It’s been a year now since I have been working with this particular client & my work with them involves traveling to Ranipet & Tirupati very often. At both these places we live at the guesthouse. The caretaker & cook at the Ranipet guesthouse is Mr. Karthik…the inspiration & the reason for this story.

Karthik cooks like a dream…healthy & tasty food…cooked to please any kind of taste bud…served always with care and with a smile. Never a meal there has gone by without a mention on how tasty the food is or what a genius Karthik is!

Of course, needless to say he has also noticed how much I enjoy the meal he serves. One fine day…

I shifted to a diet. Vegetables…some more vegetables…a little more of vegetables… & fruits and so on! My next visit to Ranipet, at lunch, Karthik is confused. He doesn’t understand why I am not eating all that he wishes to serve on my plate. Dinner also goes by and he watches me eat vegetables, fruits & such!

Next day, at lunch, he comes to me and tells me in Tamil “I have made this specially for you”. I look into the vessel…it is full of Avvial, a south Indian curry made with a lot of different vegetables. He adds, “I noticed that you were eating only vegetables. So I made this for you so that you can eat well.”

I was so touched by this! So simple…so authentic! That was to me the
moment of truth!!

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