At the “dosa man’s” joint in NYU

May 6, 2014: Yesterday, I spent some time at the WFUNA office and in the evening went to the Pongal restaurant for a dosa.

Later in the afternoon, I went to the New York University again and had a meeting with Prof Gabriela Nik Ilieva. We discussed few topics common to the interests of the New York University and Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

The moment I came out of the meeting I saw in front of me a thela-type dosa stall and immediately recognized that it was the famous Tiru Kumar.

Tiru Kumar is also known as the “dosa man Kumar”. He sells vegan food and says it aloud with pride – “I am a vegan and I am proud to sell vegetarian food; I want Indian food to be tasted internationally”. Tiru Kumar hails from Jaffna in Sri Lanka and has a Tamil Nadu connection. For the past 13 years he has been making dosa, uttapam and idli and selling in front of New York University at the Washington Square.

Recently, the local authorities allowed him to put his stall inside the Park as well for which he is very happy. Before opening this very popular food thela for New York University students, he also worked in a restaurant and a gas station in 1995.

Another interesting thing is that for the past 12 years the price of his dosa, uttapam, idli, vegetarian roll remained unchanged. He raised it recently after a long spell and rising costs. Tiru Kumar and his New York Dosa Tiru Stall has been featured in various food magazines and columns across the world.

It is always good to see such self made men and women who have carved out a niche for themselves. In his own words, “I can guarantee you can have dosa if you come at 11 am, but if you are late, I can’t say you will get one.” It is so true.

ess bee