The Restaurant Owner

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THE RESTAURANT OWNER

 I run a restaurant by the railway station. It is not large nor does it have any a.c.. I do not serve burger or pizza. I run a vegetarian restaurant where no onion or garlic is used. There are many restaurants alongside the road. Mine is one of them. I serve  plain rice and vegetable curry and dal and roti and puris for breakfast. The train and its passengers give me my livelihood. Downstairs is my restaurant and upstairs does my family live. 

My day starts very early at dawn and I have to wake up before 4 am, take a bath and get ready for the day. Because that is when the train arrives. The first train which may often delay but not I. I am never late and I open my shop, worship the gods, the incense burns pleasant when my customers begin to come. I serve them tea hot from the stove brewed in full milk. With it I serve biscuits thick, delicious, long and square baked fresh in the bakery. Then comes Tarun, a thin and fair lad in his twenties. He kneads the dough and rolls them round and fries them in ghee. So comes out the puris. About an hour later comes Madhulika aunty who chops potatoes, grinds masala and makes fresh curry. Then comes Raju from the sweet shop and brings in jalebis. This completes the breakfast menu. Raman and Ramesh come later who boil rice and chop beans and paneer for the mixed vegetable. We work till midday and the shop closes as the sun goes down. 

And I walk home satisfied. Some customers have traveled from Mumbai far away from home, travelled on a crowded train for three days and returned after six months. This is their first snack or meal in the hometown. Some are here to start their journey after their stomachs are full and some are daily wage workers who cannot go home to eat and must eat outside at my restaurant. Some come with families for their children want to eat out. I love to serve them all. I like when they eat my food and feel satisfied. I take care how much chili flakes and salt and turmeric are put for though I don't  cook, the food is mine, the good will is mine and the customer's complaints are mine. I make sure the food is served hot and fresh. And go home after maintaining accounts. I feed you and that feeds my family. But it is more than just food to me. It is my regard for you and your returning back to eat is my greatest pay cheque.

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