Of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s sweet tooth & appetite for Jaipur’s Moongthal

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was very fond of eating. And, people in Rajasthan have fond recollection of his appetite for Jaipur’s famous Moongthal that would be ordered from Sondhya Halwai and his love for Rabri that made him amble towards the famous Mahaveer Rabri Bhandar.

During one of his many visits to Jaipur, he used to savour moong thal and rabri with his friend Vidyasagar Rastogi. The son of Vidyasagar Rastogi and the additional solicitor general of the union government, Rajdeepak Rastogi, gave this information while reliving his memories with the inimitable Vajpayee.

Rajdeepak told DNA that “I remember many memoirs of Atal Ji. It was my dual relationship with Atal ji. He was my father’s friend and my Nana (maternal grandfather) Ji was one of the senior RSS functionaries with Atal Ji. Atal Ji had great respect for my nana and my father. My maternal grandfather was the Sanghachalak of Rajasthan Prant unit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) for 35 years. My father was the President of Dholpur unit of Jana Sangh”. I was influenced by Atal Ji since childhood. Seeing Atal Ji, I learned to speak, learned to debate”, he added. Rajdeepak said that “Atal Ji was a very cheerful person. I joined the RSS because of Atal Ji. It’s an incident of my childhood that I keep recollecting. This incident that I am going to narrate underlines the character of Atal ji and the man he is that we have come to know,” he said. Atal Ji came to our house and asked me, do you play Kabaddi? I said yes. Atal Ji said that go to the RSS Shakha and play there. After this, I started going to the RSS Shakha. Atal Ji lovingly used to call my father “Guru”. Our family had been shifted to Agra for some time. Atal Ji came to our house at Agra.

That day my dad had gone to the bus stand to pick him. Unfortunately for them, their car had broken down on their return home. So, my dad asked, “what do we do now?” Atal Ji was his usual calm self. He said let’s take a walk. We can can walk the remain stretch. “Then two had a better idea. They took a rickshaw back home. We had a photograph of that which we cannot relocate,” Rastogi said. Atal Ji told my father that the “Guru Gopal Das ka Petha and Bhimsen Baijnath Ki Dalmoth Khilao”. My father immediately went to the market and came back with Petha and Dalmoth. Similarly, when he came to Jaipur, he used to demand the Moongthal of Sondhya Halwai and Rabri of Mahavir Rabri Bhandar. Recalling a memoir of Atal ji about the BJP, Rajdeepak said, “when Atal Ji was in Jana Sangh, then I asked why did you not join such a small party. Atalji had said that I would not stay, but one day the whole country will be painted in saffron colour. (Ek din Mai Nahi Rahunga, Lekin Pura Desh Keshariya Rang Mei Ranga Hoga).

Fond Recollection

During one of his many visits to Jaipur, he used to savour moongthal and rabri with his friend Vidyasagar Rastogi. The son of Vidyasagar Rastogi and the additional solicitor general of the union government, Rajdeepak Rastogi, gave this information while reliving his memories with the inimitable Vajpayee. Rajdeepak told DNA that “I remember many memoirs of Atal Ji.”