Pics: Pareekshith Shet
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Media Release

Udupi, Apr 7: Michelin starred celebrity chef Vikas Khanna on Thursday April 7 took the first step in realizing a dream of a museum with a huge collection of pots and pans of bygone times when he laid the foundation stone for a culinary arts and culinary building, which will also have the museum, at Welcomgroup Graduate Schools of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) hostel, Manipal here.

Chancellor, Manipal University, Dr Ramdas M Pai, Vasanthi Pai and Rajesh Bharadwaj, founder and CEO of Junoon restaurant in New York and Dubai and other University officials were present on the occasion.The chef's guru and mentor Gangadhar Rao and his family were also specially invited to this auspicious ceremony.

The museum, in the $4 million building, will be the first of its kind in the country and on completion by August 2017, will be a marvel where antique utensils from several parts of the world will be collected and brought here by Vikas. He already has an impressive collection and more will be added as and when he gets them. At the temporary museum where the paraphernalia are kept, he showed a beautiful jug from Kashmir and a rolling pin used generations ago.

In an interaction with media persons later, a visibly excited Vikas, who is an alumnus of the WGSHA, explained at length about some of the utensils and traditionally how they were used. He spoke about their origin, like the first 'Thaal' on which Mysore Pak was made. He also said that the museum would have traditional utensils which will also depict culture of the place where it originated. He described his experiences on the collection from Dubai, China and parts of India like Pondicherry, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Karnataka etc.

He also said that he was deeply connected to Udupi with his guru who taught him several unique skills in sculpture, stone and wood carving etc. "Udupi is my second home, Amritsar the first," he said.

He once again thanked WGSHA for admitting him although his knowledge of English was almost nil then. "But there was something the then principal saw in me and asked me to join and prove myself."

WGSHA principal, Prof Parvadhavardhini Gopalakrishnan said the utensils were 'priceless' and that the museum would be part of the culinary art building.

The students were overjoyed to interact with Vikas Khanna. They praised his book 'Utsav' and presented an enthralling extravaganza.