The women get together to cook up the Malvani meal near the Sawantwadi railway station

The IRCTC wants you to get a taste of home even before you get there on one of their trains. To that end, it has teamed up with 30 women members of the Loksanchalit Sadhan Kendra — a federation of 19 women’s self-help groups formed by the Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM) in Sawantwadi — who will be cooking the region’s local Malvani cuisine for railway passengers on south-bound trains. Their tireless effort over three months, with financial backing from NABARD — that allotted a sum of Rs 6,23,000 for this project (includes their training as well as the cost of setting up of a centralised kitchen close to Sawantwadi Railway Station) — finally came to fruition with the first online order being placed on Wednesday. And with that, the initiative has propelled them from being simple home chefs to entrepreneurs who run an e-catering service for the Indian Railways.