Moti Mahal - Sunam

One of this intrepid breed to whom defeat was a dirty word was Kundan Lal Gujral .He was a Punjabi Pathaan from the North west frontier province . Though Kundan`s father Dewan Chand was a cloth merchant in Chawkal and owned a cloth shop in this district of Jhelum , young Kundan became a professional product of the capital city of Peshawar , where he got his first job. He was not even in his teens when he found himself in a position where he could exploit his resources .He began to work as a assistant in a n eatery in early 1900`s , owned by Sardar Mukha Singh , who took the youngster under his wings . Later , under Kundan`s culinary excellence the eatery graduated into a restaurant and Peshawar became culinary home to the first Motimahal. Within few months , Gujral`s energetic salesmanship helped the Motimahal break even .He soon carved out a personal niche for himself among the customers as he established a warm rapport with the local gentry .

Sardar Tirlochan Singh , A Sikh Pathan , also from Peshawar and now settled in Delhi recalls Kundan`s early foray into a culinary world from Peshawar days as a sturdy worker , Kundan exuded tremendous energy and enthusiasm in carrying out orders and reaching out to people . He was always on the move , establishing clientele and was immaculate in his Public relations.

This honed Gujral`s skills in what later he described as six P`s for success- product quality , price , promotion, place , personalized service and most important People (customers). Except for the place which he lost to the partition , Kundan came to Delhi armed with the other five guidelines and twelve thousand Rupees which all he could salvage from the tragedy that had robbed most people not only of their possession but their entire families

In 1947 , Thirty seven years old Kundan Lal Gujral with his wife Ram Prakash Devi , Mother Maya Devi and his young son Nand lal Gujral came to Delhi together as refugees , where Kundan changed the face of Indian Cooking. Catering was his first love and was to be his last and the most fruitful one . The trail which began in Peshawar`s Gora Bazaar ended in the Delhi’s then liveliest intersection between old and new Delhi – Daryaganj . There in 1947 , Kundan identified a small place on the road side which later was granted to him by way of rehabilitation conveyance deed by the president of India , where Motimahal was re-established in independent India .Twenty seven years later, having made a name for himself , he had landed in Delhi to start afresh .He had come armed with Oscar Wilde’s famous aphorism ‘ to declare nothing but my genius ‘.