Food and feelings amid spells of imaginary rain: Chef Vikas Khanna

Khanna takes Chintan Girish Modi through his journey to the Michelin Star, which started with his Biji's kitchen

On a winter afternoon in January that makes the people of Kolkata cling on to their shawls and sweaters, chef-author-filmmaker Vikas Khanna (51) is raising temperatures with the brightest of smiles. Women of various ages have gathered at the Kolkata Literary Meet to hear him speak about his novel, Imaginary Rain, (2023) published by Penguin Random House, to get autographs and to click selfies with him. The Amritsar-born New York-based Punjabi seems at home amidst all the attention being showered on him at Victoria Memorial Hall.

I am running out of patience because our scheduled conversation has been delayed but the