When food gives …..story of Vishala

Food is a giver and I have never doubted this … because this keeps coming back to me like a universal truth.

In my travels for a food show there was a lot I learnt in Amdavad but more than the learning, there was a lot that I was touched, moved and inspired by. One such story is the story of Mr Surendra Patel.

An architect by profession, he has been running a F&B operation for 35 years by the name of vishala …. and has quite a story to tell. Fed up of the city life he decided to make people feel the same way like he felt when he used to vacation in his paternal village.

He named the place after “Badri Vishala”, a place of meditation in the Himalayas, where many ascetics including Shri Swaminarayan have found nirvana and him being an ardent follower of the lord, established an Idol in the compound and thus started cooking prasad for the Bhog. It’s this prasad that is still served at the place after the evening pooja.

In 1981, he went to buy some utensils for the restaurants in a nearby city only to find that people were selling old brass and copper utensils for money.

He was moved by the loss of heritage and bought back a truck full of utensils! After that he kept all his wives ornaments in mortgage to buy more utensils.

He got a big project and made enough money to get them back, but by this time he had become notorious for buying utensils, so the company chose to give the money to his wife instead….

Today in Vishala stands a museum called “Vichaar” which has the largest collection of utensils in this part of the world. His restaurant has no design, design he says, was created by man to understand things. Eventually we just get bored and move on to the

next thing to understand. According to him, nature just gives, and we attach meanings and celebrations to it.

His restaurant has over 150 employees and has served many a dignitaries, heads of states and celebrities. Employee perks include free haircuts and bonus on quitting smoking!! …

He unassumingly and nonchalantly gives all the credit to his friends who helped him with money and his wife who stood by him when he sold everything he had, to buy utensils and pile them up every where in Vishala; yet after you talk to him and walk around…he is every where in Vishala – in its simplicity ,sincerity and honesty…a great example of giving back …

Food has obviously given him enough. What started as prasad for the temple is now a feast for a humungous restaurant, which is always full. Yet Patel is not happy because he hasn’t given back enough to food.
An amazing relationship with food, “the relationship of giving” Way to go Mr Patel ….