Vidyarthi Bhavan

Well, well....who'd have thought I'd wait an hour and a half for a dosa.....but that's what this Sunday morning was about; breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan.

Vidyarthi Bhavan was a hangout of my dad's during his college days, the days of dosa for one rupee, and a one by two coffee.....and we're talking sixty years back (it's been around since 1943), and what's amazing is that it's like time has stood still at VB. Nothing's changed, not the board, the tables, the walls..all from time bygones. It's like my dad said, the dosas taste of nostalgia and college days. 

Nobody warned me.....nobody said, it's a sort of food heritage spot and popular with South Bangaloreans as a Sunday morning outing, so I went totally unprepared. And because I live close, Amit's like 'smitha akka, you go early and book the table no, the market around is really interesting and you won't get bored, I promise'

And when I went, what I saw was this:

After the initial shock, Diksha and I decided we'd give it a shot, so book the table we did, and then set out to explore the market around.  

Apparently it's a super popular place and the crowd was crazy, they have an old fashioned number system, which by the way, works rather efficiently. There's this elderly man standing at the entrance, full dhothi and vibudhi, and with a book and pen, and he writes down your name and gives you a number and that number gets screamed out when it's your turn ( which doesn't come for an hour atleast ). And it's pretty parochial I should say....someone in between gave their details in English and that old man says, 'Kannada dali maatadi' and it was so interesting to see the crowd break into a spontaneous round of applause. And then you know how they love their kannada :)

The dosas are an absolute delight, thick and crisp and golden brown, and it's so amazing to see how they carry the doses, fifteen plates on one arm. In a city that's well reputed for it's dosas, this place is known to serve the best, and it didn't disappoint. 

It's also a known cultural hub for writers, artists, actors, and the like...... with intense discussions over doses and coffees, and it's supposedly the spot where a lot of creative ideas in Bangalore were born.

The market around was, as promised, fascinating. The varieties of flowers, the garlands ( some of which were a mind boggling three thousand rupees a pair), the fruits...all full time pass,  and Diksha and I were quite happy exploring around for a good half hour.

There's also a really endearing story attached: 

Murthy, who was a waiter with Vidyarthi Bhavan for nearly 40 years, loved to draw, and when the hotel closed in the afternoon, he would practise with a chalk on the wooden benches. The proprietor had clearly told him that it had to be cleaned before customers came in. One day, he forgot to do this, and it was noticed by Aa. Na. Subbarao, the brilliant artist who ran Kalamandira – he was a regular at the hotel. “He was very impressed with my work. He asked me to come to his art school and taught me for free,” Murthy becomes emotional. It was because of Aa. Na. Subbarao, Murthy says, that he was recognised by institutions like Kannada Sahitya Parishat. “The first time my paintings were bought I got Rs. 185. That day I went to him and cried.”

Murthy’s pencil sketches of many well known and lesser known personalities of Karnataka line the walls of Vidyarthi Bhavan.

A Sunday morning well spent. These are the little, casual instances that really make everyday life that much more eventful and meaningful, and I'm anyways a big sucker for nostalgia, so loved it that much more.