City’s global woman Jayanti Kathale feted with Saraswati Sanman Puraskar
| Date :11-Jun-2023 |
Staff Reporter
A daughter of Nagpur, Jayanti Kathale, laid out a delicious spread of various recipes of her success as an entrepreneur who launched ‘Purnabramha’ as the world’s biggest restaurant of Maharashtrian food and saw the dream of converting it into a global chain. As she narrated her own story at times smilingly and at other times forcefully, the Nagpuri audience clapped in rapture and laughed heartily recognising that one girl among them had shown the courage to dream really big, and demonstrate her prowess to fulfill it. The occasion was Jayanti Kathale’s felicitation with Saraswati Sanman Puraskar by Mahila Samaj Ram Nagar as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Saraswati Mandir in Ram Nagar. And the story was revealed through an open interview that had the capacity-packed audience at the Saraswati Mandir auditorium mesmerised by fragrance of success through hard work and honesty. Adopting the mode of a leisurely chat, interviewer Prabha Deoskar, herself a noted anchor and theatre personality, led Jayanti Kathale artfully to tell her story to a spellbound audience on Saturday. Earlier, Anuradha Kurhekar, President of Mahila Samaj Ram Nagar, honoured Jayanti Kathale with the Saraswati Sanman Puraskar.
“I saw a dream and worked to make it come true. But that dream was triggered by a reality that vegetarian food was not available in different parts of the world. On a trip to Paris, my husband Pranav wrote to me how hungry he was without vegetarian food. I decided to launch such a service. I gave up my cosy corporate job and launched the entrepreneurial venture. Fortune favours the brave, and good luck smiled on me. ‘Purnabrahma’ is not just a restaurant, I must say. It is an idea that has caught everybody’s fancy,” Jayanti Kathale said in the open interview, much to the cheer of the audience that clapped lustily every time a good question elicited an equally good answer. Dressed in the Maharashtrian nine-yard lemon-green saree with a pink border, Jayanti Kathale was at her usual best as she answered questions. She said, she was a tom-boy in a family of brothers. “I had to be taught to be a girl. Cooking was never my forte. Yet, here I am in the profession of offering to the world best of Maharashtrian food, which people are lapping up everywhere I open an outlet. In Nagpur, too, I propose to launch one at the right time,” she said drawing another round of applause. In her Maharashtrian attire that she has made her signature, Jayanti Kathale looked like the queen of whatever she surveyed. Her face radiated her confidence and an aura of the idea she produced.
“But hard work and discipline have been my attributes,” she said, thanking her parents for all the discipline. Those traits also helped her to do much research for three-and-a-half years about how she would proceed with fulfilling her idea. For, on a trip from Australia, she had realised that she could not get the right food for her. With her little one in her lap, she starved, but made up her mind to do something to rectify the situation. ‘Purnabrahma’ was the outcome of that anxiety, that urge to rise above the daunting situation,” Jayanti Kathale added. The background of sports, too, helped Jayanti Kathale in putting her best foot forward as she saw the entrepreneurial dream. Once the mind had been made up, leaving the well-paying corporate job was just a matter of determination. Through several anecdotes, she narrated how the venture proceeded to take proper shape. “I am proud that at ‘Purnabrahma’ we serve the most authentic Maharashtrian food coming from different regions of the State,” she asserted. As the open interview pleasantly stretched on, the clapping continued, laughter dominated the auditorium, interspersed, of course, by stunned silenced inspired by the elements of success that emerged from the fine questions and answers.
A cooking competition based on the use of Millets was also organised. Under the sweet food category, Manik Sawlapurkar bagged the first prize, Mughdha Bhave stood second, and Bharti Disawal stood third. Under the sour food category, Vandana Shende bagged the first prize, Rama Fuke stood second, and Rashmi Ranade stood third. Dr Wanamala Kshirsagar and Nanda Ahir received consolation prizes. The prizes were sponsored by Inner Wheel Club.
The special attribute of the contest was the judging of food items by Jayanti Kathale and noted chef Rohini Deshkar.
Dr Anajali Parnandiwar conducted the proceedings of the event beautifully.
