Gurbhagwant Singh Sandhanwalia
Director
Shalimar – The Indian Restaurant | Hannover (GERMANY)
Ancestry
Sandhanwala, Gujrat (undivided British India)
Birthplace
Raja Sansi, Amritsar, Punjab (India)
Residence
Hannover (GERMANY)
Reflection of India
From dishwashing to today running one of the best restaurants in the country to promote India miles away, he has made himself so. Planning to join the security forces, was it luck that brought him here or was it hard work?
The British ruled India for 190 years, but Punjab was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to come under British control. The credit for this goes to the first Emperor of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. I am proud that our blood is the same.
The Maharaja’s great-grandfather, Budha Singh, had a brother, Chanda Singh. History states that we are his descendants. And though it is sad to mention that the Maharaja’s lineage has come to an end, the Sandhanwalias are continuing as torch-bearers of the family.
My principal and I studied together
The last child and the only son after four daughters, I was born on 2 May 1957. My father, Sardar Vasudev Singh, was a graduate from Khalsa College, Amritsar, but decided to take up farming and my mother, Sardarni Satwant Kaur, was a homemaker, but more strict than my father. I remember Mom never allowed anyone to enter our fields without permission.
Dad believed in selfless sewa and helped everyone in the village. Never in my life did he refuse to fulfil any of my wishes but was against my playing marbles. Whenever we kids saw him, we would throw our marbles in the well within the premises of our home and run away. At times, he would catch and scold us. I would take refuge with my grandparents, Sardar Jaan Dilawar, my dada ji1, and Sardarni Sukhjinder Kaur, my dadi2. Dada ji once told us that Dad worried marbles might lead us to gambling. However, Dad himself had loved flying kites when he was young, so I started flying kites with him.
I attended a government school in our town. When I was in grade 4, my eldest sister, Kuldeep, got married and moved to England. The other sisters were busy with Mom in nurturing and spoiling me. The youngest in the family, I was their special toy, whom they played with, scolded and taught me things. It was their love and sense of responsibility that I was always among the top students in Raja Sansi Higher Secondary School.
Time passed, and now I was in grade 10. Every child in India, I guess, grows up in pressure of board examinations – parents, the more so. Dad was no different. So when my school Principal, Master Bodh Singh ji, who was his close friend, advised him to send me to him for two months, my father agreed happily. It was a significant time in my life. I studied from 8 pm till 11 and woke up at 4 in the morning. As the Principal was doing a double Master of Arts in English, we both studied together. Our hard work paid off well—he earned his degree and I earned mine.
I joined Amritsar College to pursue Bachelor of Arts in 1975, where I started dreaming of joining the Army or Police to serve my country but Mom was against it. I then considered joining Dad in farming, but before that, I wanted to visit Kuldeep didi in England.
One trip changed my life
Visiting England and other neighbouring countries in 1978, I decided to stay in Europe. I wanted to do something of my own, which I thought couldn’t be in England and so I moved to Germany.
For the initial six weeks, I stayed with my jija ji’s3 friend and worked in a ship as a helper. But soon I was seasick and probably homesick too, so I decided to return to India. Only one thought that ‘I had left home to make something out of my life and returning like this was not good’ stopped me.
I looked for a new job; this time I found one as a dishwasher in a restaurant and since I needed it, I took it and began my journey in hospitality with Block House Restaurant, Hamburg. One day, my boss asked me to get some papers. The person from whom I had to collect the documents refused because I spoke English and not German. That day, I joined a language institute to learn German. Ever since, there have been no hurdles. Germany made me independent and responsible.
When I visited India in 1983, I was a changed man; I did all my chores myself. One day, Mom saw me washing my clothes and scolded me, saying that it was a woman’s work! “There, in Germany, you have to do everything yourself,” I said, yet she ignored me and took away all clothes I was washing.
Once back in Germany, I started working in foundry department of a steel factory. I gradually developed a love for sports. Cycling for around 80 km with two of my friends, gymming, Tennis and Karate held my interest. I even earned a Blackbelt.
In 1991, I started an Indian grocery store. The same year, one of my clients, who owned Shalimar Restaurant, told me that his business wasn’t doing well and he planned to sell it. He proposed to me to buy it. The offer was not bad so I sold my grocery business and acquired the restaurant.
Indian food and restaurants were gaining popularity in the western world back then but I wanted mine to be different. And as the magic of the taste is in the hands of the cook, I brought professional cooks from India. This seemed to work like magic and the restaurant gained instant popularity, so much that many celebrities, including the former Prime Minister of Germany, Gerhard Schröder, came visiting.
Late but just perfect
I was 36 now and my family started looking for a match. They met Parwinder, born in Batala, Gurdaspur, and a student of medicine. The two families liked each other and I too agreed to get married but on one condition: that it should be a simple wedding with only 10–20 guests. My family wasn’t happy with this idea and my uncle said, “Your Dad is so respected that everyone has always invited him and he went everywhere. Now, what do you expect – that people do not come to your wedding?” I was speechless and surrendered to their wish.
In the presence of hundreds of guests, Parwinder and I got married on 20 October 1993. It was late, but it was just perfect: I remember dancing a lot at my wedding.
Back in Germany, while I continued taking Shalimar to new heights, Parwinder worked as a dentist for two years until our son, Karan, was born in 1998. She stopped practising medicine to raise him. His birth filled me up with enthusiasm and after much planning I started a restaurant in the name of Krishana in Hamburg and Joys Pizza in Celle. It kept me very busy, yet I tried my best to spend time with my family. I was glad when Karan too started following sports; he especially loved football during his schooldays.
In 2000, I participated in Expo 2000, Hannover. The organising manager of the exhibition, an Indian, once asked me how many times I talked to my parents. Once a week, I said. “Whatever you become in your life are the blessings of your parents,” he said, “so you must talk to them every day.” Ever since, I have followed that advice.
With the passage of time my parents succumbed to life; Dad in 2012 and Mom in 2013, I sold most of my business in 2012 and went to India to spend most part of these two years with them. My father, in fact, breathed his last in my arms. His last words were: You are the youngest in the family, yet you have to take responsibility of your mother and sisters. I am following his wish to date.
Following Dad, I have tried my best to serve humanity at large. I am a member of a Hamburg Gurudwara and a member of Indian Association in Hannover (IASH), where we help new students coming from India. Talking about my India, I firmly believe corruption must end. The day corruption will end, India will become an unchallengeable power; it has everything to be a global leader. Then every child, like my son, can pursue his dream.
Karan is doing Mechanical Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Until he was in school, we took him to Punjab every year. He speaks Punjabi, knows Sikh religion and also has been to the Golden Temple a lot of times. I tell him that he has to buy his first car himself. As he will be an engineer soon, we hope he builds a car himself. What more, after all, parents seek but happiness for their children.
Philosophy
Be simple and give your hand to anyone in need.
I love…
Yellow tarkari dal and tandoor roti. This is something I can eat every day. And I can listen to Gurdas Maan’s songs all day. Ki banu duniya da by him and Diljit Dosanjh is my favourite Punjabi song.
Success
Family defines success. If you have money without family, you are not successful in life.
I’d suggest the youth…
To look after their parents. Whatever they achieve in life is a result of their blessings so never hurt them.
The world doesn’t know that…
There is a small tea shop in Amritsar, Gyanni Chai Wala. Whenever I visit India, I always go there. Even celebrities and Mr Badal visits there.
AKA
Director, Shalimar – The Indian Restaurant | Shalimar Indian Restaurant Hannover director
Gallery
ISBN : 9788193397695