Poongavanam “Vassie” Chetty with his golf trophy.
…he returns, trying to imitate in his gait the inflexible rigour of an automaton, all the while carrying his tray with the temerity of a tightrope walker, maintaining it in a perpetually unstable equilibrium, perpetually destabilised, and perpetually re-established with only the slightest movement of the arm and hand. His entire conduct seems to us like a game. (Jean Paul Sartre)
Those who made their way to Phoenix travelled many roads. In our research on waiters, we found out about so many who had made their lives in Phoenix. Waiters have fascinating stories because they live in two worlds at once. They walked a tightrope as outsiders to white society, but with everyday access to the inside, adopting a demeanour of servility: bowing but not scraping; attentive but never intrusive; personable but not familiar; discreet about a customer’s broader tastes, but never appearing secretive to his boss. The Indian waiter’s name tag would be suitably adjusted so that it could be pronounced by the white clientele.
Poongavanam “Vassie” Chetty was born on September 1, 1959, in Verulam on Natal’s North Coast. Although his father’s surname was Pillay, his grandmother registered him under her own surname, Chetty, and named him "Poongavanam" after her husband. Because the name was considered too long by family and friends, he became widely known by the shortened “calling name" of Vassie.
