The mother is a child’s first experience of the world. A mother shapes the life of a child. and even once we have flown the nest, the influence of the mother continues unabated. Foodpreneur Gaurav Gite, the founder of the multi-city Lebanese/Indian chain Marrakesh, pays an ode to mothers through a heart-warming book, ‘Mom-made with Love: Recipes on Life. Business. Enterprise’. The book has been co-authored by journalist and writer Kalyani Sardesai who has served as the narrative partner.
Dipping into the eternal wisdom of mothers, this management cum motivational book is dedicated to the lessons we learn from our first friend and foremost guru- our mother. Bookedforlife in conversation with the author…
Your book dips into the wisdom of mothers, and through this format of memoir as well as abstracting life lessons, you’ve created a narrative that is easy for readers to connect with. What led you to think of this particular format?
The narrative for the readers and the format is easy to connect, understand and relate because of the core of the subject being mothers. The most simplistic, unconditional form of love, support, blessings and advice is from the mother. I come from a background where my mom was a working lady, and not a businesswoman or entrepreneur. Her lessons, advice was simple but taken and forgotten with “later mumma” or a goodbye kiss saying we will talk about it tomorrow. As and how ambition grew, the tomorrows started increasing…But then a stage comes when you understand that you have created more chaos than calm. You start looking out for the best advisors, gurus, mentors, life coaches, spiritualists, and tons of people to show you the path and guide you. But sooner or later, you understand that the simple lessons, advice that came free and unconditionally without any motives, selfish purpose or greed were that from your own mother.
Each chapter is one specific philosophy or lesson or idea that has been inspired by your mother. And then, you also substantiate the same with an example from the industry. I am interested in knowing about that internal process of abstraction… how did you put into concrete form of words all that you had imbibed from your mother over the years?
I believe philosophy or lessons are picked up from life itself. The reality of everyday, the hours you spend between a morning and night, the work you do, the people you meet over the years. You change every passing month, every year to become a new you. Mothers are the creators of this value system. The food we consume, the language we speak, the culture embedded, the way we smile, the reason we cry, the people we care for, the individuals we love… all of these translate into a personality that reflects in our work, business, skill set, professional careers, ambitions.
All these are imbibed in different forms over the years growing up. Knowingly and unknowingly, these are the same qualities you need to build within an organization- a simple, healthy and loving ecosystem which yield results. The right balance of every ingredient, the right choice of value systems and the discipline to maintain stability, consistency and character. Aren’t these qualities the ones which founders are made up of? Aren’t these the ones CEOs preach? Aren’t these the ones a private equity looks for in an organization. So aren’t these as simple as the ones we learn alongside our mothers?
You have also interviewed other successful professionals on their own relationship with their mothers and the learnings from them. What was most enlightening about this process?
Successful professionals have one thing in common that it took a lot of hard work to be where they are today. The journey saw a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows and hours of sleepless nights, efforts to create, to build, to manage and to stay put at the top. In all this their mothers, their family stood tall in every phase of their lives. Mothers played a very important role in each one’s success – some kept them grounded and rooted to tradition, some encouraged them to have courage to fight the odds, some mothers and their love helped to overcome every challenge and test, some gave advice that changed their lives.
The most enlightening aspect of this process was while interviewing these successful people and having met some of their mothers – the aspect of ambition, money, growth and timely achievements were far less than the pride, the memories, the love for their mothers that came about from their inspirational stories. The warmth of the conversations, the timid tone of their voice mixed with deep choked emotions and teary eyes got us some beautiful memories while interviewing individuals who spoke from their heart and not their minds.
What would your advice for readers approaching this book would be? What is the one takeaway you want to inspire?
We often take the strongest force described in the universe – being the “Maa”, the Shakti as a very granted and unappreciated form of energy.
Most successful entrepreneurs and businessmen are often created out of a working mother’s household or a home maker’s household. The mothers from every walk of life, every segment of the society will always impart true, unbiased, unconditional lessons to mold the most beautiful chapter of her life- her son or daughter.
So, close your eyes with peace and think about them. Think about the goodness, the love and the upbringing she has given you. It’s never too late to go home, give your mom a hug and say that you love her. The biggest problems of life are solved by sitting at your mom’s feet and opening your heart to her.
