The quintessential hospitality man

Friends of Farhat Jamal who thought theyrsquod lost him to Delhi and the ShangriLa will be happy to hear that not only is the dapper hotelier returning to Mumbai but is returning to the Taj Group as senior vicepresident operations responsible for Western India and AfricaJamal has much experience under his belt having served as vicepresident and GM of the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai GM of Taj Lands End Mumbai and deputy general manager of St Jamesrsquo Court But in our opinion it is a much humbler position where he first displayed his emotional intelligence and people skills that carried him to his present positionFarhat JamalAlmost three decades ago we had been sent by our friend Camellia Panjabi at that time VP marketing at the Taj and also editor of its magazine on a journalistic assignment to Delhi We were as it happened at that time very young and not a little unsure of the things that we now take in our stride staying alone at a lsquobigrsquo hotel calling up people we hardly knew for interviews lunching and dining alone at the restaurants we were supposed to write about etcAnd so as it happened we found ourselves shyly lunching alone at the Italian eatery at the Taj Mansingh one afternoon It was a buffet the restaurant was sparsely populated and we were feeling quite miserable when the softspoken restaurant manager perhaps sensing our awkwardness went out of his way to be kind and gracious and make us feel at homeHe had no way of knowing who we were or that we had been sent to write about the restaurant or its activities neither did the subject come up it was only that in the finest tradition of the Taj he was making sure that a guest any guest left feeling a little better about themselves and the world That restaurant manager happened to be Farhat Jamal starting out on his career We laugh together over the memory nowBut that he went on to such heights in his career doesnrsquot surprise us Welcome home Farhat and may you have the opportunity to make many more guests at your hotels feel as welcome and cared for as you had once made an unsure and awkward writer all those years agoSmart moveThe effervescent Sanjna Kapoor who has quietly dedicated her life to the cause of good theatre called to invite us next week to celebrate the successful conclusion of the first year of SMART ldquoItrsquos Indiarsquos first programme to impart knowledge skills and expertise about arts management within the theatre community itselfrdquo she saidSanjna Kapoor with the SMART core teamldquoThe program is specially conceived designed and developed by experts from the field who tailor it to the context and constraints of the arts in India and address the dire need for effective arts management in our countryrdquo she said adding ldquoWe initiated SMART in January 2015 and have spent a remarkable year filled with rich experiences deep learning and tremendous joySo we would be delighted if you joined us to recognise and celebrate our very first batch of 17 SMART graduatesrdquo As for the clever acronym lsquoSMARTrsquo Kapoor said it stood for lsquoStrategic Management in the Art of Theatrersquo Thatrsquos pretty smart tooTwo hospitality doyensItrsquos yet another feather in Biki Oberoirsquos cap Recently Oberoi hotels was voted the worldrsquos 1 hotel brand and its Udaivilas in Rajasthan the top hotel in the world by readers of the prestigious Travel and Leisure magazine considered the Holy Grail of international hospitality and travelBiki Oberoi and Pallavi ShahAnd to receive the honours at an elegant soiree in New York last week was the great man himself Seen here with our friend another hospitality and travel doyenne Pallavi Shah the Mumbai girl who decades ago had moved to the Big Apple married a Nepali prince worked for Air India and now runs a highend travel company the two make a pretty picture indeed at the eventldquoWe go back at least 50 years and I have been a staunch fan of the Oberoi Vilas hotels since Biki Oberoirsquos vision launched themrdquo posted Shah along with this photograph NiceArsenic and mint teaMore from the corridors of Mumbairsquos snootiest club Mint tea with its resident grande dame was a riveting affair ldquoIt is apparent to regular members that three idle old men including one who rents his house by the hour along with a trio of women including a former airhostess married to a musician member and an elderly Cordon Bleu lady member along with a pharma honcho are doing all they can to indulge in filthy vengeful and fabricated character assassinationrdquo she wailed Such a palaver Could elections to various committees be around the corner we wonderFloyd comes to townFloyd Cardoz the celebrated IndianAmerican chef will be in Mumbai next week and will be found in the kitchen at Lower Parelrsquos Bombay Canteen no doubt cooking up a stormChef Floyd Cardoz PicGetty ImagesCardoz who previously worked for celebrity restaurateur Danny Meyerrsquos Union Square Hospitality Group for 17 years and saw much success in his career overseas having opened the now defunct contemporary Indian restaurant lsquoTablarsquo and then going on to helm the kitchen at the highly rated North End Grill in New York left his day job last year for new culinary adventures around the worldOne of them being the successful Bombay Canteen in Mumbai which he along with his partner and onetime apprentice Sameer Seth started a few months ago And though Cardoz who is known to be brimming with new ideas and without hesitation in implementing them is sure to bring some changes in the menu we just hope the Eggs Kejriwal stay