw a fancy car driving slowly and
parking in front of my apartment. Soon I noticed that the visitor was to my
house. A well dressed person introduced himself politely as one from a well known family and asked me if I could spare the services of Velayudham for 3 days for
a family wedding in their house. Fortunately I was going on a long tour around
the same time and I readily agreed. Later Velayudham told me that they provided
him with a modern kitchen and all the assistants he wanted and made dosas and
iddlis for the guests for 2 full days.
I got married on 17th May 1978. My wife told me
politely but firmly that she was not interested in having a male cook at the
apartment. She was keen to take care of the house all by herself. So before I
went to Chennai for my wedding I told Velayudham that I may not require his
services. My mother wanted him back in Thanjavur and so I asked him to get back
to Thanjavur. I was totally surprised by his answer. He told me in no uncertain
terms –“ Sir, I do not have any relatives down South. I lost my Parents early
and I lost touch with my only brother some years back. Also I have suffered a
lot in my childhood. Only now I am seeing some money. This place has lots of
money and I just don’t want to leave this place”. I gave into his wish.
Soon he
landed up as a chief cook in one of the restaurants in Burnpur. He would visit
me at least once a month. I could make out that he was making good money as he
looked prosperous. He had great confidence in him. One day he told me that he
got married to a local Bengali girl. He never brought the bride despite my wife
requesting him a couple of times.
As the years rolled by my contact with him slowed down. One
day he landed at my apartment and told me that he has a great news for me. He
then told me the setting up of his own hotel in the Burnpur market. I was so
happy that I was partly responsible for promoting an entrepreneur. The last
time I met Velayudham was in late 1983 when I left Asansol. By then he was a
prosperous hotel owner. Maybe he has a chain of hotels now. I really
do not know .
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