'She was full of zest for life'

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">KOLKATA: Friends can''t get over the taste of Priyamvada Birla''s homemade ice-creams, just as they can''t forget the delicious dishes she cooked when she had guests over at her place. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Sometimes it would be Indian, sometimes Continental or Chinese.And then, there were days when she would serve Mexican or Lebanese.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">"She would personally monitor the preparations and lend a hand in cooking dishes for guests. This, despite a fleet of trained chef and staff working for her," recalls well-known chef Munna Maharaj (alias Dipak Kumar Singh). </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">He was the chef for Kumar Mangalam Birla''s wedding — among the many Birla weddings he has catered. "She was a very simple person and even visited my restaurant—Munna''s Gourmet Wonder," he says. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Simple—that''s what everyone has to say of Priyamvada. Often, it was easy to forget she was the wife of M P Birla, one of India''s richest men lording over aRs 2,000-crore empire. She also loved to travel. Like, to North Pole and South Pole with China and Alaska thrown in for variety. And this despite the trouble she had walking.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">She was also a religious person—fond of bhajans and listened to them every morning, followed by the daily dose of Rabindra sangeet. "In the last few years she had become disillusioned with her close family members but never let it bother her. She was always busy with work—visiting schools, hospitals andmanaging theMP Birla group of companies," said a family friend. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Despite her loneliness, she was full of zest for life and never lost touch with the world around her—be it visiting the latest food joints or a multiplex.</span></div> </div>