In 1990, ten-year-old Kartik stands on a wooden stool in his mother's Mumbai kitchen, asking "why?" until the answers become a calling. Eight years later, that calling takes him to a prestigious hotel management college in Chennai—and into a hostel where fear is served before every meal.

What follows is a fresher term of slaps, midnight riddles, and cruelty disguised as tradition. But Chef Coat, Masala and Me is equally about unexpected grace: an aunt's open door and small acts of kindness—a partner slipping mustard seeds across a counter to save a friend's exam—that become lifelines.

Through kitchens, classrooms, competitions, and campus politics, Kartik discovers that surviving is only the beginning. Sometimes the hardest battles are fought not for yourself, but for those who come after.

Equal parts culinary coming-of-age and campus reckoning, this is a story of resilience, friendship, and the courage to change a system from within.

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: White Falcon Publishing; 1 edition (September 2026)
• Author: Kartik Vishwanathan
• ISBN-13: 9789376313655
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 inch

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