An iconic presence at the institution, this small business is struggling to move up to the next level
The bustle begins as soon as the clock strikes seven. Cars stop by almost every minute, with hungry customers eagerly ordering for their choice of hot paranthas.
They come so often, they no longer even have to glance at the large menu that is positioned on the trunk of a tree. As they place their orders, a team of about seven men works under a dim light, stuffing the paranthas and tossing it on to the steaming hot pan. Within a few seconds, the paranthas are ready and you can see the customers happily gorging on them and driving away.
This is what an ordinary evening looks like at the paranthewala near the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi). Chances are that if you live in Delhi and are a complete foodie at that, you must have made a stop to have a taste of these famous paranthas at least once. The paranthas in this area are so popular that even author Chetan Bhagat couldn’t resist from mentioning the parantha feasts in his book, Five Point Someone – What Not to do at IIT.
What propels around 200 customers, ranging from students, people working in call centers and businessmen, to stop here everyday? We spoke to the owner, Sharvan Kumar, about the business and what sets him apart.
Sitting on a plastic chair, he reticently tells us, “My father started the business in 1985, when I was only five years old. At that time there used to be only three paranthawalas in the area. Our paranthas became popular mostly because of the regular visits by the IIT students. Slowly, as the word of mouth spread, we had customers visiting us from all over Delhi”. Sharvan, who is currently 27 years old, took over the business in 1998, when his father became ill and could not run it any longer. “It feels great to have IIT alumni and customers from my father’s time come to us from far away, to grab a bite. Even those who no longer live in Delhi do make it a point to stop here when they return. It gives us a lot of satisfaction,” says Sharvan.
Comparing his business in the past to now, he says, “We used to get a lot more customers back then, since there were no police restrictions, and we used to be open till six in the morning”. Because of the regulations now, Sharvan is forced to close by 11pm. “Although we have some loyal customers who now have started coming during the day, this is a business that peaks during the night. Our peak hours have been condensed from 11 hours a day to only four now,” he says. Looking at the brighter side though, he says, “But in those days customers did not look for much variety. They used to stick to the regular aloo (potato) or pyaaz (onion) paranthas. But now, with the evolving preferences, we have added a lot more variety to our menu, which appeals to more customers”.
Ask him what his best-seller is and he promptly says, “Most people come here for the anda (egg) paranthas”. Incidentally, as he was telling us this, it was all quite fascinating to watch a raw egg being cracked, between the two layers of a parantha which was already being fried on the pan. Looking at the parantha, Sharvan says, “These are so popular that we have two ways of making it—one is a simple anda parantha, and the other is the stuffed anda parantha.” Apart from the ten rupee anda paranthas, Sharvan’s menu also consists of paranthas stuffed with aloo (potato), gobhi (cauliflower), paneer (cheese), chicken, as well as mutton. “The aloo parantha, at Rs 5, is the cheapest, whereas at Rs 40, the mutton parantha is the most expensive parantha on the menu. The chicken parantha is for Rs 20,” he says.
Has the business been running successfully? The fact that Sharvan’s income allows him to run his family of six, including his parents, brother and sister, wife and his two year old son, shows that it has. According to Sharvan, he is the sole bread-earner of the family. Apart from that, he also manages to employ about seven workers, paying them around 2,500 rupees every month.
Everything, however, is not picture perfect for this paranthawala at IIT. Even after running the business for over twenty years and being a second generation businessman, he still hasn’t been able to expand his business and have a proper restaurant of his own. “All we have is this table, on which we make the paranthas. We don’t even have a seating area for the customers. It would be great to have a proper restaurant one day,” says Sharvan. He continues by saying, “As of now, our business has been running on a tehbazari basis, where we have to pay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) an amount of Rs 1,900 on a yearly basis”.
What has stopped Sharvan all this while from having his own restaurant is that he does not want to compromise on the location of his work. “We tried running the business in Gurgaon once, but closed it soon enough, as it wasn’t attracting as many customers. I realized soon enough that it is the IIT paranthawala that we have been known as and will be known as. Our customers are so used to coming to this area now, that relocating would only mean losing out on my existing customers,” he says.
Until Sharvan can find a place in the IIT area, and be able to afford the exorbitant property rates over there, having a proper restaurant is a dream that he is still chasing.
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written by saurabh choudhary , September 18, 2008
written by saurabh choudhary , September 18, 2008
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