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Charan Singh was a frugal eater and a strict vegetarian. According to Ajit Singh, his son, “He had no interest in food. His regular meals would be dal, roti and one vegetable. I don’t think there were any accompaniments, and he would never eat more than one, or, at best, two rotis. Also, where was that much money to cook several dishes for so many people?” For breakfast, however, Charan Singh would generally have alu ka paratha. Ajit Singh also remembered that at one time there was a family cook called Chintamani who “would make great cheela (gram flour pancake) and he used to have it for breakfast.”

The former prime minister preferred it with lemon pickle or asafoetida-mango pickle. Sudhir Varma echoed what his uncle said, “In general, his eating habits were very frugal, simple and the food cooked in our kitchen was also very basic. Nothing exotic here, nor did it entail any complicated recipe.” According to Sudhir Verma, his grandfather’s breakfast, apart from the special tea he would have, comprised “some dry fruits and maybe some Isabgol husk. A guava fruit was also added sometimes, plucked from the trees in our house. And every once in a while, he would have cheela.”

Lunch was equally...

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