The “Baba ka Dhaba” went viral after a boy named Rajat Gupta, aged 24 shared a video he made on his smartphone with a hope that it could help the poor elderly couple. The video was shared on Facebook live where he clouted his lips with a loud voice and commented, “Ah! What a meal it was. You can see, I am outside Baba ka Dhaba…”
Baba Ka Dhaba is a small food cubicle run by an eighty year old couple named Prasad and Badami Devi. The kiosk got viral in just 24 hours after the video was shared. in the video, Rajat a Delhi food-blogger was having a conversation with Prasad, when Prasad was wiping his tears as he described the menu of his home-cooked meal. And by the Thursday morning, #BabaKaDhaba was the most trending hashtag on all of the social media platforms. His Thursday’s menu was chapatti, dal, rice, rajma, muttar-paneer, and stufeed potato and onion parathas. Each of the food item falls under the price range of Rs 20 and Rs 50. Prasad cooked 2kg of muttar-paneer on Thursday that was double the quantity that he cooked daily. By the 12 o’clock, there was a gathering of over 60-70 people, all of them were wearing masks and maintaining the necessary distance.
Seeing that, officials from the nearby police station came there to remind people not to violate social distancing rules. Prasad’s son Azad said, “We have a small cabin. On any regular day, we hardly sell around 20 plates of each food item from 9 am to 3 pm. The number of plates sold per item decreased to below 5 since we reopened the shop in June after two months of lockdown. We often had to take back food and eat it ourselves or sometimes distribute among neighbours. Today was really a blessing.”
Somnath Bharti, lawmaker of Malviya Nagar said, “I would soon start a survey of all such small eateries in the constituency and provide assistance to those in need.”
Bollywood celebrities coming forward to help Baba Ka Dhaba
Bollywood celebrities are also coming forward in the support of this small eatery by promoting the videos and hashtags on their social media posts.
Raveena Tandon wrote on Twitter, “#BabaKaDhaba #dilliwalon #dil #dikhao. Whoever eats here, sends me pic, I shall put up a sweet message with your pics ! Heart suit #supportlocalbusiness #localvendors.”
Swara Bhasker invited Delhi to make a plan to savour matar paneer at Baba Ka Dhaba. “Dilli, chalo Baba Ka Dhaba par matar paneer khaate hain. Malviya Nagar mein. #SupportSmallBusinesses #VocalForLocal #ShowHeart (Delhi, let’s go to Baba Ka Dhaba and have some matar paneer in Malviya Nagar).”
Randeep Hooda shared the detailed address of the place and urged his fans to visit the place when in the capital. He tweeted, “Do visit if you are in Delhi! Folded hands. Folded hands. Block B, Shivalik Colony, Opposite Hanuman Mandir, Malviya Nagar, South Delhi. #SupportLocal #BabaKaDhaba.”
