Traditionally Kashmiri marriages are close knit family affairs where friends and relatives serve guests. But the trend is changing fast as professional caterers take over. Rahiba R Parveen meets Inayat farooq Mir who runs valley’s first catering agency for marriages
Marriages are the most prolonged celebrations in Kashmir. Despite the conflict taking a toll on the people of Kashmir psychologically, socially and economically, Kashmiri weddings remain probably the only affair to be still as lavish as they were before. In fact, people have adapted to changes of new fashion and trends in the market.
Looking at the acceptance of new trends and changing norms, a group of young boys, mostly in their 20s chose to take up ‘catering’, a completely new idea in this society, as their profession. Not only are they earning good money but also turning out to be a source of income for young men across their home town, including students.
Kashmiri weddings involve a major feasting. Traditionally the Kashmiri cuisine ‘Wazwan’ is presented on a copper plate ‘trami’ to a group of four where relatives and friends in hundreds gather to relish the meal.
After working for a small time caterer in Srinagar, 22 year old Inayat farooq Mir from South Kashmir’s Pampore town decided to venture into the lucrative catering sector. He named his catering agency ‘Fast Track’.
“The person I worked for in Srinagar was illiterate limiting his scope in the business to just arrangement of material,” said Mir, who is also pursuing a Masters degree in Commerce through correspondence.
Mir soon was well acquainted with the intricacies of the business and developed contacts.
“People soon started calling me for bookings and that’s how the business kick started,” said Mir.
Mir synchronized the idea of serving at buffets in hotels with serving the traditional feast of Wazwan at the weddings. “People have become more influenced by trends followed outside the state,” said Mir. He explains that people want to get trendy without losing the essence of the tradition.
“We provided a solution,” said Mir, “The unique fusion we provided was an instant hit with the people.”
Mir says that it was a matter of one marriage and then the word of mouth and interaction with people at weddings made offers flow in abundance.
In the recent years, the mushrooming of residential colonies has also given rise to the establishment of marriage halls. As a result, the scope for these young boys has widened since the upper middle-class of the valley opt for help to serve the guests.
“I have a permanent work force of six people, including me,” said Mir, “Then we hire people according to the work load.”
Like at a marriage ceremony in Sanat Nagar area of Srinagar, Mir hired about 15 more people to work for him. “Twenty of us served back to back for seven days,” says Mir. Fast Track has been attracting young boys across Mir’s hometown but now he says boys from some areas of Srinagar city are showing interest as well.
The work force at Fast Track wears a sky-blue shirt and a blue waist court to work. Mir says that that it does not require any formal training in hotel management. He takes pride in saying that hospitality is inculcated in Kashmiri people right from their childhood days.
One of the major challenges for such a profession here is that some people tend to look at catering as a waiter’s job, shared Parvez Ahmed who has worked with Mir. Ahmed says even though the profession has attracted many young boys in terms of its part-time aspect and money making, many of their work force quit the very first day.
“They cannot come to terms with being looked down upon as waiters,” says Ahmad.”We live in a very conservative society and it is a small place.”
He said that there were mixed reactions. While at some places they were provided plenty of space as professionals while some treated them as regular waiters. “We have been professional and worked with sincerity. However, given to societal pressures some boys quit,” Ahmed added.
Their job has not only remained to serving food but they give ideas to the hosts as well. Decoration of baskets, packaging of items tagged alongside the 36 varieties of Wazwan are the duties falling in their job.
“It’s a breather for the hosts. The boys are well mannered and handled each function with discipline. We had guests from outside as well as family and friends from valley. All were happily served and looked after. We can’t ask for more,” said Shabir Ahmed, a Businessman who hired Fast Track on his sister’s wedding.
Mir is enthusiastic about investing more into it. “It can become a full time job. If things fall in place, we will expand it completely the way caterers do. I want to offer complete package of Kashmiri ‘wazas’ (cooks who specialize in wazwan), buffet system and serving as well,” Mir explained.
They say it is a seasonal profession but the market is huge. The graph of their work has only increased which has encouraged them to plan further. “We charge Rs 750 per head. Marriages are a seasonal affair but we have smoothly had an income of at least Rs 45000 per season,” Mir added.
Even though the trend is yet to catch up across the downtown areas of Srinagar – which is a close knit community and people prefer helping each other on marriages rather than bringing help from outside, Mir’s group is expecting calls from them as the government has constructed marriage halls there as well. However, areas in the upper town are the hub for catering. Mir says fifty percent of marriages per season prefer caterers.
