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 No, the gentleman in the picture is not a software programmer but a
caterer. It all started as a hobby and soon became a full-fledged profession, Sai Marriage
Services. In 1989, Ragavan thoroughly examined the catering scene, especially marriage
catering and found out that this industry was very disorganised and it resulted in a large
percentage of wastage. So he started systematically organising the entire procedure,
accurately measuring the quantities to be served per person. He specialises in Vaishnava
weddings and has catered to people with varied budgets. He does not offer catering
packages as such, but plans methodically with the family and works out every detail
according to the monetary constraints. He says that the couple, that is the bride and
bridegroom, has to just come to the mandapam and all the other arrangements, from the
flower decoration to the sweetmeats which are to be given to the guests, will be taken
care of by his people.
 To increase the efficiency of the whole procedure, for better time management and
to cut down the tension, he has gone ahead and computerised the whole system. Using Visual
Fox Pro, he has created an extensive database which contains basic lists of Kitchen order
tickets, menus, ingredients and specific quantity needed for a particular number of
guests, etc. The whole program opens with slots where the name of the bride and bridegroom
should be entered and the expected number of guests. According to the estimated number of
guests the measurements adjust accordingly. The whole system took around six months to be
uploaded and Ragavan has used it for 15 marriages so far. All he has to do is to get
printouts of the instruction lists, KOTs, raw materials list and begin working without any
confusion, for human error will be minimised greatly.
He says that his workers have welcomed the whole procedure
because it clearly delineates the amount of work each person has to complete. As for the
future, Ragavan plans to patent this program after minimising the margin for error to
zero. So this unique blend of ancient art, adopting modern technique, will soon become the
mantra for success!
Malini. S
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