How wonderful it is to be immortalised in food after one’s days on earth are done! Totaram ji would be delighted as his granddaughter Ranjana Singhal has done just that by naming a café after him. He was a man who believed that frugality was a virtue. A Gandhian, he took part in the freedom struggle, and simplicity and discipline were the cornerstones of his life, explains Ranjana.
Café Totaram is charming. Green painted glass doors welcome you inside. An entire wall dedicated to Totaram and what he stood for. He cycled 50 kilometres everyday to work, and to remember that about her granddad or Bauji as Ranjana refers to him, there is a cycle seat, pedals and cycle chain mounted on the wall.
Ranjana remembers a childhood spent in a joint family, unconsciously absorbing the principles the elders in her family lived by.
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“I never gave that a second thought till now. Today, we speak of sustainable development, waste-not-want-not, reduce, recycle and refuse…My grandfather and, I am sure, others of his generation lived by these doctrines.”
“I truly want to try and follow his principles,” says Ranjana.
So, the café is minimalist. The menu is limited and simple. The cutlery and flatware are disposable. And visitors are encouraged to bring their own water (you can buy water if you want). Table mats are old newspapers with the Totaram parrot in bright red stamped across it. And in keeping with the Gandhian philosophy of sustainable development, everything the café, from ingredients for the food to the disposable plates, cups, etc., as far as possible, is sourced from Coimbatore. “I would like to grow and I would like to take others in my city along too,” says Ranjana.
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Venue: 245/1 Ground Floor, Race Course
Telephone: 0422- 4364116/117
Time: 12.30 p.m. to 10 p.m.