Hemant was born in Madras, brought up in Madras and Rajahmundry in Andhra; He grew up from the age of 4 or five till 14 years in a remote village in Saurashtra. He had a unique opportunity to absorb all these cultures including enjoying dishes from all these three regions.

He was born in a joint family, with dozens of children around, each had their own taste including a dog, which too had his own preferences, and the kitchen never slept! Hemant's mother, aunt in Saurashtra and his Periamma in Andhra were good cooks. The entire community revolved around his aunt who would help every one prepare a variety of foods including pickles and wafers. People in the community used to prepare dishes with the recipes given by her almost every day. Being a precocious child, Hemant was roped in to cast wafers, cut mangoes, or remove seeds from Muk-salli pazam for pickles. His duties were to help in cleaning wheat and rice including removing stones and grind wheat on stone grinder. Deepavali and other festivals were special times for sweet preparations and what not.

Another reason of intense activity on the food front was due to his grandfather being a world-renowned Samveda scholar and a great astrologer. There was not a single day when they have not had guests. With five sisters and their in-laws, they had no dull moment in the village. Thus Hemant's taste for good food was fired in his village!

Hemant got back to Madras for middle and college level education and then joined his family business because of which he was constantly on tour. His primary worry used to be good food followed by a good hotel. Hemant got married when he was 23. His wife also turned out to be a very good cook and was eager to learn and prepare new dishes. In the course of his marketing career of over 25 years, he had visited the whole of India, Japan, Korea Hongkong, Thailand, Singapore, Britain and Germany. He had more exposure to the Orient having visited Japan and stayed there for weeks at a stretch. Thus he had an opportunity to sample the Japanese cuisine from roadside kiosks to 37TH floor Bunny Girl club which offered the most exclusive rare Japanese food.

His tryst with cooking started fairly early when they were forced to cook when our Aiyaramma Kamalamma would absent herself from work for 5 days every month. When he was staying in the house of Suryakantham, the telugu actress who was very popular in telugu cinemas in the role of a mother in law, she was instrumental in introducing them to the Andhra cuisine. He also owe it to the two finest Andhra restaurants near his house in CIT colony.

Both Hemant and his wife used to cook for their small family. Later on even when they shifted back to their house on walltax road, he continued cooking. By this time he had already had become famous in his sisters and other friend's homes as a food specialist. His full freedom to experiment with food started in 1995 when he shifted with his son to Bangalore and his wife was in Madras due to his daughter's education. Every day was a new experience and a new experiment. Thus in a period of five years, his already good food preparing ability was perfected and you people are the proof of it.

He have always tried to get recipes from anyone if he liked the food. It ranges from the street hawker of food in Bangalore to street dwellers to five star chefs, and he have hassled them all for recipes. Over the years he have made several improvements and have given you the fruit of love on a platter. This is because he have found that books cannot give you proper guideline how to cook. No one can teach you how to cook and worst of all, NO ONE GIVES YOU COMPLETE RECIPES. If you love food and your family, a little guidance from Hemant will make you prepare good food.

Hemant is in the evening of his life and is passionate about good food. He want his experiences and experiments in creating new dishes shared by all.

Contact:

Email: hkrtrivedi@gmail.com