Our man Nagesh.....


For the past one-year, we have been quite regular at our adda – Roopali (though can’t call ourselves regulars in comparison to people who have been coming to Roopali for more than 20 years). In this period, many people from the Ranade gang, who use to frequent Roopali only four – Me, Manasee (I hope I have spelled her name right, other wise she’ll verbally kill me), Saket and Paul are remaining. So by now the waiters and the management know us well. They know that we are amongst the other regulars who provide no profit for their business and just sit for hours over two cups of “strong, double strong without sugar coffee in glasses”

Often you would see us waiting outside Roopali for our favourite table in the right corner that looks on to the busy F C road, to be vacated. And, then the first hello is normally waved at our man Nagesh. Nagesh is a young man who is working at Roopali for the past seven to eight years. He started as a person who cleans tables, then progressed to cleaning utensils in the kitchen, to a cook and now is one of the waiters who wear smart white uniforms. Many, who know Nagesh, must have been introduced to him in an interesting manner. Often people have met him when they were having some intellectual conversation at their table and there comes Nagesh to share his view on the topic. Though Nagesh joined Roopali after his standard X, and dropped out of college later, he wants to study further. Unlike the waiter stereotype in the udipi restaurants, Nagesh can read and speak in English and regularly reads English newspapers. If that was not enough he often gave us news updates before attending the journalism class at Ranade Institute opposite Roopali.

If you ever want to know the cricket scores, you know whom to ask. Well, there are many roles that Nagesh plays apart from being a waiter. He often acts as a spy for us. If we want to know more about any interesting faces frequenting Roopali, then Nagesh is our man. Within few days he’ll give us all the information. You will also see Nagesh acting as a messenger for us. He knows what we like to eat and he doesn’t forget to pull Paul’s leg when he orders his favourite ‘special tomato uttapa and fresh lime soda- Plain!’ Nagesh knows when exactly to get our order just so that he can save us from Ravan’s (who I think is the manager) scary stares asking us to leave.

Thanks to Nagesh, we have shared some great laughs at Roopali. I can vouch for the fact that people like him make you a regular to Roopali