Ahmedabad: Kitchens at Saraspur awaits the yatra

AHMEDABAD: Saraspur, an eastern Ahmedabad locality of 50,000 has management lessons for mega events – it feeds 1.5 lakh persons in a day, which is three times its population. Runners of the mega kitchens however don’t feel the pressure – it’s a tradition woven in their social fabric and almost everything goes into auto mode ever since the three deities spend a fortnight at Ranchhodraiji Temple in the locality before Rath Yatra.
Pravin Patel, organizer of the kitchen at Luhar Sheri – the biggest of the seven pols that host the Rath Yatra – said that everything sets in motion like clockwork. “All the pols know whom to expect, how many to feed, what to feed and how to organize the meal that lasts for about an hour. But preparations take over a month,” he said.
For starters, the raw material for trademark mohanthal, puri and shaak (mostly of potato and gravy) goes into hundreds of kilograms. A house is earmarked to store thousands of puris a day before the procession. The curry is made on the day itself.
“The past two years were not good for everyone – we also lost many in the locality. Last year, too, we had made representation to get a glimpse of the chariots, but curfew prevented us from it. Thus, this year we are very excited ,” said Angad Kapadia from Limda Pol.