Will Indians get a taste of Bundu Khan?

47-year-old restaurateur trying to get permission to take famous kebabs and biryanis to a Delhi fair.

NEW DEHLI: The India International Trade Fair attracts a large Pakistani delegation which usually sells textiles, crafts and food.

Bundu Khan had last participated in 2008 and had generated great business. Despite his efforts, Shahid Bundu Khan could not participate in the event last year.

This year, he has been shown the red light - so far. The organisers have told him no participants are being allowed to put up food stalls. “I don’t know what the issue is and why they are not allowing us to participate in the fair. We are in touch with the organisers as well as the Pakistan High Commission but nothing concrete has come out yet,” Khan said.

Khan is deeply puzzled over not being allowed to take part in the fair. “We are meeting all the guidelines of safety, hygiene and everything else but they are still prohibiting us from coming to Delhi. Last time I had deployed five men just to gather the used paper plates and napkins and throw them in the dust bin,” he said.

In 2009, he had to make similar requests to Indian trade officials for permission. “A day before the trade fair began, I got a call from them permitting me to set up a stall. It was impossible for me to get a visa in 24 hours. So I couldn’t participate,” he told IANS.

Bundu Khan is one of Pakistan’s famed restaurant chains, started by Shahid’s great-grandfather from a small kiosk in Karachi after Partition.

With around 15 branches in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan, Bundu Khan also has a presence in Australia as well as in Houston, New York, London, Los Angeles and Muscat.

“We have a huge family comprising of a 110 members and we all live in one house,” he said. “Many people in our family are doctors and engineers but every evening we get together and cook in our restaurant for our customers.”

Reminiscing about his 2008 visit to India, Khan said his “best selling item” at the fair was a thali consisting of tikkas, halwas and parathas, which cost INR120. “We used to earn INR40,000 to INR50,000 daily,” he said. The Pakistani restaurateur said he was touched by the adulation he received from Indians on his previous visit and wants to return again.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2010.