SoUth indian fare for VenKaiah in franCe
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is particular about his food. Even when abroad, he looks around for his favourite South Indian fare.
Some days ago, Naidu was in France to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I. The French authorities took him to a village 200 km from Paris to inaugurate the Indian War Memorial at VillersGuislain, a small village of about 700 people. The village mayor was present for the ceremony. Suddenly, it started raining and the weather turned cold. The deputy mayor requested Naidu and other Indian delegates to eat and relax for a while at his house. For Naidu and others, the food for the trip was procured from the Parisian outlet of Sarvana Bhavan, a popular global chain of South Indian vegetarian restaurant. During his official tour to Brussels in October, Naidu had eaten at Sarvana Bhavan.
In France, besides Naidu, leaders of 70 nations, assembled to commemorate the centenary of the signing of the armistice which ended WW-I. Among the many heads of state, Naidu met French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump.
Naidu told The Sunday Guardian that he would suggest to the Central government to highlight the “sacrifices of thousands of brave Indian soldiers who had fought gallantly” in various theatres of WW-I “though it was not an Indian battle in the true sense”.
Nearly 14 lakh Indian soldiers, according to Naidu, fought during the war in France, Belgium, Aden, Arabia, East and West Africa, Turkey, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Persia, Russia, China and Greece, and about 74,000 of them were killed. In France and Belgium alone, said Naidu, “about 1.40 lakh Indian soldiers fought and 9,300 died fighting on the side of righteousness that India has always stood for”.