Former India captain and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni has received a lot of adulation from fans for his crucial efforts as a professional cricketer. The 41-year-old recently won a record-equaling fifth trophy after defeating Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final of the IPL 2023.
Dhoni’s career spans over a decade, and he has flown to several nations on assignments and achieved glory numerous times. for a trip to Trivandrum, Kerala, for the West Indies series in 2018, Dhoni struck up a conversation with Suresh Pillai, a British-born chef. Chef Pillai took to social media to describe his ‘dream’ meeting with the great skipper who won the IPL for the seventh time.
The Chef said
“October 31, 2018. India was playing West Indies in Trivandrum and the team was staying at the Leela, Kovalam, where I was working then. From the moment the team got off the bus, my eyes were searching for one man. He greeted all of us with his trademark, warm smile and made his way to the suite,” read his tweet.
While the majority of the team selected seafood, Dhoni preferred chicken curry and rice with spicy rasam while conversing with Chef Pillai in Tamil.
“’ Hi Chef! How’re you? What’s there for dinner?’, he asked me in a mix of Hindi and Tamil. I gave him an assortment of seafood to choose from. ‘I can’t have seafood, Chef. I am allergic. Can I get some Chicken curry and rice? I would also like some spicy rasam since I have a sore throat (Poondu Rasam kedakkuma? is what he asked!),” Chef Pillai revealed his conversation with Dhoni.
Following that, on his way to the gym the next day, MSD went by the chef to welcome him and tell him that his lunch was great. Because the dish was prepared on such short notice, Pillai was overjoyed to get such a gracious comment from his idol.
Years later, reliving the incident, the chef considers MS Dhoni‘s comment to be the pinnacle of his culinary career to date.
“I returned with the food to room no.302: Chettinad Chicken, Basmati Rice, Roasted Pappadam, and Rasam with a hearty serving of pepper and garlic. The next morning, he got hold of me while on the way to the gym and told me he loved the dinner! I felt like I was over the moon – nothing could have topped that feeling!” he added.
“The fact that I was able to serve and make one of my biggest idols happy, even if it was just for 4 days, would always be a highlight of my culinary career. Once in a while, someone comes along and makes the world stay still. You were, are and always will be our Thala who made the world stay still,” his tweet concluded.
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