Call them anna, uncle or kaka, these are the men who make Mumbai's colleges feel like second home for students. We scout around the city to find the best
Pic/Datta Kumbhar
Around a couple of months ago, the alumni page of Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College called upon its ex-students to come over to Anna’s canteen, and savour his hit recipe — egg Burmese toast for one last time. After all, Uday Shetty aka Anna’s retirement would mean the end of an era. Batches of students had thrived on his double-omelettes and breads stuffed with sautéed tomatoes, onions, salt and pepper. While Shetty may be enjoying retirement life at his Ghatkopar home, there are many like him, who continue to helm the kitchens and canteen counters at colleges in the city.
Mukesh Rai, Jai Hind College, Churchgate
When Mukesh Rai started working as a canteen staffer at Churchgate’s Jai Hind College, a cup of tea was served for R2, and actor John Abraham was a nobody. Born in Patna, Rai moved to Mumbai in search of employment after his parents passed away. “A relative found out about the vacancy at the canteen and recommended my name,” he says. The 41-year-old started off as a kitchen help, where he would wash dishes, and later began working as a waiter. It’s only in the last couple of years that he has been assigned the cash counter. While this is a step up, Rai says he enjoyed his time as a waiter a lot more.
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“I would get to move around, interact with students and the staff,” he says. Today, as he sits behind the desk, overseeing canteen activities, Rai is one of the most popular men on campus. “Sometimes, when ex-students come with their kids to meet me, I find it difficult to place them. I’ve been here for so long and seen so many students, that it’s difficult to remember everybody,” he says. But if there’s one name he won’t forget, it’s that of Abraham. “I never thought he would become an actor,” he laughs. “He was a sweet, humble boy who loved our samosa pav and chai. Even today, if he drops by at college, he makes it a point to come to the canteen and greet us,” he says.
Till about a year ago, the canteen, which operates from 7 am to 6 pm, would also serve non-vegetarian items such as kheema pav and chicken sandwiches along with staples like dosa, vada pav and Chinese grub. But after a few complaints from Jain students, meat dishes were discontinued. “I’ve had a word with the management and they might give us a separate space to cook non-vegetarian food,” he says. Till then, to appease the carnivores, he has started serving omelette and egg frankie. “We want to give the kids whatever they want, so that they don’t have to go out,” he smiles.
Dondiram Ramchandra Chavan, DG Ruparel College, Matunga
At DG Ruparel College’s canteen, the fiery notes of schezwan sauce hit you first, followed by the sharp announcements of Dondiram Ramchandra Chavan. As eager students throng the counter, attempting to make the best of their break, Chavan effortlessly does his drill — takes orders, allots coupons, and gives the change. The 46-year-old unfailingly gives his impatient customers their orders correctly. The frontman of what is presumably one of the best college canteens in town, Chavan arrived in Mumbai from his hometown in Konkan around the early 1990s, and guesses that he joined Ruparel’s canteen when he was 21.
Pic/Ashish Raje
Known as Dondikaka to many of the students, and to some as just Dondi, Chavan says that he has never thought of another place of work. “I have gotten used to it, and I now call it home,” he tells us, as he rapidly punches a calculator for a bill. A man who has his eyes and ears trained on the job, it is hard to catch Chavan break into a full smile, but he is certainly not a grim counter-manager. “I am used to students asking orders by the dozen — their idli 65s and cold coffees. After all these years of work, registering orders and doing the math for bills, comes quickly and naturally,” he tells us, ringing a bell and calling out names of students, who have placed orders and disappeared among the benches of the canteen.
Laxman Kotian, Sir JJ School of Art, Fort
One of the best-loved canteen annas in the city, Laxman Kotian may be no more, but his spirit lives on at the Sir JJ School of Art, Fort. At the Fine Arts and Architecture canteen — one of the two on campus — is a mural dedicated to the late Kotian under a flamboyant banyan tree. The mural was made in 2011 by Kushal Mahant, who now works with Dharma Productions, and at that time, was a postgraduate fine arts student.
Pic/Bipin Kokate
The mural embodies everything that Kotian stood for on campus. Accompanying the portrait is Kotian’s cycle and his chai ketli, embedded into the wall. “He used to cycle around campus, and would also let us borrow it,” says Mahant, 32. The chai ketli is also special. “Laxman would never charge students for chai. He knew that all of us came from rural places to study here, so saving money was important,” he says.
Born on this very campus, Kotian passed away in his mid 50s. He lived in the staff quarters that was provided to his family, and continued the canteen service that his father, Ponkhara Kotian, had set up. We are told that actors Nana Patekar and Amol Palekar would swing by to say hello to them, long after they had graduated from this college. His son, Nitin, 24, no longer works in the canteen, as the service has passed on to others after tenders were floated. Nitin is employed with the architecture department at the college. He points to a painting, nestled above the cycle of a woman. The work is by his father, an addition to the institution, which thrived on his chai.
Hiroo Lalwani, HR College of Commerce and Economics, Churchgate
It's difficult to get through to canteen in-charge of HR College of Commerce and Economics, Hiroo Lalwani, anytime between 1 and 3 pm. It’s his busiest time of the day. “Fortunately, the students here are very cooperative. Despite the crowd, they don’t rush, which is why I enjoy working here,” he says. It was sometime last year that Lalwani’s employers, Sushil Caterers, who have been serving at Churchgate’s KC College for the last nine years, extended their services to the neighbouring HR College of Commerce and Economics.
“Till then, the canteen didn’t really look the part. There were no chairs or tables,” says Lalwani. Now, it’s a 40-seater canteen, which is open from 8 am to 6 pm. Unlike KC College, where the food is strictly vegetarian, here, they serve chicken as well. “It’s the reason why we see a lot of crowd. But, it’s Chinese food that kids mostly come here for,” he says.
Pics/Atul Kamble
Nagesh Pai, Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga
As the canteen in-charge at Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, caterer Nagesh Pai serves a minimum of 400 students daily. While there is a kitchen on premises, a part of the food is cooked at the nearby Welingkar Institute of Management, run by the same college management. “Earlier, kids were happy with samosa and vada pav, but these days, with more pocket money, they want variety. So, after the college was renovated five years ago, we revamped our menu and started serving everything from Chinese and South Indian food to even butter chicken,” he says.
Pics/Atul Kamble
The students address him as uncle, his colleague Santosh Pujari, who has also been working there for 16 years, is addressed as Anna. The canteen opens 9 am and shuts at 6 pm. And since the food is cooked in fixed quantities, if it’s over, it’s over. “We don’t prepare it again,” he says. While it’s still pocket friendly, the prices of items here vary slightly from other colleges, admits Pai. “I would say, it’s marginally higher. That’s also because our quantity is a lot more,” he says. From the gamut of food items on offer, it’s the misal pav that has maximum takers. “The gravy is less spicy, but tasty,” he says proudly. But competition is just across the road with popular hangouts like DP’s and the newly launched China Town. “But the charm of a college canteen is something else,” he says.
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