SAARBRUCKEN: Tell Dikshant Mehta that the cooking area of the cafeteria at the Sport Campus Saar here smells like an Indian kitchen and the 28-year-old chef from Himachal Pradesh immediately gets defensive. "Kisney bola? Did anyone say anything!" he asks, only assuaged when told that the smells remind one of home so far away.
It is cheat day today for the Indian athletes in their final training here. Residing here for over a month for the Paris Olympics scheduled to begin in less than a week's time, the various Indian teams are departing for the French capital in batches, and Mehta, on deputation from SAI for this extended training camp, has decided to whip some Indian flavours as a farewell meal. For today, he severed ties with boxing team nutritionist, Mohit Dhariwal who would zealously oversee the carbs, the calorie count and the protein intake each time Mehta fired up the induction. And so, it's butter chicken and peeli daal for lunch today.
