Vikas Khanna, a known face to all Indian households. You
would have seen him hosting Master Chef India. But there is lot more to know
about Vikas Khanna, the man who is passionate about the art of cooking. He says
“The Power of Food is really spiritual. It not only brings the whole family
together on the same table, but also brings the whole world together”.
I have read, understood & recorded the Indian
entrepreneur’s journey but Vikas Khanna stands out to be special in terms of
Persistence, Dedication & sheer hard work. Vikas Khanna life is so amazing
& inspiring that every individual have know about him.
Bringing you the article “Vikas Khanna & His Amazing Journey from
Being Homeless to Opening Junoon in New York”
When Vikas
Khanna was known as Vikku-
Vikas Khanna with his Mother |
Vikku was born in Amritsar (typical Punjabi) with misaligned
legs and feet, he was not able to run until he was 13. The neighboring kids
used to tease him as a ghost(as he had misaligned legs), he used to come home
crying & his mother used to console him by saying “Your Special” & she
used to tell him if someone says you’re ghost tell them “Thank You Angel”. She
taught him the art of gratitude. At the age of 13 years, Vikas Khanna was able
to overcome disability.
[Some Interesting info:
In 2011, People Magazine refers him as “The Hottest Chef of America” &
listed him under “Sexiest Men Alive”]
The
Calling….
Vikas Khanna with his Granny |
He realized early in life that he wants to cook and his cooking
foundation school starts at his granny’s kitchen, where Viku’s granny (his
inspiration) thought him to cook. He learnt how to roll the bread in Amritsar
Golden temple’s Langar (Sikh Community Kitchens). At the age of 17yrs Vikku and
his mother went school to school selling chhole-bhature to make living. With
this hardship helped to gain a contract from school principal to make 580
sweaters that would help them to raise Rs. 15,000 & with this contribution
Vikas started his own banquet and catering business by name “Lawrence Gardens”,
which served Kitty-party Punjabi women and soon it was well known catering
services in Amritsar.
[Some Interesting info:
Today at Junoon, some menu shows the price at $300 which is equal to the money
he started “Lawrence Gardens”. Destiny has its own cards to play]
Turning
Point in his Life..!!
At the age of 25yrs, Vikas travels to Manipal, Karnataka from
his home town Amritsar to get final admission in Welcomgroup Graduate School of
Hotel Administration. He had already failed in two rounds of interview, but he
continued to answer all the questions asked by the interviewer’s in a humble a
way. He told all about his kitty party business like how he made 3 types of
channas, with Rs. 20 he offered thums-up, bathura and ice cream. He also spoke
about his dream to open an air-conditioned hotel.
The interviewer kept laughing and Vikas continued with his
Punj-indi (Punjabi + Hindi). One of interviewer stopped him in between the
conversation and asked him to try next year.
But Vikas kept on requesting them to give one chance, when he
realized that he is been rejected, then he told to the panel “don't
worry Sirji. I knew it that you were all laughing at me from the beginning, but
I will still open a AC hotel, one day."
Vikas was sitting outside corridor of the interview room and
thinking what to do next, then Mr. Sunderash Prasad (Principal) walks toward
him and said “You know that I can teach you everything, but I can't teach you about
the most important essential "Passion", Rest is all easy. Waiting to
eat in your hotel one day, get in the college now."
[Some Interesting info: Though Vikas
Khanna wasn’t able to cook food for Mr. Sunderash Prasad (Principal) as he
passed away in 1992 but Vikas named his restaurant in New York as “Junoon”
-means passion]
The
Spiritual Connect…
It's very important in our life time to be connected with
spirituality. The successful business tycoons, entrepreneurs, industrialist are
all have connected to spirituality at the early age in life and are successful.
Recently Mark Zuckerberg in Town hall Q&A with PM Narendra Modiji told to
the world that he had been to Temple in India (Neem Karoli Baba's Ashram at
Uttarakhand) upon suggestion of Steve Jobs in order to connect with the company
mission.
In New York, Vikas Khanna experiences the spiritual connect.
This happens when he closed down the third restaurant & was mounted with
bills to be paid, he is locking the restaurant door and he receives a call from
his friend Tashi, who tells him His Excellency Dalai Lama is in town so would
you like to hear him. Vikas went to Dalai Lama's lecture (he doesn't know what
made him to go but he went for the lecture).
He stands in last in the line…Dalai
Lama walks towards him & touches Vikas Khanna's forehead & handovers
silk cloth to him. The divine touch, made Vikas Khanna to start again with the
new hope.
Vikas Khanna being jobless not knowing what to do in
life...calls his Mom late in night after returning from Dalai Lama lecture
& tells her that he want to finish the project “Return to Rivers” the cookery
book which covers the cuisines of Himalayan belt. Her Mom books the ticket from
New York to Bhutan.
The real Journey of Vikas Khanna starts here, he travels all
over the Bhutan and Tibet. He roams around the places, meets people, and learns
the different culture & various cuisines. For his project he takes the
picture of different cooking styles & records in his laptop. One day, he
forgets the laptop at chai thela in mountains of Bhutan & gets into a cab…After
a while the cab stops & later he sees the old woman may be at the age of 60’s
holding laptop in her hand & tells him he had forgot in her stall. Vikas
Khanna thanks her for her act of kindness, today the actual book “Return to
Rivers” has 2600 pages covering different cuisines of Himalayan belt. The “Return
to Rivers” was possible because of that old lady.
Travelling
on unknown path..!!
On Dec 25, 2000 Vikas
walks down the Canal Street in Broadway with $3 in his pocket, without any food
& shelter. It was a Christmas Night. Vikas was shivering as his cloths wear
drenched in rain. Lady on the streets walks toward Vikas & gives a blanket
and says to Vikas “Happy Christmas”. Vikas with the blanket walks further, he
sees a big queue & upon questioning he gets to know it’s a New York Rescue Mission
(NYRM) for Homeless. Vikas takes shelter in homeless. It’s very difficult to
think about a homeless shelter & people leaving there. Nobody wants to go
and experience the feeling of being homeless. For Vikas it was ok to fail &
being unemployed in New York.
Later he worked for “Salaam Bombay” restaurant very close to
the WTO crash site. Vikas used to put a small buffet every afternoon for the
people who are working at the site. And also holding placard with the picture
of a “Sikh guy offering food to a child” this was the representation of New
Yorkism. Usually it’s said that Americans appreciate those who openly express
about their culture & who they are as individualism. Vikas was representing
the culture of India in a foreign land at the time of post 9/11 incident.
Birth of
Junoon…
In 2007, Vikas gets a call from Chef Gordon Ramsay to appear
in his show “Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares” to develop the restaurant “Dillions”
which is in the hands of irresponsible management. Vikas Khanna renames the
restaurant as “Purnima” and runs the restaurant till 2010. Meanwhile one of Vikas
Khanna’s friends sees the show “Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares” and shares
the common vision of opening a restaurant “Junoon”.
Today Vikas Khanna is a celebrity Chef. He hosted dinner
party at White House. Recently he prepared 7 course meals for Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and CEOs of top global companies.