Surya’s candidature makes Pani Puri Kumar a celeb

Bengaluru: Tejasvi Surya’s candidature announcement on Monday has made an unlikely celebrity of a man who runs a chaat shop.

Pani Puri vendor Kumar HR, whose pushcart is stationed a stone’s throw away from Surya’s residence in Giri Nagar and is in the business for 30 years now, was taken by surprise at his sudden fame.

“Pani Puri at Girinagar Circle is a must try. If you happen to pass by this circle, stop and have two plates minimum (sic),” tweeted Surya, 28, hours before the BJP announced his candidature from Bengaluru South.

His tweet accompanied by a picture of him having Pani Puri with his friends from Kumar’s pushcart went viral on social media. Through the day, enthusiastic customers were seen whipping out their smartphones and making Kumar look through their social media timelines inundated with his mentions and pictures.

Kumar though had little time for the frills that come with attention. It’s the start of the week and it was business as usual for him. As he jabbed a hole into the puffed puris and added scoops of filling into them, he was willing to let us on a wish for his most famous customer. “I hope he has good plans to make all our lives better,” Kumar said.

“Surya has been my regular customer from his childhood. He often comes here with his friends during weekends,” he said even as he kept serving his customers.

“Surya came here yesterday with his friends but he never discussed politics. In fact, I came to know about his candidature only today evening. After he posted my picture on Twitter, many people were asking me whether the photo posted was mine. I am happy that he is contesting for the MP elections from here,” he said.

Kumar, who opens his shop at 5pm and works till about 10pm, sells about 200 plates of Pani Puri a day. Many of his regular customers agreed with Surya’s hard sell of Kumar’s Pani Puris. “If you buy one plate, then you will end up buying one more. We are glad that Kumar’s Pani Puri became famous after Tejasvi’s candidature,” said Srikanth S, a regular customer.