From songs to spices

"Uncapping a commercial brand he sells, he puts it under my nose and the only thing I can smell is turmeric. ‘Aha,’ he says. He uncaps his own blend and complex fragrances waft up my olfactory passages. ‘That’s because I use a lot of the spices such as cardamom and cloves and black pepper.’”

That is Helen Greenwood in The Sydney Morning Herald (August 5, 2003) introducing her readers to Mehernosh (Manny) Seervai and Manny’s House of Spices that he and his wife Christine have been running since 1986. The Sydney store, accessed down a corridor papered with old videotape covers, stocks a variety of herbs, spices, an array of basmati rice, lentils, his own chakki-ground atta (flour) and much more. Many of the mixes and pastes are Christine’s own recipes — particularly relished are the butter chicken mix, tandoori and vindaloo pastes, carrots and raisin pickle — and they bear the Asho Farohar logo to "symbolize the purity of the products,” Seervai writes in an e-mail to Parsiana.

An alumnus of Bombay’s St Mary’s School (Cambridge section) and an arts graduate from Jai Hind College, the only child of the late Vicaji and Mani Seervai had begun his working life as a musician, studying music and playing the accordion in uncle Goody Seervai’s band. (Anyone over 50 who grew up in Bombay knew the affable Goody, had toe-tapped and danced to his lively renditions of hit-paraders and perennials!)

Alongside: Seervai at his store and (above) with Jimmy, Christine and Nilloufer

After a two-year apprenticeship, Manny was sent to Delhi to play at the Oberoi there and returned to Bombay when the Oberoi Sheraton opened in 1983, playing in the Lancers Bar, Carousel Bar and the Cafe Royale. Then the migration bug bit and Manny and Christine who were wed (and had two children) in Delhi went Down Under.

"Music was very tough to break into... I played profession­ally for four years but could not break through, so I ventured out in businesses I never knew of. I used to play Friday, Satur­day nights at the El Rancho Hotel in Sydney as a solo pianist and accordionist, and used to work as a courier operator during the day. After a couple of years doing all types of odd jobs, I was asked to take over a small spice shop in Sydney and the rest is his­tory,” writes Manny.

He continues to play socially — for functions held by Sydney Zoroastrians. And once a year he hosts a get-together jam session where other Goan musicians who used to play for Goody and Nellie come together for a spot of fun.

Seervai’s 25-year-old son Jimmy is currently sales and marketing manager in the family business. Nilloufer, 24, is a child care supervisor. Neither of them are married. While Chris­tine enjoys cooking and gardening as hobbies, Manny says he rides his motorcycle cruiser Kawasaki 1500 on Sundays. Access them on www.mannyspices. com.au