How much does food cost
in an Indian prison? One lakh a
month, if you’re a rich Indian businessman
and want it delivered.
That’s one of the striking revelations
in a compelling profile
of Saravana Bhavan founder P.
Rajagopal. The restaurant chain
serves South Indian vegetarian
food from 80 locations around the
world, including about 10 in North
America and 33 in India. Twenty of the restaurants are
scattered around Chennai, the hometown of 66-yearold
Rajagopal.
Rollo Romig, a freelance writer in Turkey, recently
profiled Rajagopal in a New York Times Magazine piece
titled “Masala Dosa to Die For.” He describes not only
how Rajagopal built his restaurant empire, but also
how he managed to serve only 11 months of a life sentence
for ordering the murder of
a man whose wife Rajagopal was
wooing to become his third wife.
During one of his interviews
with Rajagopal, Romig asked about
a rumor that the restaurateur had
improved meals in the prison canteen
while serving time. “You can’t
change anything there,” Rajagopal
said. “I had to spend one lakh
every month in order to get home
food delivered to me.”
“Don’t tell him about this,” a friend named Ganapathi
Iyer said to Rajagopal. “Do we have to talk about
the corruption?”
“They should know how corrupt we are,” Rajagopal
said. “We can’t just keep bragging that we are good all
the time. The truth has to be told.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]