BENGALURU: Dosae met history in this guided tour, titled ‘Death By Dosa’. The title, of course, was a homage to the iconic desert ‘Death by Chocolate’, a crowd-favourite at a popular city ice cream joint. The early morning walk with history enthusiast and guide Prathyush Mandar of Gully Tours took us to three food and three historic stops in the bustling lanes of Chickpet.
The first stop was coffee, and Mandar led us to a coffee truck, explaining the history of the beverage — its journey from Yemen to India. The truck itself was started by employees who took voluntary retirement from the Coffee Board. Mandar says, “These people have come here every day without fail since the ’90s, and sell coffee without chicory.” Mandar walks us to Rice Memorial Church, the official starting point of the tour. And then it’s a long walk through the twisting and turning gullies of Chickpet until we reach the first dosa stop: CTR. It’s a nondescript place, but Mandar says,
“The mini masala dosae is amazing here.” So that’s what we all go for. Deeper into the streets, we finally figured out the source of the ever-present background noise. Power looms, weaving sarees with zari work. The entire street is related to saree production in some way, there are suppliers for saree boxes, zari workers, and designers. “This is where the saree production happens, and they are sold at a market that begins on another street,” he says.
Next, we entered the dilapidated Mohan building, which is valuable property but cannot be sold owing to historical and practical reasons. The building has seen several generations of people from the British times — it was somebody’s residence, then a British police station, lodging house, and now, it’s owned by Rex theatres. At the next food stop, Lakshmi Narayan Refreshments, we ordered the ghee podi masala dosae, after which we took a look at the gold workers, one of whom showed us a locket being worked on.
Mandar says, “Most workers here are of the Vishwakarma caste, though there are also settlers from Maharashtra and Bengal. They work with precious metal, and pass on the trade to newer learners.” Soon, we reached the last dosae point, and this was the best one yet, with the generous helping of sagu and chutney. With our hearts and bellies full, there was one more historical place to cover, and it was an antique shop called Balaji’s Antiques and Collectibles. The store houses everything from vintage cigarette lighters and old pictures, to Air India Maharaja figures. After a delicious spread of history, we said our goodbyes, making a mental note to return again and soon.