There was a time when restaurants in undivided South Kanara
District in general, and Mangaluru in particular used to cook and serve food
just like home made. I have not only heard stories from my late father about
how the snacks tasted in Mangalurian restaurants during his hey days, but I
also remember my own times in the Sixties and the Seventies when many
restaurants made lovely snacks and maintained quality and quantity at very
reasonable prices. The people who founded those restaurants cared more for the
satisfaction of those who patronized them, and also earned goodwill by word of
mouth and reputation beyond the seven seas! Such restaurants are very few today,
and Indra Bhavan is one.
When Late Raghurama Udupa hailing from Kinnigoli took over Indra Bhavan from one Babu Shetty in 1952, he not only cared for good food and good service, but he also was compassionate about poor students who came there for mid day meal. I remember my classmate from high school to PUC, a brilliant student Gopalakrishna Bhat hailing from a very poor Brahmin family who came walking all the way from Kulur to St Aloysius College to study, and he used to carry monthly lunch coupons issued by Indra Bhavan on concessional rates those days. He also used to tell me that plated meals at Indra Bhavan were homely, just like his mother cooked! Unfortunately Gopalakrishna Bhat is no more, but the reputation Indra Bhavan has earned by caring for such poor students, is copious. Today they don’t serve plated meals but they serve snacks with same standards and reasonable pricing.
When Late Raghurama Udupa hailing from Kinnigoli took over Indra Bhavan from one Babu Shetty in 1952, he not only cared for good food and good service, but he also was compassionate about poor students who came there for mid day meal. I remember my classmate from high school to PUC, a brilliant student Gopalakrishna Bhat hailing from a very poor Brahmin family who came walking all the way from Kulur to St Aloysius College to study, and he used to carry monthly lunch coupons issued by Indra Bhavan on concessional rates those days. He also used to tell me that plated meals at Indra Bhavan were homely, just like his mother cooked! Unfortunately Gopalakrishna Bhat is no more, but the reputation Indra Bhavan has earned by caring for such poor students, is copious. Today they don’t serve plated meals but they serve snacks with same standards and reasonable pricing.
Late Raghurama Udupa - Founder |
Navanitha B Shetty, a food blogger basically from Mangaluru, now based in Pune fondly remembers Late Raghurama Udupa and says, “When my grandfather Late Subbayya Naik who owned Hotel Woodside and Vishwa Bhavan wanted someone to run the veg restaurants in Woodside and Vishwa Bhavan, he could not find anyone better than Late Raghurama Udupa. Udupa was very hard working, honest and efficient. Woodside veg section was managed by the Udupas for a few decades before someone else took over, and Vishwa Bhavan restaurant, until it was shifted. Now the Udupas own Vishwa Bhavan restaurant in its new premises”.
Today continuing the tradition of Late Raghurama Udupa in hospitality, his son Prakash Udupa, Prakash’s wife Bhagyalakshmi Udupa and his two sons Vishnu Prasad Udupa and Vishwajith Udupa manage Indra Bhavan and Vishwa Bhavan. Prakash’s mother Sarojini Udupa is the guiding force. Indra Bhavan has become an iconic restaurant in Mangaluru, and a black and white picture of this restaurant dating back to the early days of its functioning in
Old Pic courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/ |
Ruchir Agarwal trying his hand at making Rava Dosa |
Yet, the Udupas managed a smile and continued to serve
Mangalurians with delicacies mentioned above, some of which are not found in
many places, at least with good quality at affordable prices. I must say, the
Udupas have earned the goodwill because of the daily customers from all walks
of life. They maybe high class doctors, engineers, businessmen, industrialists,
accountants, lawyers, professors or from middle class salaried public and
private sector employees, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, garage mechanics or
labourers. Indra Bhavan serves them all with equal zeal and regard. They all
sit in the common hall and relish the hot snacks and beverages, if not some
traditional sweet meat or cool pick me ups. Some of the servers and kitchen
staff have been serving here for over Three or Four decades. PG Balakrishna the
cashier has 53 years of service here! A senior waiter who posed for a pic by
the sign board at the entrance proudly says that he is the senior most among
the waiters here. I can very well remember the senior man at the parcel
counter, who was there when I first visited Indra Bhavan in the early Nineties
for food parcel.
