Hungry!

This is a story of three young boys and me. The boys were working in a famous restaurant in andheri, the famous suburb in Mumbai. The restaurant was called "FOOD YUMMY, NO MUMMY"! The logic to that name was that it was not one's mother's cooked food, yet the food was delicious. It really was. Who would know that better than me? Anyway! I'll come to myself later. These three boys worked as waiters in this restaurant. They had passed out of their respective colleges after doing well in Hotel Management courses, and joined here as debut-ants. They worked with a lot of zeal and passion. They were really good, excellent in work; sharp with reflexes, handsome looking, well spoken boys. The coincidental joining of all three within a couple of months, was an extreme fortune for the restaurant owners. It was at a time when the staff had grown old and bored, the patent customers were also bored to look at them. It was indeed a new wave, a breath of fresh air.

My small Dhaba was opposite FOOD YUMMY, NO MUMMY. I had quite uneventfully named it after myself, 'Nikhil Food Joint'. It was running with heavy losses, i had only a couple of men as my staff, who would cook as well as serve and take orders. Whatever i earned, almost all of that went to these two as their salaries and then paying the rent for that little place in a posh area. I was almost considering shutting the 'debacle of an investment' down, when one day the 3 boys entered my food joint. This was the first time when i actually met them. They were dressed handsomely, in their waiter dresses, and spoke in flawless English sitting on a table that had its one leg missing. I myself went and took their order, and served them as well. They kept discussing things amidst themselves throughout, as they ate. While paying the bill, they appreciated me for the food, and said something that made a difference, " Though we work in a restaurant much classier than yours, but we would like to eat here than there from now on!"
They came to my joint everyday from then, and also made friends with me. They kept telling me all the time that the food i serve is 20 times better than what they serve, and this is the food one can eat everyday and not their's. It was a huge compliment. But i also managed to take out some stuff from them. They helped me improve a few dishes i served, and made me secretly taste a few from their restaurant without making me go there and pay for it. But what they did most was that they ensured that i don't shut my joint down. I was preparing new stuff for them everyday, asking my cooks to make new kinds of dal, sabzee so that they don't get bored and stop coming there. It reached a point where i was almost running my joint for them, i was just cooking for them. This went on for almost an year and a half. One day when i was sitting with the accounts at the end of the month, i realized that i was again running with heavy losses. i had lost out on a lot of customers who used to come earlier , in my effort to keep these three coming everyday. In a couple of months, although i tried reviving those dishes back, i did not gain any new customers, or rather the old ones back. Consequently i was unable to pay the rent of the place and i had to shut my joint down. During the last week before my shutting down, when i had already decided that i had to shut the place, the three boys were really disturbed and sad. They asked me if i would like to join their restaurant, till i set up my own somewhere else, to which i said yes. But i was rejected after my interview.
After almost a month of that incident i received a call from one of the boys, inviting me to their restaurant that afternoon for lunch. As i entered, they received me warmly with hugs, and made me sit at a table which had all its legs intact,and had a beautiful table cloth over it.
They gave me an envelope and asked me to read it. It said the restaurant wants me to join as the Chief Chef, and would be delighted to have me on board. They explained me on my asking that it was a result of tedious efforts and making the manager taste a few dishes of mine which the boys had prepared that sealed the deal. I felt it was a really warm gesture from the boys.
I refused the offer. I was not going to take any favors from such young boys. I might have failed on my own to set up my own restaurant, but this incident was now enough for me to fight back again. I instead gave the boys an offer, of joining me in partnership, and opening a small restaurant all by ourselves.
I think they will say yes someday, though its been more than a month now since my offer. I think they will say yes!