This story is a part of a brand new sequence of options with regards to success, Benzinga Encourage.

When Vikas Khanna emigrated from India to America on Dec. 2, 2000, he discovered work straight away cooking breakfast at a Manhattan deli in Tribeca.

However the stint turned out to be temporary — very temporary. By Christmas Eve, the deli had shut down. And never solely was Khanna unemployed, his residing lodging fell by way of as effectively. Ravenous and freezing, he noticed a line of individuals ready exterior the New York Metropolis Rescue Mission (now known as The Bowery Mission) for a meal.

A girl Khanna did not know draped him with a blanket and served him a meal on the group kitchen. A mattress was organized, and he stayed there for roughly 10 weeks, serving to out and cooking meals.

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New York, Khanna says, has a method of letting you understand that as robust as it may be that you’re welcome there as long as you do not cease hustling.

Certainly, Khanna hustled, working varied jobs over the course of a decade attempting to make ends meet.

Between the tragic occasions of Sept. 11, 2001, and the financial disaster in 2008, discovering regular work was particularly tough. However in 2009, an opportunity encounter with the Dalai Lama on the Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Higher West Facet modified every part.

Assembly His Holiness

“My expensive buddy, Tashi Chodron, who used to work with me at [the] Rubin Museum invited me,” Khanna remembers. “His Holiness gave me a white Khata (silk scarf) [and] later his group invited me to the Waldorf Astoria the place I spoke to His Holiness about shedding every part.”

From the Dalai Lama’s perspective, shedding every part meant Khanna was free to do something.

“I began touring within the Himalayas from Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and North India,” Khanna says. He started documenting his journey for what would finally transform a James Beard-nominated cookbook, “Return to the Rivers,” through which the Dalai Lama penned the ahead.

Khanna’s travels led him to Paris, the place he attended culinary faculty. Whereas there, he stored listening to that Indian cooking wasn’t related or vital — even from certainly one of his former restaurant colleagues.

Nevertheless it was vital, and there was no method Khanna would let the naysayers be confirmed proper.

“I booked my ticket again to New York,” Khanna tells Benzinga. A promise to his grandmother could be fulfilled: “I’ll combat for this. I’m skilled. I’ve expertise. I’ve devoted and submitted myself to this mission.”

Return To NYC

Khanna opened his personal Indian restaurant, Junoon, in Manhattan’s Flatiron District in 2010. By Oct. 4, 2011, he acquired a name that it had gained a Michelin star.

“Profitable a Michelin star is the very best honor for any chef,” he says. “Being one of many first is an accomplishment for my steady perception in Indian delicacies on a worldwide platform. For me, it was extra vital to have stored my promise to my grandma.”

What’s Subsequent? At this time, Khanna has a restaurant in Dubai and is presently planning to open a brand new restaurant in New York Metropolis known as MOR.

“I’m attempting to open it by Diwali 2023,” he says.

Khanna additionally partnered with VAHDAM India on its new spices vertical, which goals to assist farmers prosper and assist youngsters’s training in India.

To be taught extra about Khanna, head over to his Instagram, which boasts greater than 3.5 million followers. You may also catch Khanna on previous episodes of Gordon Ramsay‘s “MasterChef” and “Kitchen Nightmares” on Fox FOX. He has additionally directed documentaries and authored some 40 books.

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Picture courtesy of VAHDAM