Neelu's Kitchen

So, this happened in December 2025

We started Neelu's Kitchen

Context

My mom's name is Neelam. And she has given 25 years of sweat, blood and tears for our family.

To handle Aakash and me, not just from the time we were infants, but throughout our school, college, studies, projects, sports, investments, morals and ethics.

And to handle all of this with Dad, and honestly he is a difficult person to deal with.

I think often about - How damn difficult it is to be a mother - a homemaker.

To put it in a Corporate perspective - With no holidays, no pay, no promotions, no sick days, crazy work hours with little appreciation. Just working.

She has made the three men in her house reach where they are today.

About

My mother is from Ajmer.

She has studied B.A. in Economics, Political Science and History. Followed by M.A. in Economics.

She was a teacher before she got married. She was pursuing a Computer Course simultaneously for a job (a better paid one).

So her schedule as a young adult was the computer course for 4 hours in the morning, followed by 6 hours as a teacher and later in the evening tutor the kids who stayed downstairs.

Soon after the course concluded, she was encouraged to go beyond the basics and pursue an advanced computer course.

She recalls mentioning C++ as part of this course she later enrolled in.

In the same year in the later half, she was engaged to Dad, and eventually married the next year.

The computer course was supposed to be continued, but casually and conveniently, promises weren't kept. I will avoid the hurtful details for this blog.

But long story short - I always sense a despair in her voice and disappointment on her face, when she narrates the story without diving much into the depths and complications of the ecosystem.

Once she said, she wished she had someone like herself for her. Then the story might have ended differently.

I couldn't look her in the eye.

It is one of these days when I feel helpless. When I fail to realize about her, when I realize I don't think often about how her day is probably going when I am stuck between my artificial problems and fake sense of urgencies at work.

Because after giving 25 years to us, I think and I struggle to find something for her to be kept occupied in the long run.

It is also one of these days when I borderline realize - when a child becomes a parent, and the parent becomes the child.

We discuss often about things she would want to do.

Yoga Course Dance Classes English/Personality Development Learning how to drive Gardening Cloud Kitchen/Tiffin Service/PG students

But all of them were thought, never planned or executed.

"Some day" ideas. The some day, that never really comes.

While all options were wonderful, my mom was naturally inclined towards cooking food and hoping to start a kitchen of her own.

So, how did it all begin?

Aakash. My brother.

He visited India in December 2025.

We had a packed trip planned to meet our entire family - Indore, Bhilwara, Ajmer, Amritsar, and then back to Bombay.

But before this big trip, we went on a one night trip to Lonavala.

That evening, Aakash made Mom and I sit in a room and discuss what to do next.

He asked some hard questions. Some specific questions. Some probing questions.

Questions that needed to be answered to move forward from "some day" idea into a possibility.

Mental Preparation

After we were mentally prepared that this needs to executed - If not now, then when?

We jotted down the things that we need to think about.

Name of the Venture? Menu? Costs? Target Audience? Marketing Posters? Packaging? Delivery?

It was a big equation theoretically with variables inter-dependent.

An equation - a real life problem.

We decided to write all options on the little notepads of Fariyas Resort of Lonavala.

Aakash Gemini'ed the fuck out of this equation. To probe the LLM to make us think about aspects about equations we might miss.

Name of this experiment

We definitely wanted her name.

Flavour's by Neelam was a pleasant option.

However Nani used to call mom Neelu and thinking about that — "Neelu's Kitchen"

Target Audience

1. Outstation PG Students, College Kids. Since the location of National College and the colleges surrounding it.

2. Professionals/Bachelors who miss home cooked meals.

Menu

After noting down a big list, we decided two aspects to begin with:

• Sindhi Special Menu
  • Dal Pakwan, Sindhi Kadhi, Saibhaji Pulao
• Veg Thali
  • Dal, Rice, Chapatis, Vegetable, Salad

Costs

This was a separate equation along the big picture. Probably a crucial one too.

We figured out raw material costs along with operation expenses like gas, utilties and balancing the market rate and making it nominal for the target audience.

