The routine of taking notes from celebrity chefs like Tarla Dalal and Sanjeev Kapoor was a norm in India before being replaced by popular YouTube channels.
The internet’s favourite grandpa from the popular cooking channel “Grandpa Kitchen” passed away on October 27, leaving millions teary-eyed. Narayan Reddy, also known as ‘Grandpa’, was unique for his elephantine meal preparations of various cuisines. The food would then be fed to local orphans.
The charitable goal of the channel was a consistent draw for people, garnering tremendous appreciation worldwide.
In only a year, the channel – which describes itself as ‘Loving. Caring. Sharing. This is my family’ – racked up over 4.7 million subscribers and amassed more than 451 million views, with a database of 185 videos. The channel is run by Grandpa’s son, Shrikant Reddy.
Every video is well-produced with slick visuals. The cooking itself has a rustic quality by being set in the outdoors with firewood as fuel. The channel’s latest video, titled ‘Grandpa’s An Emotional and heart touching final journey’, is a final goodbye from the man who pursued something solely based on his will to give back.
From cooking 500 packets of Maggi in one go to KFC-style chicken, lasagne, chicken biryani and gluttony sweet dishes such as Oreo pudding, gulab jamuns – Grandpa did it all.
A visibly ailing grandpa made his final appearance on the channel last week, in a live session to give updates regarding his health on the channel.
“We entertain people by cooking food and donate the proceeds to charities. Our goal is to provide basic necessities like food, clothing, school supplies and birthday gifts to orphans,” says the YouTube channel’s Patreon account.
But based on social media posts on his demise that flooded in from all over the world, it’s clear he’s left a legacy that will not be forgotten in the near future.
“He dedicated his whole life for the orphans. Salute, you were a true hero,” commented a channel subscriber.
“RIP a man with a big heart. We need more like him in this world.”
“‘Mix well’, I never thought I would miss those words so much,” wrote another.
Twitter was also filled with messages from devastated fans.
Grandpa from Grandpa's kitchen is dead. He was the most wholesome man on all of youtube, making large meals which he shared with orphans in his community. Been following him for a long time, and I cant really put into words how painful this is for me.
Rest in Peace pic.twitter.com/ULgDPAUQD6
— Horrifying cheese (@YellowishCheese) October 30, 2019
Grandpa kitchen recently just died and hardly anyone is acknowledging such a human being. He was such a lovely person who did nothing but good for this world. We need to respect and acknowledge people like him. May he rest in peace ❤#GrandpaKitchen pic.twitter.com/p90BABtGKt
— Aleah ? (@wooitsaleah) October 31, 2019
Grandpa from Grandpa kitchen died on 27th October…I never saw my own grandfather but whenever he said "This is your Grandpa"… I felt nothing but love and compassion.
I'm so devastated. pic.twitter.com/zLgMj5UeVn
— Ashish (@AshishSaidSo) October 30, 2019
May his soul rest in peace.
Featured image credit: YouTube screengrab