Mumbai, Aug 9 (IANS) Celebrity chef Vikas Khanna appeared on the latest episode of the streaming chat show ‘Shekhar Tonite’, and spoke about his morning ritual that he does for his late sister, Radhika at his restaurant in New York.

After Radhika became ill and passed away, Vikas initially resisted opening another restaurant. However, his mother persuaded him to open the establishment as his sister wanted him to do it.

Vikas said on the show, “Before the pandemic, Radhika used to say, ‘You don’t understand that you have been gifted with something, that a percentage of the world, 30% of the world, feels that you are a family member. Don’t make a restaurant this time. Make a home this time’. So, this conversation about home had started. And she said, ‘Build a home. With money, restaurants can be opened. Homes cannot be built with money. Homes are built with people’. So, we have to create something like this. And then she fell sick. And after she passed away, the deliveries started coming. And I’m like, ‘I’m not going to open a restaurant. I’m 50-plus. I don’t need it’. It’s not an easy job. But when things started happening, I kept remembering that same story”.

“And every time, it reminded me, ‘You have a promise to keep. Mama said this is the last promise. You promised her. She’s watching’. So, it’s difficult to open a restaurant with such a big dream. It’s a small restaurant. So we decided to open it without reservations, on her birthday. That would have been her 50th birthday that day. Every morning, we have a glass roof, and I go up there. And I make a rangoli out of flowers. And after making the rangoli, I fold my hands. I say, ‘If you’re watching, this is for you’. Letting go is going to be hard for me. I’m not that guy. But I had made a ten-year promise”, he added.

--IANS

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