We agreed to a few ballpark numbers and moved forward to the discussing about:

• Packaging/Wholesalers
• Printing Pamphlets - Brute force traditional marketing
• Modern Marketing
  • Facebook Groups
  • WhatsApp Groups
  • Reels?

After a heavy, fruitful discussion - we had constraints broadly figured out and importantly - written on paper.

The day it started

Aakash is a great taskmaster. He would plan till perfection, jotting down possibilities and options. Finalizing till end to end everything is on paper. Writing timelines and milestones. And then start.

I like to get my hands in the mud as soon as possible and work in iterations.

After we returned from the trip, I sat one night and made two simple posters:

• Sindhi Specials
• Veg Thali

It felt like a decent first version, and instead of seeking feedback - I ended up posting it for my contacts, seeking instant gratification I guess.

After a few minutes, a few of our relatives and friends started texting us. Some called.

Mom and Aakash didn't know what happened, and once I told them what I did - They started panicking.

I mean come on - Aakash had planned Jan 2026 as a "milestone" to get this officially started. How could I do that and have such an underwhelming start? How could I do that when many parts of the equation still needed to be figured out?

There was no packaging materials, no containers, no stickers, no raw materials also to begin with!

Okay fine, point taken. Valid breakout.

But hear me out - why this was a game changer in retrospect?

This one action led to our brains racing at a speed, never felt before.

Each one of us started to think about execution, improvements and feasibility.

We could fast forward to move from thinking theortically and think more on ground:

• Oh the poster needs to be mobile dimension, and maybe it can have a QR code too
• Oh we need to finalize the cost of the dishes in case someone asks
• Do we have a marketing message for that to be forwarded on WhatsApp
• Functional items like Packaging and Delivery
• We could have Pamphlets designed and printed so we can distribute in our society during Christmas/New Year Get Togethers

They were panicking and I said we can put it out now and eventually it will take a few days for people to order - like what's the possibility that they are going to be flooded the next day right?

So I encouraged and manipulated them to post those posters too. Because big deal, right?

The next day I went to office. But turns out we got our first order! And a BIG ONE.

Aakash and Mom had to figure out all parts of the equation in less than a day.

Holy shit! They figured the packaging material, the types of packings required for different items, the vendor, the best price, thee bargain, the raw material, and so on and so forth.

Mom had to make three different dishes in bulk at once. On Day ONE.

Extremely grateful for Neha Pandya aunty for our first order. Mom hand delivered it to them.

And it was so beautifully and neatly packed.

Realisation

This one iteration. The first version that went live. The imperfect production go-live.

This was enough to get us moving at a pace and figure things as they come.

From here onwards, working iteratively upwards and onwards . Pretty solid approach when starting out.

I am so goddamn proud of Mom and Aakash. They figured the logistics, Mom cooked so much, and delivered to them. And I got to know ALL of this after I came back from work.

Really happy and proud.

This was the start which turned the idea to a possibility and eventually a reality.

Slight Detour

This was the day I got my year end ratings at work, and wasn't too happy about them honestly. Spent the day being consumed by it.

Once I came back from office and heard all of this, I forgot about the ratings.

Surprisingly it did not even matter, in comparison to this.

Nothing mattered in front of this. Nothing mattered in front of her.

More learnings to come in the next one.

Fin

Super grateful to Aakash for just making us sit and brainstorm and putting this possibility into a reality.

For making us believe - It actually is possible. By writing down all there is to think about.

It is an important reflection indeed —

In the modern world, it is easy to feel like a passenger: reacting to notifications, responding to demands, consuming whatever you happen to drive past on your screen.

But joy is found in being the driver. It's the act of looking at the raw material of your circumstances — your time, your energy, your relationships, your skills — and seeing what you can make from it.

It is the act of creating the life you want (in big and small ways) that makes you feel alive and imbues life with extra meaning. The fact that you can hold a vision in your mind and then, however imperfectly, bend reality a few degrees in that direction.

James Clear