Nostalgia with Ranveer Brar: “I was the first earning member of the family after my father”

The chef talks about wanting to cook for 24 hours a day, wearing baggy pants and loose shirts and his increasing love for khichdi with time

Where were you in terms of your career?

Ranveer Brar at 22 (inset), and at 43 (above)

I was stationed at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, as a kitchen management trainee.

What was your bank balance?

I had an account with State Bank of India and had `5,000 in my account.

What was your relationship status?

I was extremely committed and ready to be heartbroken.

During a weekend at the Ki monastery in Spiti Valley

What was your equation like with your family back then?

I had a sense of responsibility as I was the first earning member of the family after my father.

What was your focus in life?

To be the best version of myself and cook for 24 hours a day!

What was your frame of mind?

I was very ambitious and aggressive as well.

Ranveer sitting on his first bike, a Bajaj Caliber

What was your favourite food then? Is it still your favourite food?

It was kebabs and biryani. Still is. But, with age, khichdi has climbed to the top of the list though it wasn’t then.

How would you describe your fashion sense?

I used to wear baggy pants and loose shirts.

Preparing his first fish fillet; (inset) during a school picnic at Bara Imambara when he was in HAL School, Lucknow

And what was your fitness quotient?

I would workout for an hour after putting in nearly 17 hours of work.

What was your most prized possession at the time?

My bike. It was a Bajaj Caliber.

Working at his favourite kitchen corner, the pastry section at The Claridges, Delhi

And your biggest dream then?

To be the corporate chef for the Taj Group of hotels.

How would you have reacted if somebody had told you that you were going to be a famous chef in the future?

I would have continued doing what I was doing and taken that as an encouraging sign that I was on the right path.

Your favourite sport back then?

Then and now, it has always been cricket. I idolised Sunil Gavaskar back in those days, now it’s MS Dhoni.

With his four-year-old dog Bo in USA when Ranveer was 27

Any memorable anecdote from that time?

One that I’ll never forget—we mistook sugar syrup for hot oil, and the wok caught fire!

The biggest life lesson you learnt then?

That no effort, however useless it might seem, goes to waste.

From HT Brunch, December 19, 2021

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