‘This is our answer to the IED blast’: Founders of Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe on reopening

On Friday, the founders of the cafe — Divya and Raghavendra — were back to business. The relaunch of the cafe on the occasion of Mahashivaratri and International Women’s Day was seen as a response to the “dastardly terror attack”.

“Just like my child, the four other branches of the cafe in Bengaluru are also my children. When the Brookfield branch was attacked, it did not dampen our spirits. It only united us to fight back stronger. The relaunch of The Rameshwaram Cafe here is our response to the terror attack. The relaunch is also an answer to how Indians will not be deterred by such attacks in the future,” said Divya.

The cafe is set to open its doors to the public on Saturday at 6 am. On Friday evening, the cafe was dotted with floral decorations, continuous chants of mantras by the priests and scores of well-wishers visiting the place to stand in solidarity with the team.

Not just aesthetics, the security measures have increased multifold following the attack. Raghavendra explained that the 1,500 members of The Rameshwaram Cafe family are now the guards of the cafes who will be on high alert like never before.

“The attack is definitely a wake up call. We have tightened our security which will be foolproof. We are in the process of recruiting retired army officers who will be advising us regularly on security measures. They will be training the floor managers, hotel managers and other staff to be vigil and alert at all times. We have already recruited four of them at our head office,” said Raghavendra.

He added, “We have also installed two metal detectors at the entrance and 25 additional CCTV cameras. We also appeal to other hotels and restaurants, with the help of the hotels association, they too should install metal detectors for a foolproof security system. We have also directed our staff to report any bag in the Lost and Found WhatsApp group if left unclaimed for more than 5-10 minutes.”

Lalith, a hotel staff who was preparing dosa in the kitchen at the time of the blast, recounted, “Suddenly, we all heard a loud blast and all we could see later was smoke and customers fleeing the hotel. Before helping others, the kitchen staff turned off all equipment. We did not leave anything unattended.”

Raghavendra, who employs around 1,500 members across all the branches, said, “Not a single employee left the cafe. In fact, one of the employees was bleeding after the blast. He told me “sir, let’s get down to business tomorrow. We are with you”. Such committed employees are what motivated us to kickstart our operations within a week.”

Another hotel staff member said, “Raghavendra sir held a meeting with us after the blast. He became very emotional. All he said was that we are going to create a new Rameshwaram Cafe from now. We all realized that despite challenges, we can’t leave the town which is giving us our food, livelihood. We are excited to see and experience this new phase now.”

Pramod N, an HR professional who regularly visits the café, said, “I come to this cafe usually for lunch. However, I am still surprised how the cafe managed to begin its operations so early. I still believe people will take some time to come back in huge numbers as they used to, given the security concerns.”

Chethan Kumar, another customer who visited the cafe on Friday, said, “The blast will only make the cafe and the management stronger. The cafe is known for its ghee podi dosa, podi idli and people, especially the IT professionals, around the area will show up at the cafe like they used to before.”

Meanwhile, the cafe incurred some damages with major impact near the hand wash area which had to be revamped. The roof, cash counter, glasses and the logo of the cafe which was damaged during the blast now stand fixed.