U’khand chef a minor celebrity after meeting PM
A chef from Uttarakhand became a minor celebrity overnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him during his three-day visit to Israel and complimented him for a scrumptious meal on Wednesday.
Dharmendra Panwar, who hails from a nondescript village Kundi in Tehri Garhwal district, couldn’t believe it when Modi wished to meet him.
Panwar, who works with an Indian firm called Lite Bite Foods in Israel, shook hands with the Prime Minister and then posted a photograph on Facebook.
“Sounds good and satisfying when a Prime Minister of the largest democracy of the world while in a foreign land shakes hand with his countryman and enquiries about his village and state and then appreciates its people,” a Facebook user Sunil Negi wrote on the social networking site.
Panwar, who has been working in Israel for the last five years, is the eldest among three brothers.
The other two brothers also work in restaurants — one in Israel while the other is in Dehradun.
Panwar’s family in Uttarakhand is excited that the Prime Minister met him.
Gopal, the brother who works in a Dehradun restaurant, spoke to Panwar and said that the PM asked him about the chef’s home. On learning that Panwar is from Uttarakhand, Modi hailed the people of the hill state, Gopal quoted his brother as saying.