Aarya Bhojanalay

Our place is tucked away in Municipal Colony on Vadiya Road in Rajkot. If you are looking for us, we are right near Arvind Rekgin’s shop. Running a bhojanalay is different from a regular restaurant. It is more about the routine of cooking daily meals for people who do not have time to cook for themselves. We start in the kitchen very early, chopping onions and sorting lentils. The air in the 360001 area is usually dry and dusty, so we keep the water jugs full. We have simple wooden tables and chairs that have seen a lot of use. People come in, sit down, eat their meal, and head back to work. There is no menu with a hundred items, just whatever is fresh and ready for the day. My nephew helps me with the serving, and my sister stays in the back with the stove. We do not have any fancy signs or advertisements. The street outside is always busy with scooters and people walking to the market. We just focus on keeping the kitchen clean and the food ready on time. It is a lot of sweating over big pots, but it is what we know how to do. Sometimes we run out of something by late afternoon, and that is just how it is. We are just a small part of the daily life here in Rajkot.