Dal wakes up to Gujarati thali, masala dosa

After the guns, it’s tourism talking in the Valley.

In the first month of the season, officials say domestic tourists are streaming in first—after 15 years. Over 10 lakh tourists are expected in the Valley this year and there is 100 per cent advance booking for hotels and houseboats, say tourism officials.

And probably, the best place to catch the good news is on the menu cards of restaurants and the wide smiles on the faces of their owners. On the platter: Gujarati thali, South Indian masala dosa and Punjab’s dal makhni.

‘‘Most of my customers are from Punjab and my sales have increased since I changed my signboard to Hindi,’’ says Avtar Singh of Punjabi Rasoi, a vegetarian dhaba on the banks of Dal.

Singh says it gives the tourists a feeling of belonging. ‘‘They feel that they are at their own place,’’ he says.

‘‘I was delighted to see our thali being sold here,’’ says Shankar Singh, a 48-year-old Gujarati tourist on Boulevard Road. ‘‘This is my third trip to Kashmir and unlike the past it is easy to find the food of my choice this time.’’

Mumbai businessman Ramesh Kanitkar is now sure that ‘‘Kashmir would be my preferred destination in future’’.

‘‘Earlier, I had made up my mind to visit Kashmir many times but my friends advised me against it. Now as I am here, I would like everyone to visit the place,’’ says Kanitkar. Another interesting off-shoot of this pan-Indian flavour is that more and more Kashmiris are waking up to vegetarian thalis.

‘‘It (vegetarian food) is picking up here too,’’ says the owner of Modern Vegetarian Dhaba. ‘‘Everyday, scores of Kashmiris come to my place to taste vegetarian food. Dosa and dal makhni is a favourite among local youth.’’