Young Bangladeshis of Montreal are on the move
Friday, 24 July 2009
Gopal Sengupta
THE plan to build a 42-storey skyscraper with 800 units of hotel rooms and condominiums at the heart of downtown Montreal has made big news in the greater Montreal area. In the second week of June, 2009 the Canadian National Television CBC broadcast the owner-developer Mr. Ali Khan's interview along with pictures of his planned tower. The elite French daily newspaper La Presse published a report on the project on May 12, 2009. This report said that the owner is going to make Montreal a Dubai, which has many tall skyscrapers.
Montreal has only a few tall buildings where the new project will make the number of those tall-buildings greater. On June 19, the only English daily newspaper of Montreal, The Gazette featured a large article on the project with an impressive photograph of the design of the building. As a consequence, the municipality of Montreal distributed leaflets on the project in the Montreal homes and invited the citizens of the city to express their views in two hearings, held in the month of June.
There are many reasons for which this project attracted public attention. As we are going through a period of recession, this grand project costing between 80 and 1000 million dollars will create employment opportunities for a large number of people, generate a large amount of tax for the city, result in the construction of a number of residential units for the low-income people elsewhere in the city (one of the conditions of getting the city permit) at a cost of $700,000, promote tourism, and change the face of the city of Montreal.
The owner-developer of this magnificent project, Mr. Ali Khan, from Barguna, Bangladesh, came to Montreal in 1982. His father Mr. Abdul Wahed Khan, a prosperous businessman of Barguna, wanted him to get an education in Canada. Mr. Ali Khan enrolled himself in the Science programs at Concordia University and worked part-time in restaurants. With his business background Mr. Ali Khan, while working in restaurants, kept a sharp eye on how restaurant businesses are run. Once he accumulated some capital and acquired sufficient knowledge of the business, he bought a tiny restaurant in a posh shopping center of Montreal in 1990. That business struck gold and soon after acquiring enough capital and experience to start working for his dream -- own and operate the largest and best Indian buffet restaurant of North America as the first step to the realisation of his dream -- he rented and renovated a place in the heart of the city and made it into a 150-seat buffet restaurant. His idea was to serve a large variety of best Indian foods at a reasonable price. This business prospered tremendously. Then in 1994, he bought three beautiful stone-faced Victorian buildings in a row in downtown Montreal, carried out magnificent renovations, and fully realised his dream by establishing a restaurant called the Buffet Maharaja.
The physical features of the Buffet are extraordinary. Sometimes people come just to see its architectural design, beautiful renovations and superb decoration. At present, 500 people can sit comfortably to eat at the same time, yet sometimes dozens of people have to wait in queues on the sidewalk in front of the building to enter the restaurant for dinner. Sometimes, people drive more than 100 miles to eat dinner at this restaurant.
The Buffet Maharaja is not only a very successful business but it also has now become an important institution of Montreal. I have met a few people of the greater Montreal area who did not know about Buffet Maharaja.
Since Mr. Ali Khan's new concept of large buffet of Indian foods worked very well, many people of the Indian subcontinent followed his example and established Indian buffet restaurants in Canada. Buffet Maharaja has also made Indian foods popular among the mainstream Canadian population in Montreal and its surrounding cities.
Mr. Ali Khan now owns the entire block of stone-faced Victorian buildings. In the same block he also built a residential hotel and named it Hotel A2K after his children's initials: one A stands for his eldest son, second A for his daughter, and K for his second son. Many visitors from Bangladesh stay in this hotel during their visit to Montreal.
The restaurant and the hotel have created jobs for many people. Most of the people who work at these jobs are from Bangladesh. Special mention should be made of the chief chef Mr. Nurul Haque from Comilla who has been behind the success of Mr. Ali Khan's restaurant businesses for the last 19 years.
Mr. Ali Khan has recently bought a large parking lot behind the restaurant-hotel block. The skyscraper will be built on this parking lot. Large companies representing many people own the other skyscrapers of Montreal; but only one individual-Mr. Ali Khan from Bangladesh, now will build the one we are discussing.
Mr. Ali Khan also developed a condominium project at a short distance from the restaurant. He recently acquired a mountain in the Laurentian Mountain Range, 30 miles North of Montreal, where he will build a summer home and a small lake for fish culturing and boating.
Mr. Ali Khan's wife Shirin Rabb, whose parents originally came from Barisal, has been actively assisting him in all his business ventures.
Mr. Ali Khan's extraordinary achievements in Montreal have made Bangladesh and Bangladeshis proud. Mr. Ali Khan when asked about the secret of his achievements, said, "A vision, determination, and hard work." I should add another ingredient of his success: the adoption of the important values of the mainstream Canadian society: he speaks both English and French fluently, knows Canadian laws, and has learned Canadian manners, customs and etiquettes. He knows how to communicate with the people of all walks of life, especially Government officials and business people of Canada, with whom he has to deal.
