“Heyy, you are on my places to eat in NYC. Will you be at the Park today?”
“Hi, not in the Park today and tomorrow. See you on Monday”
This is one of the regular conversations on the Twitter wall of a street food vendor in New York. Keeping apart north-east America's love for hot-dogs and donuts, the commoners of NYC are romancing the hot and cheesy dosas stuffed with lentils and other veggies. Yes, this is about the much famed Dosa man of New York City, Thirukumar Kandasamy.
By around nine in the morning, you can see a sturdy, gray-moustached man pushing his cart up the lanes of Washington square park. When steam starts rising from his chimney, people gather around the vendor to partake in the cheered dosa trade. This Sri Lankan man migrated to New York with a bag full of dreams back in the dawn of the 21st century and now his busy, sought after Dosa cart explains why the country is called the 'city of dreams.'
Thirukumar or just 'Thiru' was a diving coach in Jaffna who surprised his students with his skills in touching the bottom of the water. He tagged along his lady love, Rajini, in his busy life through a 'love marriage' and fathered Sajini, their beautiful little girl. He oversaw his cousin's restaurant during free hours and explored the dark caves of his country as a hobby.
There was one more thing he could surprise others with, one discrete skill he inherited from his mother and grandmother: making instant, spicy, cheesy masala dosas. Thiru somehow had an intuition that dosas were going to determine his future. The Dosa man of New York has now got active fan clubs in Canada, Japan and California.
Thiru has been a vegan for over eighteen years and he follows his ideology in his business too. The NYC Dosas are devoid of dairy products, animal derivatives and artificial taste-makers. His phone constantly rings with orders and Thiru never misses his deadlines. Customers wait patiently in long queues and some even volunteer in helping Thiru manage his orders. Thiru's dosa cart remains open and active till 9 pm, until he runs out of batter and veggies.
“I kept switching jobs after we migrated to US as family. I worked in construction sites for long and got acquainted with tools like chisels. I fell in love with chisels so deeply that I realized I couldn't handle a spatula that easily. Yes, I use chisels to flip and cut my dosas,” Thiru laughs. “My fan clubs in Japan and Canada have presented me some good T-shirts with writings like 'The dosa man' and 'NY Dosas.' This badminton cap is part of the state's street vending policies,” Thiru explains his costume.
The walls of Thiru's dosa cart are filled with news paper cuttings and certificates he received from around the world. Thiru and his dosa point is mentioned in the official travel guides of forty two nations. “I had real hard times with the US crowd in the beginning,” says Thiru, “Back in the 90's it was the gangster-age when you couldn't stay in a daily wage chore for long. That's when I thought mixing rice, lentils and potatoes would keep me light minded and happy.”
Thiru's masala dosas are accompanied with a spicy fried coconut chutney and a lentil soup with eleven different veggies in it. The idea of opening a stationary restaurant somewhere in the NYC scares Thiru who fears losing his freedom and ideas to the interests of investors. Along with the newspaper cuttings that appeared in prominent dailies around the world, the cart also displays the prestigious Vendy Cup certificate, which he won after crowd voting, back in 2007, as a part of the vending community's yearly street-food competition.
Thiru has expanded his business to Samosas, the crunchy north-Indian snack filled with spiced mashed potatoes. He has also introduced, samosa dosas, a fusion of north Indian and south Indian flavors. He has got some very loyal customers who's been dining from his dosa cart for over ten years. “He makes authentic dosas. Those that beat the one we make at home,” one of them says. “I just love the way he mixes rice, lentils and spices, a magic that NYC's versatile kitchens lack,” says another.
He also maintains an active Facebook page and Twitter handle through which he shares his updates with his customers. “Hi, we are open today. Welcome to the Washington Square Park,” says one Fb status; “Here is a Jaffna special herb dosa. Come soon,” says another. His fans and followers enthusiastically respond to his updates and keep the social butterfly in full-fling.
When the clock ticks nine, Thiru turns off the flame, closes the cart all in a hurry, and heads home: for he knows that his daughter wouldn't wait a minute more to have some fun time with her dad. Thiru has long days which starts at five in the morning; 9 pm is thus quite 'late in the night' for a man who handles a twelve-hour-shift.
