NAGALAND: A lemjungla Jamir had quit a cushy job abroad to help train future hospitality industry professionals back home in Nagaland but promoting local cuisine had always been at the back of her mind.
After working in some of the well-known hotels in India and a cruise ship abroad and teaching hotel management at a university in Nagaland between 2003 and 2019, she had ventured into the food business. Today, she is the proud owner of her dream restaurant Naga Bowl Express which she set up three years ago at Dimapur, the face of the state.
The Nagas are widely known for their hospitality and she is among a handful of Naga women entrepreneurs who have made it big. It is even more heartening that she employed mostly school dropouts who come from “less-privileged” families.
Jamir worked at Oberoi Trident in Gurgaon and Grand Maratha Sheraton in Mumbai for three years until leaving for the oceans abroad in 2006. She was employed with MSC Cruises, Italy from 2006-08 during which she worked in the several Mediterranean and Nordic countries. She says she could have continued working abroad and also had several job offers within and outside India but she decided to return home to teach hotel management.
“I was holidaying at home in 2008 and getting ready to return to Italy when I got an offer to teach at the Global Open University which was being established at Dimapur. I saw an opportunity to be a part of it which would train future hospitality industry professionals. So, I took up the job,” Jamir tells this newspaper.
She says during that time, she also got involved in several tourism initiatives dealing with the promotion of Naga cuisine, including the Naga Chef Competition, held annually during the Hornbill Festival.
“I got first-hand and in-depth experience of the diversity and richness of our Naga cuisine. This spurred my interest into a passion, and I learnt as much as possible about the various ingredients and culinary practices of the various Naga tribes. I wanted to open a restaurant where people could savour all the Naga dishes,” Jamir says. The pandemic took a toll on her business but she slowly managed to build a reputation. Naga Bowl Express is well-established today.
“Being a relatively new entrant in the restaurant scene here and having weathered the initial challenges of Covid-19, I would say we are doing pretty well. We have been able to garner a loyal customer base which includes both locals and tourists. Also, I have been able to introduce new ideas that have been well-received. Earning money is important to be able to sustain the business, but I am able to do something that I believe in and love and that is the ultimate satisfaction,” Jamir says.
Setting up an outlet outside Nagaland to be able to introduce a larger section of non-Nagas to Naga cuisine was in her scheme of things but she prioritised Nagaland to let people experience authentic Naga cuisine in a modern setting. She says Naga Bowl Express is unique in the sense that it offers some of the popular dishes of the Naga tribes under one roof. Jamir grew up in Mopungchuket village in the Mokokchung district. She says she hired the school dropouts from villages with no experience as she knows the struggles the youth have to go through to get a decent job.