"I wanted to start a shop that was my own. I didn't want to depend on anyone"

Nagasri doesn’t look at the tawa. She’s swamped by requests that pour into her 15-year-old kitchen every morning — “Four dosas parcel”, “One egg extra”, “Aunty! How are you?”

As she caters to hungry breakfast-goers in a quiet backstreet of Hyderabad’s Madhura Nagar, I worry about the unattended batter on the tawa. I didn’t need to though. Because just when it’s crisp and golden, Nagasri rushes back, neatly folding each dosa onto plates.

I squeeze behind her small storefront, between fading yellow walls and a canister full of tomato chutney. In the midst of orders, Nagasri tells me she learnt to cook at the age of 11, when her mother unexpectedly fell ill. Later, her family moved from Bhimavaram to Hyderabad, selling tiffins on and off. “After my mother’s death, I wanted to start a shop that was my own. I didn’t want to depend on anyone,” she says. “And so I started it. Pragna Dosa.”

Upon discontinuing her B.A, Nagasri worked odd desk jobs. “No matter what I did, I never felt satisfied.” The shop has changed that. Now, her days begin at 5 am, prepping for the hundreds of dosas she serves each day.

“My old customers have moved to different-different places, other countries even,” recalls Nagasri. “They still visit me when they’re back, and bring their kids too! That makes me so happy. To make and give, there’s so much happiness in it.”

Nagasri’s humble enterprise isn’t without challenges. “When my hand got fractured, I was in the hospital for five days. My whole hand was in pain. There was a rod placed here,” adds Nagasri, caressing the old wound. “Despite that, I came to the shop. I wanted to come and cook.” She smiles, “Back in the day, there was nothing like this in the area. I was the first woman to start it.”

More customers pour in. I quickly ask for a dosa and prepare to leave. Egg dosa is without doubt her bestseller, and Nagasri’s favourite from her four-item menu, alongside her tomato chutney I spotted earlier.

“This is my specialty. Customers love it,” she reveals. I ask what it’s made of.

“Everyone has their way of making it. And this is mine. I add ingredients…but I can’t tell you those,” she laughs.