Many young Bangladeshis of Canada, being inspired by his extraordinary achievements, are now establishing their own businesses, and some of them have prospered tremendously. Mr. Ali Khan also does charitable work to help the poor people of Bangladesh where he came from.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail: _gopalsengupta@aol.com_
THE plan to build a 42-storey skyscraper with 800 units of hotel rooms and condominiums at the heart of downtown Montreal has made big news in the greater Montreal area. In the second week of June, 2009 the Canadian National Television CBC broadcast the owner-developer Mr. Ali Khan's interview along with pictures of his planned tower. The elite French daily newspaper La Presse published a report on the project on May 12, 2009. This report said that the owner is going to make Montreal a Dubai, which has many tall skyscrapers.
Montreal has only a few tall buildings where the new project will make the number of those tall-buildings greater. On June 19, the only English daily newspaper of Montreal, The Gazette featured a large article on the project with an impressive photograph of the design of the building. As a consequence, the municipality of Montreal distributed leaflets on the project in the Montreal homes and invited the citizens of the city to express their views in two hearings, held in the month of June.
There are many reasons for which this project attracted public attention. As we are going through a period of recession, this grand project costing between 80 and 1000 million dollars will create employment opportunities for a large number of people, generate a large amount of tax for the city, result in the construction of a number of residential units for the low-income people elsewhere in the city (one of the conditions of getting the city permit) at a cost of $700,000, promote tourism, and change the face of the city of Montreal.
The owner-developer of this magnificent project, Mr. Ali Khan, from Barguna, Bangladesh, came to Montreal in 1982. His father Mr. Abdul Wahed Khan, a prosperous businessman of Barguna, wanted him to get an education in Canada. Mr. Ali Khan enrolled himself in the Science programs at Concordia University and worked part-time in restaurants. With his business background Mr. Ali Khan, while working in restaurants, kept a sharp eye on how restaurant businesses are run. Once he accumulated some capital and acquired sufficient knowledge of the business, he bought a tiny restaurant in a posh shopping center of Montreal in 1990. That business struck gold and soon after acquiring enough capital and experience to start working for his dream -- own and operate the largest and best Indian buffet restaurant of North America as the first step to the realisation of his dream -- he rented and renovated a place in the heart of the city and made it into a 150-seat buffet restaurant. His idea was to serve a large variety of best Indian foods at a reasonable price. This business prospered tremendously. Then in 1994, he bought three beautiful stone-faced Victorian buildings in a row in downtown Montreal, carried out magnificent renovations, and fully realised his dream by establishing a restaurant called the Buffet Maharaja.
The physical features of the Buffet are extraordinary. Sometimes people come just to see its architectural design, beautiful renovations and superb decoration. At present, 500 people can sit comfortably to eat at the same time, yet sometimes dozens of people have to wait in queues on the sidewalk in front of the building to enter the restaurant for dinner. Sometimes, people drive more than 100 miles to eat dinner at this restaurant.
The Buffet Maharaja is not only a very successful business but it also has now become an important institution of Montreal. I have met a few people of the greater Montreal area who did not know about Buffet Maharaja.
Since Mr. Ali Khan's new concept of large buffet of Indian foods worked very well, many people of the Indian subcontinent followed his example and established Indian buffet restaurants in Canada. Buffet Maharaja has also made Indian foods popular among the mainstream Canadian population in Montreal and its surrounding cities.
Mr. Ali Khan now owns the entire block of stone-faced Victorian buildings. In the same block he also built a residential hotel and named it Hotel A2K after his children's initials: one A stands for his eldest son, second A for his daughter, and K for his second son. Many visitors from Bangladesh stay in this hotel during their visit to Montreal.
The restaurant and the hotel have created jobs for many people. Most of the people who work at these jobs are from Bangladesh. Special mention should be made of the chief chef Mr. Nurul Haque from Comilla who has been behind the success of Mr. Ali Khan's restaurant businesses for the last 19 years.
Mr. Ali Khan has recently bought a large parking lot behind the restaurant-hotel block. The skyscraper will be built on this parking lot. Large companies representing many people own the other skyscrapers of Montreal; but only one individual-Mr. Ali Khan from Bangladesh, now will build the one we are discussing.
Mr. Ali Khan also developed a condominium project at a short distance from the restaurant. He recently acquired a mountain in the Laurentian Mountain Range, 30 miles North of Montreal, where he will build a summer home and a small lake for fish culturing and boating.
Mr. Ali Khan's wife Shirin Rabb, whose parents originally came from Barisal, has been actively assisting him in all his business ventures.
Mr. Ali Khan's extraordinary achievements in Montreal have made Bangladesh and Bangladeshis proud. Mr. Ali Khan when asked about the secret of his achievements, said, "A vision, determination, and hard work." I should add another ingredient of his success: the adoption of the important values of the mainstream Canadian society: he speaks both English and French fluently, knows Canadian laws, and has learned Canadian manners, customs and etiquettes. He knows how to communicate with the people of all walks of life, especially Government officials and business people of Canada, with whom he has to deal.
Many young Bangladeshis of Canada, being inspired by his extraordinary achievements, are now establishing their own businesses, and some of them have prospered tremendously. Mr. Ali Khan also does charitable work to help the poor people of Bangladesh where he came from.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail: _gopalsengupta@aol.com_