Santiniketan/Krishnagar: A cook in Santiniketan and another in Krishnagar literally had Atal Bihari Vajpayee "eat out of their hands".

On Friday, when the nation bid adieu to the former Prime Minister for the final time, both recounted their experience to The Telegraph.

One said he had the "privilege" of taking the bones out of a pabda fish that Vajpayee could not handle. The other recalled how nervous he was when he had to stir up a vegetarian platter for the BJP stalwart and ended up being praised generously by the delighted guest.

Vajpayee had visited Santiniketan on April 2, 2004, days after the theft of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel medallion from the Rabindra Bhavana museum.

Following instructions from Visva-Bharati - of which Vajpayee was the chancellor by virtue of being the Prime Minister then - S.K. Restaurant in Bolpur had supplied the lunch for the leader.

Kaushik Pal, the head cook and owner of the restaurant, said: "We were under instructions to cook Bengali dishes for Vajpayeeji and I had prepared pabda machher jhal, chingri machher malai curry, fried topshe fish and grilled bhetki. Among the vegetarian items were a preparation of posto with ladies finger and sukto."

According to Pal, Vajpayee tasted all the items but faced problems with the pabda fish. "I did not expect the Prime Minister to ask me to take the bones out of the fish. I was hesitating and he asked me the second time. Then I separated the bones and he ate the fish. He appreciated my cooking."

Pal said Vapayee was so happy that he asked him to call the other cooks for a group photo. "I can't forget his warmth. Now that he is no more, I am missing the person."

In Nadia's Krishnagar, Vajpayee, then a caretaker Prime Minister, had stayed overnight at the Circuit House on September 27, 1999. He was in the Nadia town to address a rally for local BJP candidate Satyabrata Mookherjee, five months after his government collapsed following withdrawal of support by NDA partner AIADMK.

Majid Sheikh, head cook of the Circuit House, recounted how he nervous he felt when, without any clear instructions, he had to toss up vegetarian fare for Vajpayee. "I was in a dilemma on what to cook. I offered him a combination of rice, roti, moong daal, mixed veg curry, a curry of cottage cheese, cauliflower curry and chutney. For dessert, I had prepared Krishnagar's special sarpuria and sarbhaja," Majid said.

"Some BJP leaders later told me that he praised the food and enquired about the cook. He wrote in the visitors' book, 'Enjoyed our stay, thanks'," Majid added.

Mookherjee it was "special" to have had Vajpayee campaign for him. "He (Vajpayee) was happy with the food and asked me about the history of Krishnagar," Mookherjee said.