The Duchess Club welcomed our first cookbook “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” with enthusiasm & cheer, and arranged an excellent launch at Hotel Savera on January 18, 2006. The guest of honour was none other than the esteemed educationist Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy. Other special guests were Social activist Dr Mohini Giri, cookbook authors Mrs Chandra Padmanabhan & Mrs Malathy Chendur. Mini Ratnam, Anita Ratnam’s mother, read out from the book. Nina Reddy & the other members of The Duchess Club did a fabulous job with the arrangements & hospitality. This is one of our most cherished events to date.
Lighting the kuttuvilakku – Pratibha, Nina reddy & Rathi Nilakanthan with Mrs Y. G. Parthasarathy
As quoted in The Hindu, Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, stated with humour, “Food is the most basic part of a relationship between man and wife. If they can eat together they can live together.” Saying that girls today are “now finally taking an interest in learning how to cook, because they want to go abroad as the wife of an NRI, or as NRIs themselves,” She also declared that books like Pedatha’s are important because “they clearly spell out methods, enabling home cooks to recreate them, thus preserving a heritage – the decades-old recipes of an illustrious Andhra family in this case.”
The book release – a warm moment
Pedatha greeted the audience in her friendly & smiling manner & spoke to them about tradition & preserving heritage with love & respect. She spoke about how special she felt while Jigyasa & Pratibha used to learn her recipes diligently, never missing a word of what she said.
Audience at the launch – friendly interactions
Pedatha with the Duchess members
A pleasant surprise at the end of the launch was actor Nandita Das with author Shobha Viswanath
Related posts:
