Journalism of Courage
One day in 2019 an unexpected guest, who was then the chief secretary to the treasury of the UK government, dropped into Vidyarthi Bhavan (VB), the much-loved restaurant in Bengaluru, and relished its famous crispy ‘masala dosae’. Cut to October 2022. Arun Adiga, the managing partner of VB, is more than elated to witness their old guest – Rishi Sunak – being appointed the British Prime Minister.
Of late, a photograph of Sunak having food at the iconic eatery located in Basavanagudi has gone viral on Twitter, putting Bengalureans on cloud nine. VB has served its famous ‘masala dosae’ to several personalities belonging to political, cultural, literary, and business circles. But serving ‘dosae’ to a future British PM was never in the wildest dreams of the VB owners.
Adiga told IE.com, “The senior Murthys (Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty) who were regular to VB had brought Rishi (Rishi Sunak), his wife Akshata Murthy and their children to taste the ‘masala dosae’ one evening. At that time, I had no idea about his political image and I had learnt that he was an economist who was working closely with the UK government.”
Though Adiga did not want to intrude much into their privacy, he managed to click a photo of Sunak as he finished eating the ‘dosae’. “He gave thumbs up after enjoying the food,” recalled Adiga.
Adiga said that the management and the staff were pleasantly surprised when they had come to know that Sunak was in the prime minister’s race. “When his appointment was almost confirmed, I managed to extract the picture from the archive and shared it on social media. In fact, months before Sunak became a PM contender, his parents had visited our eatery,” Adiga said.
Adiga explained that VB is all about ‘rekindling memories’ which is why the prominent personalities in Bengaluru visit the eatery.
Started as a small canteen to cater to the needs of the students from the nearby National High School and Acharya Patashala, Venkataramana Ural, who hails from Saligrama near Udupi, set up VB in the early 1943-44.
He later passed it on to his brother Parameshwara Ural under whom it bloomed into a restaurant.
In 1970, VB was taken over by Ramakrishna Adiga who hailed from Shankaranaryana, a village near Kundapur. Though the new management took over, the name, tradition, and recipes all remained the same, and so were the employees.
Over the years, VB has changed very little except for its interiors and accessories to add an extra bit of comfort and convenience to its everyday growing customers.
The eatery is known for its famous ‘masala dosae’ which appears thick on the outside yet crispy as you savour it. What completes the food palate is the crunchy ‘maddur vada’ and a cup of hot coffee.
Adiga, an engineer by profession, quit his job to assist his father Ramakrishna Adiga in 2005. Currently, the father-son duo has been continuing the 79-year-old legacy. “We are not the original owners of the eatery. It was taken over by my dad in the 70s and we continued serving crispy ‘masala dosae’, after the recipes were transferred to us. In fact, we are the custodians of several memories left by our customers who visited our eatery,” said Adiga.
He also said that the eatery was not just a place to savour masala dosas. “It was also a place where political leaders, literary icons, students, working professionals, exchanged ideas and opinions.”
While asserting that the management does not want to open another branch or give a luxurious look to the eatery, Adiga said that they follow the principle of rekindling the memories. “We want people to visit and revisit only to recall their conversations and the moments they spent at VB.”
The hotel is open from 6,30 am to 11 am and from 2 pm to 8 pm on all days except Friday. The restaurant is closed on Fridays because it did not function on the day when India got independence – on August 15, 1947 – which was a Friday.
Some of the famous politicians who had come for a quick bite at Vidyarthi Bhavan are former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, and former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa, S M Krishna, and N Dharam Singh. The restaurant also tickled the taste buds of writers and poets such as Patil Puttappa, G S Shivarudrappa, K S Nissar Ahmed, Chandrashekhara Kambara and Siddalingaiah.