Ruchir Agarwal says “My day is never complete without snacks and coffee at Indra Bhavan. My most favourite snacks here are buns sambar, sheera, rava dosa and golibaje. I also like other snacks here and they are very tasty and hygienic. Buns they make here has the perfect formula, the dough fermentation is consistent giving the right taste and flavour, crisp outer crust and soft spongy inner core are truly amazing! I never had any health issues like Delhi Belly as long as I ate here. When I first got the news about them being asked by the new owners to vacate the old premises, I was worried about losing my favourite hangout. When they closed down for almost 10 days for relocating, I had to depend on other restaurants and invariably developed stomach upset! I am extremely happy to have my most favourite hotel Indra Bhavan next door”.
Blany fernandes of Khazana Boutique says that he frequently comes here for snacks and tea. “Taste is the same as when I used to come here since I was a small boy”, he says. He adds that though Mangaluru has many modern restaurants with a/c ambiance, nothing beats the homeliness and heritage within Indra Bhavan and its employees.
Vasantha Bangera who runs his two wheeler garage Ganesh Auto Works smiles and says, Indra Bhavan is part of my life, and I have grown with it. You can’t find any food stuff here which can have negative remarks. Taste, cost, quality and quantity remain consistent. We don’t have match for Indra Bhavan in our area.
Another regular customer, the famous Yakshagana exponent and scholar Dr. Prabhakar Joshi says “Indra Bhavan means so many things for a Mangalurian with a taste for traditional snacks. It has memories, it has history, it has culture and it has amity. You can indulge in social networking without modern technology or electronic media, at Indra Bhavan! You can suddenly bump into an old friend parted long ago, settled in a distant country, eating goli baje and buns here. You can just sit aloof, sip a cup of coffee and reminisce over the Fifties and the Sixties Mangaluru. You can talk to the waiters and feel nostalgic! Indra Bhavan has that magic, which modern swanky restaurants lack. For contemporaries like me, it is nothing less than a temple!”
I met senior Advocate Kedla Shivarama Rao at the new premises and he looked very happy about Indra Bhavan still continuing to serve in a new premises. “Starting from my college days, I was regular at Vishwa Bhavan, especially from 1975 to 1979. Then when I started my profession in 1980, I changed over to Indra Bhavan and ever since, a regular here. Their tasty and inexpensive traditional treats keep me fit and fine, always cheerful. I am an old fashioned man still traveling by city bus in spite of owning good cars, eating out at old hotels like Indra Bhavan in spite of affording food in Star comfort! Happiness is being associated with common people, simple living and high thinking. Indra Bhavan provides me food for the mind and body, both.”
I agree with all of them, for I have experienced it all during my visits to Indra Bhavan over the last 26 years. People who come here for breakfast or evening tea are mostly friendly, and perhaps the food here makes them all equally amicable!
I have tried to compare new setup with old one in the pictures above, to show
that nothing has changed much except premises and interiors for Indra Bhavan. Clean
vitrified flooring and strong moulded seats with same white marble top tables
and granite benches at the entrance for waiting customers, airy bright
interiors with ethnic old style windows, and pleasant colour scheme of exterior
and interior walls spell comfort. Two kitchens, one for making dosa and hot
beverages on the ground floor level and the other in basement level for making
other snacks look slightly smaller compared to the old setup but the cooks render
their service without much sweat even in the scorching summer heat, thanks to
good planning and ventilation. Same experienced staff with an addition of few
young faces continue to serve customers, regular well wishers, more new
customers visit here for definitely the best, gentle goli baje, bouncy buns and
other fried stuff, if not delectable dosas, awesome avalakki, superb sheera and
ultimate uppittu! Except a few snacks, prices for all the snacks continue to be
same as before, although operational costs are much higher in new premises. They
have invested in energy conservation with alternative fuel like cashew shell husk
for cooking. I didn’t forget to consume a cup of hot coffee and take a parcel
consisting of 3 plates of goli baje, 4 buns, 3 sajjige(uppittu) and 3 kesari
bhaat(sheera) for home, which cost just Rs. 200/- including an environmentally
friendly carry bag. The Udupas thus believe in social justice or in Sanskrit
‘Sarve Janaah Sukhino Bhavantu’.
Indra Bhavan has changed premises, but kept promises.
Indra Bhavan has changed premises, but kept promises.
Making Goli Baje at the old premises |
Making Masala Dosa |
Expert Coffee Maker |
5 comments:
Nice photos. Good article.
Well written..nice to see lot of pics of my fav snacks👌👍
Thank you for publishing the past and present story of Indra Bhavana...wonderful article ...thank you...sir
_Prakash.udupa
I completely agree with you sir, well penned too....I wish Udupa family will continue this legacy forever.
Geetha Rao
Shifted to better place..and food really tastes better in here..
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