ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL ......The Cook who Dared to Dream

The Cook who Dared to Dream



Dinesh, a Nepali Gorkha, was a cook in our house for a few years. He must have been 18 when he joined us.

He was small in build but a bundle of energy. He was like a gazelle, alert 24 hours of the day and ever cheerful.Often, when I kept irregular hours or arrived home after a late-night flight, he would spring to life and cheerfully prepare fresh food. We called him “Kancha“ affectionately.He was everyone's favourite -of my family as well as friends and relatives.

Dinesh had two characteristics that stood out: iron will and discipline. At 5 pm, on the dot every day, all seven days a week, come rain or sunshine, hell or high water, Dinesh would jump into his track pants, get into his sports shoes, wear his sweatshirt and jacket, hoist his small backpack on his shoulders and bolt from the house for his karate and taekwondo classes. He would return by 7 pm, drenched in sweat, head straight for his shower and be ready in a jiffy to cook the evening meals. Often, he would return beaten black and blue after his training fights, but nothing deterred him or dampened his spirits in plunging into the domestic chores with newfound energy. Over the dinner he served, he would narrate his exploits during the training or how his black-belt taekwondo master had floored him effortlessly, or how he was thrashed by a more experienced and bigger fighter.No amount of fatigue in the kitchen or hectic cooking for parties or feasts kept him away from his training classes.

A few years passed and life resumed in our household without him. We missed him occasionally but, as it often happens, out of sight is out of mind. Then one day my wife called me and said that Dinesh had called and would be visiting us with his new bride that evening.

Dinesh came at the appointed hour with his young wife whom he had married in Nepal. He brought a bouquet of flowers and bowed in deference. Then he flashed a big smile and displayed a large framed certificate proclaiming he had obtained proficiency in taekwon do and that he was awarded with one of the black belts of honour. He said he had taken on rent two premises in Bengaluru, had set up his own martial arts school, was the chief instructor of the school and had employed two junior instructors to assist him.

Training under him were stu dents from schools and colleges as well as professionals from IBM, Accenture and Toyota, among others. Regardless of their rank or wealth, his students addressed him as “sir“ and treated him as their guru. Dinesh was beaming with pride. He had joined the band of entrepreneurs. From domestic cook to a taekwondo master and budding entrepreneur, it is a heart-warming story.

ETM20MAR16