PRAKASH M SWAMY
NEW YORK: More than 3000 kilograms of pure ghee sweets specially made for Indian Americans were airlifted from Chennai to 21 states in the US in the last five days to help them celebrate Diwali in traditional style with Indian flavor.
They were delivered to the doorsteps in less than 48 hours across the US, thanks to the support of US Border and Customs that recognized the importance of celebrating Diwali with India-made sweets.
Balaji Pattappa, owner of Pattappa Catering Service and third generation catering contractor, had rented Hemamalini Kalyana Mantap, a huge marriage hall in the heart of Chennai with over 200 expert cooks who specialize in making traditional sweets. They make over 50 varieties of mouth-watering traditional sweets such as Mysorepak, Ravaladdu, cashew cake, Sonpapdi, chocolate cake and Badam Halwa to name a few. Also the cooks make at least 20 varieties of savories like mixture, Murukku, Karasev and Omapodi in the hygienically tested specially erected kitchen certified by the Corporation of Chennai.
Pattappa has been a household name in catering in Chennai for the past 70 years and takes care of marriage cooking of VVIPs like movie stars, governors and chief ministers
“As a policy we never use preservatives, colors, chemicals, or reuse cooking oil. We only use the best ingredients and in house ghee and oil that are of highest standard. These sweets are prepared in such a way that it has a shelf life of two weeks. We also serve corporate who make bulk orders like 5,000 boxes of sweets for their customers and well wishers,” Balaji Pattappa said.”
D Saravanan of DHL Express Services, who has set up a special counter to ship the gift boxes abroad, said “To help NRIs celebrate Diwali we are offering a 50 percent discount on shipment and charge only Rs 1,524 to send a kilogram of sweets for two day delivery anywhere in the US as against the normal rate of Rs 3,000 a kilogram.”
Ramanathan Sankaran, a retired banker whose son lives in Edison, NJ said:” My son has asked me to send 100 one kilo boxes of assorted genuine ghee sweets so that he could distribute them to his friends and co workers. He has been doing this for years and the sweets arrive fresh well in time for Diwali.”
