Philosopher Lao Tau said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, proving the truth of his words with the inspiring entrepreneurial journey of Patricia Narayan, who started with one small kiosk at the Marina Beach in Chennai and crossed it for 30 successful years. Patricia, who won the 'FI CCI Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2010, in an interview with IVB, shared the lessons she learned on her journey from earning 50 a day to the significant turnaround she has today.
Throughout, she emphasized the importance of self-motivation and a practical approach, but when asked about the source of her strength, she took the names of her children: "They are the closest to my heart, and now let's talk, because then to be called by my son to taste a recipe that he is currently experimenting with in the kitchen,” she said. When I left my kiosk standing permanently at the Marina Beach, I had no idea of the journey ahead.
I was a puppet in the hands of time and circumstances, my personal life was bad and I had no idea what the future would bring. Coming from an upper middle class family, I didn't even know the 'BCD' of the food business. And of course there was no Google either, which could come in handy every time I needed to look up resources or any “XYZ” thing (laughs).
What I learned, management strategy if you call it, came from the school of life, which taught me what no business school could have. The most important thing for women who want to go into the "food business" to remember is that you don't look at food as a business and you don't have to work a day. It is said that women know and feel the importance of food and can take care of it like their own child.
But that being said, the food industry is no cakewalk, be aware of what you choose and know how to play with your time because you will need to be ready with a tray at all times! Her son now manages and runs the restaurant independently, and the corporate kitchen team has evolved over time, so things have loosened up a bit, she told us. I didn't want him to go into this business, knowing what it entails, but let's call it fate, he had to leave his seafaring job (which he took on my advice) and come back from London for good.
But as they say, you can't have everything, for a long time I lived with the regret of not being able to give my children the time and presence of their mother that they deserved. No. Mine was an interfaith love marriage and those times were very different from today.
Do you have any early memories of having a conversation(s) with your children about the respect quotient in a male-female relationship?
Children don't need to be taught things, they learn from what they see their parents do. I have lived by my words all my life and I am both proud and relieved that both of my children have absorbed them well. And I'm a freak planner of these trips, so every time my daughter-in-law or grandkids find me engrossed in intense Google research, they inform my son about his mom's travel regimen and he comes up to ask me, "So, where are you planning now?" (she laughed)
In her own words, "Once I decide I have to do a certain thing, I put all my heart and time into it, and that's what's kept me going throughout the entire process." It's been years, but grief knows no time.
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