Rainbow of our Love

Chapter 17

The warm aroma of the spices and sauces were radiated in the kitchen of ‘Love=Food’ when Praveen, the manager informed his boss, Adhyayan, “Sir, the new food inspector and his team is here for the audit.”

The clock had struck one in the afternoon. The restaurant had considerable rush owing to the lunch time and the chefs were working upon the orders of their customers.

Adhyayan had everything up to the mark in his restaurants, be it, the quality-oriented products within the expiry dates or impeccable quality standards of both equipment and staff. Having served as the executive director for the leading hospitality groups, Adhyayan was indeed, a man of perfection who abided the rules set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India meticulously.

Hence, the arrival of food inspector was not a matter of concern or anxiety for Adhyayan. As a matter of procedure, the celebrity chef removed the white apron he was wearing and washed his hands to meet the auditor.
Though, Adhyayan was not expecting any food audits in the recent times yet he was not concerned as he thought perhaps, it was the part of the protocol. He had heard from his friends in the industry that the new food inspector was a cunning officer who is conducting the inspection in all the food outlets to gather a hefty sum of bribes however, Adhyayan had nothing to worry about for two reasons, one, he had everything perfect as required under the standards of the authorities and second, he never paid bribes in his entire career.

Both Adhyayan and his manager, Praveen met the food inspector, Mr. Kamlesh Kaushik. The middle-aged pot-bellied man had ignorance and unscrupulous attitude dripping from his sly aura. Having audited by the revered officers in the past, today, Adhyayan realized this officer seemed dishonest and ignorant.

Exchanging pleasantries and formally shaking hands with each other, Mr. Kaushik proceeded for the audit while Adhyayan and Praveen followed him. Under the guileful gaze, Mr. Kaushik scrutinized the ingredients in the kitchen and was disappointed to see the products well within the expiry date. Instructing his team comprising of five young officers to collect the food samples and send them for quality check in the laboratory.

“Huh!” the middle-aged man exclaimed as he rubbed his hand on his pot belly. Glaring at Adhyayan Joshi, Mr. Kaushik proceeded towards the quality check of the equipment and was pretty upset to find everything as per the standards set by the government.

With a hope to find some defect in the seemingly-perfect hygiene habits adhering to the standard cleanliness schedule, Mr. Kaushik and his team riled each and every employees of the celebrity chef and was ultimately frustrated after a futile exercise of two hours. He wondered how come everything was in the restaurant. He was clearly disappointed because Mr. Kaushik had expected the loopholes in the restaurant so that he could take hefty bribe in return from the celebrity chef.

After probing the kitchen standards meticulously, Mr. Kaushik proceeded to inspect the diligent paperwork of the restaurant. Adhyayan showed the papers with intensive documentation and as expected, the cunning Mr. Kaushik smirked as he said, “So, Mr. Joshi? How everything is perfect till now?”

Adhyayan was at once, taken aback by the question. Squinting his dark brown eyes in suspicion yet maintaining his normal composure, folding his arms, Adhyayan said, “We genuinely work on maintaining high quality and transparency in our work. I am genuinely committed to the best quality of food, that’s what I love.”

“Mr. Joshi, these things are good for speech but you know, real world does not work in this manner. I will be waiting for the samples of the food yet to be tested in the laboratory and then, we will proceed with the rules set by the real world”. The cunning food inspector said with a glint of slyness in his eyes as cunningness dripped from his words.

“What is your definition of the real world?” Adhyayan said in a bit louder voice realizing the audacity of the food inspector to demand bribe as Mr. Kaushik warned him indirectly yet openly that he being, the food auditor had power to manipulate the laboratory results of the food samples. Adhyayan was visibly worried and beyond angry as the shameless officer grinned looking at him.

“You know things very well, Mr. Joshi. You are into the business since long time.” Mr. Kamlesh Kaushik said as he gestured Adhyayan to give into his illicit demand and bribe him.

Mr. Adhyayan Joshi, the celebrity chef who had achieved success through struggles, was a man was principles. His strict father had taught him not to pay in to illicit demands of anyone so paying bribes was something Adhyayan had never done.

Looking into the guileful eyes of the officer, Adhyayan said, “Do whatever you want”. Having said this, Adhyayan had insulted the officer who glared at him and left making sure to make him pay for the insult very soon.

As soon as Mr. Kaushik left, Adhyayan called his friend, Ranjeet Wadhwa, the advocate in the high court to discuss the implications of the issue to be on the safer side. He was determined to not pay the bribe and bring out the reality of the officers like Mr. Kamlesh Kaushik.

On the other hand, the corrupt food inspector was annoyed beyond limits as he realized that the twenty seven years old celebrity chef had openly challenged him to do whatever he wanted. He smirked as he made a devious plan to crumble the arrogance and the spirit of righteousness of the young chef. After all, this Joshi had denied bribe to Kamlesh Kaushik, the inspector who had never faced such humiliation in his entire career, Mr. Kaushik thought.

“Raman, I will be conducting these tests personally”, Mr. Kamlesh Kaushik said to his subordinate mentally smirking as the corrupt official imagined the pathetic condition of the celebrity chef who had challenged him. Mr. Kaushik was indeed, determined to destroy the reputation of ‘Love=Food’ along with the celebrity chef too.

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