Adengada Rajesh Achaiah

Adengada Rajesh Achaiah from Kodagu is an entrepreneur who owns the Papera restaurant in Gonikoppal. Rajesh was called as ‘pape’ by his friends during his college days. Pape is referred as ‘Sir’ in Yarava Thakk and that’s how the restaurant got its name.

Under the brand name “Papera” he has 3 businesses running in parallel food, home stay and boutique . He has a collection of antiques which are displayed in the restaurant.

Family

Father

Adengada Nanjappa Bilur

Mother

Adengada (Ajjamada) Parvathi Nanjappa

Wife

Adengada (Appumaniyanda) Thanuja

Son

Adengada Lian Ganapathy

Education

• A BBM Graduate from St Aloysius College, Mangalore

Career

• Rajesh had no plans to start a restaurant until a friend of his encouraged him to host a few guests at his house.
• He started as a home stay in 2009 and started expanding his business by opening a restaurant named Papera in Gonikoppal.

Achievements

• He started a Home stay in 2009
• In 2010 he started a small eatery called Taste Buds
• Initially he started catering Kodava cuisine for small events and later moved in to a larger space in 2011.

Antiques Collector 

• Rajesh was always curious to know about Kodava culture. He was fascinated by the lifestyle of kodavas and to know more about it he spoke to elderly people and gathered more knowledge about the culture and the restaurant was designed accordingly. The main motive for displaying the antiques is to educate his customers and especially the younger generation of the tools and techniques that were used during the olden days. 
• He started collecting antiques 25 yrs ago. A few of his collections belonged to his grandfather which he found in his attic. He sourced from people who had their house renovated or were giving it away for a fair price which was an investment in itself.

Entrepreneur

• Body Cover Garment Shop – Gonikoppal
• Papera Restaurant – Gonikoppal 
• Papera Home stay – Nelji