Hyderabad Tiffins & Meals

If you go down the Attapur Ring Road and look for Pillar number 101, you’ll find us right across from it. We are in shop number 2. Being right on the ring road means there is a lot of noise and a lot of people passing through who are in a big hurry. We do tiffins and meals, so we have to be fast. The morning starts with the tiffin prep—idli, vada, and all the usual things people want for breakfast. The steam from the idli cookers fills up the front of the shop early on. It’s a lot of work to keep things moving when twenty people show up at once wanting breakfast before work. We don't have a lot of space for people to linger, so it’s mostly about getting the food served and keeping the line moving. The kitchen stays busy right through the afternoon for the lunch meals. We use a lot of stainless steel plates and bowls, so the sound of washing up is constant in the background. It’s not a glamorous job, and the road dust is something we have to fight every day with the brooms and mops. But we’ve got a good rhythm going here opposite the pillar. We just provide regular food for people who are on their way somewhere else. It is a simple life and we keep at it from dawn until the evening.