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'Anything
is possible' is the personal mantra by which Europe's Curry King
Charan Gill MBE has lived all his life and the publication of his
autobiography, 'Tikka Look at me Now', provides the latest proof of
the truth of that belief.
Born in a
small village in the Punjab and arriving in Glasgow at the age of
nine without being able to speak a word of English, Charan proceeded
to make his fortune building Harlequin Restaurants, Europe's biggest
curry empire. But Charan's biggest challenge yet came last year when,
late one night, he boasted to a friend in a bar that he was going to
write his own autobiography.
His friend,
who knew that Charan had left school at the age of fifteen without
any qualifications and a limited vocabulary, immediately challenged
him to a £5 bet that he would not complete his book within the
year. Today, only ten months later, sees the publication of 'Tikka
Look at me Now' from Black & White Publishing.
'I immediately
regretted making that hasty boast,' admitted Charan. 'The morning
after the night before is when most of us forget the drunken bar bets
and move on to more pressing matters - but that's the difference
between boasters and achievers. So, with the chance of winning a
£5 bet giving me all the motivation I needed, I immediately
dusted down my old laptop and sat down to write my autobiography,
using my usual two finger typing technique!'
Several months
later, Charan had completed the book which not only provides an
inspiring tale for budding entrepreneurs, but also gives a funny and
fascinating insight into the life of a man who is living proof that
we really can do anything&ldots;we just have to believe that we can.
Although
Charan makes reference to the bet in his book, he deliberately kept
the identity of his betting partner as a closely guarded secret until
publication day. Now he can reveal the identity of his betting
partner as bra tycoon Michelle Mone, pictured above with Charan at
the launch of the book.
Michelle said,
'I never doubted Charan's ability to write a book, but, because he is
so busy with various business interests, I did doubt that he would be
able to find the time to finish it on time But I'm more than happy to
present him with a £5 note as proof of his mantra that 'anything
is possible'.'
But though the
prospect of winning a £5 bet gave Charan all the motivation he
needed to put pen to paper, his autobiography is not a money-making
exercise. Instead, Charan has pledged to donate all his proceeds from
the publication of Tikka Look at me Now to the Harlequin Charitable
Trust which will subsequently distribute monies amongst a number of
worthy causes.
To launch his
autobiography, Charan wore a shehrvani - an Indian/Scottish tartan
dress which he designed himself. The only garment of its kind in the
world, Charan announced plans for the launch of a unique range of
tartan shehrvani which he plans to export to India.
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