An Introvert’s Gourmet Tale
So how does an introvert travel?
Last weekend, I was in Bangalore for some personal work. I met a lot of my old friends and had a great time with them. I had taken one day off on work on Monday and had decided to use the afternoon to search for some good South Indian restaurants and have snacks there.
A disclaimer- I am a die-hard fan of South Indian vegetarian food, namely Idlis, Dosas, Vadas, and the likes. It might not seem very common for a Punjabi person to be addicted to South Indian food (and this was long before I stayed in Hyderabad for two years), but ever since I had the delicious food at Anand restaurant in Jamshedpur, as a 4 or 5-year-old, I have been hooked to it ever since.
So like a typical introvert who loves to plan out the details, I got searching the previous night itself. I went to Google Baba and made a list of 4–5 restaurants that had ratings of over 4/5, and were at a distance of fewer than 10 kms at the place I was staying at. After a lot of further research and analysis, I decided upon two restaurants- Vidhyarthi Bhavan and Taaza Thindi. MTR was one such restaurant in my original list, but since I have eaten there earlier, I rejected the same. I had enough time to visit exactly two restaurants, considering the insanity of Bangalore traffic.
I must confess first, that I was here on a short trip, and I do not understand any Kannada (though strictly, you don’t really need to know it if you are not staying here, English and Hindi will suffice). My first stop was the famous Vidhyarthi Bhavan, which I had seen in many videos and even documentaries. I was always curious to try the Dosa there. And to witness the kilometer long waiting queues outside. So I booked a cab and reached the Gandhi Bazaar area. There were a lot of shops selling flowers. Unfortunately for me, I could not locate the restaurant. I kept walking around and around but somehow missed it. The introvert in me forbade asking anyone for the exact directions. Instead, I chose to refer to Google Maps again and again. The location seemed just 50 meters away but I could not locate it, come what may. I actually walked in circles twice for almost 15–20 minutes, and finally, I checked some pictures of it online. It suddenly struck me that the restaurant was actually hidden from view by those flower shops. I finally reached there, and to no surprise, saw at least 30 people seated/standing outside the place, waiting for their turns.
There was one elderly gentleman seated on a stool, who was noting down the names of the people in the waiting list neatly in a diary, in Kannada. I told him my name, and he had some difficulty in writing it down (You don’t get to write a Sikh name in Kannada daily I suppose). That being done, all I had to do now was to wait. So a neat 30 minutes later, finally my turn arrived. I was sharing my table with 3 other people (what do you expect at such a famous place?). The person taking the order apparently did not understand what I wanted, so he got me the same stuff that the other people were having (Not that I minded, it was Vada and Masala Dosa, something which I love). To be honest, the food wasn’t exceptionally tasty or anything (and I have eaten a lot of South Indian food in my life), but the feeling of eating at such a place was very different than eating at a Posh AC restaurant in a mall. I finished within 10 minutes, paid the bill, and left. The first checklist is done. It was still 3 pm in the afternoon but I decided to take a break before going to my next destination.
The next restaurant on my list was Taaza Thindi, and I reached there at approximately 7 pm. The moment I got out of the cab, the first thing I noticed is *no surprises there* the people, or more specifically the insane crowd in the queue. I suppose this is a common occurrence at all the famous eating joints. So what was the first thing I did, you might think? Jump into the queue with the rest of the crowd? Absolutely not. My default mode introvert panic kicked in (which happens every time I end up in a crowded area), and my initial impulse was to immediately book another cab and just get the hell out of that area. I actually walked away 100 meters to just visualize and understand the system there. I figured out, with some minor difficulty, that there were different counters which served idli/vadas, dosas and coffee. I got into the queue, paid for idlis, dosa and a coffee, and got the coupons. From there onwards, it was a straightforward process. The place is more like a stand-and-eat kind of joint, rather than having tables to sit. There are some seating areas too but in a cramped space. I quickly wolfed down my food and then sat at a corner, sipping the hot coffee. To be honest, the food was delicious and even the ambiance wasn’t bad. Hygiene was strictly followed and everything was neat and clean (to my surprise). Of course, in Covid times, one may not want to eat in the midst of a huge crowd, so I understand the concern. I thanked the staff and left. Who said solo traveling is boring?
Always ready to catch up for a good dish of Masala Dosa and hot coffee by the side.
