Mumbai is synonymous with Bhel Puri and Vada Pav which is available throughout the city in varying degrees of shabbiness. As goes the popular myth, it is the sweat and dirt of our local Vada Pav wallah that grants it the characteristic taste that we have grown to love. Even though it is highly romanticized, the vada pav certainly is a god-send for thrifty college-goers and labourers. Prized at Rs.4 [6 if branded], it is cheap, tasty and filling
Though I have always been one of the exponents of fast food, junk food and its other variants, the stuff available outside my beloved
However on occasions when the college canteen starts resembling a local train, I have no option but to venture outside the boundaries of the college to satiate my hunger pangs. It was then that my eye fell upon the cart just opposite the gate. The cart-owner is a resourceful guy who has a wide variety of food of dubious hygiene standards ranging from Sandwiches to my favourite, samosa pav.
That day I decided to order a samosa. He experty pulled out a paper plate, picked up the smallest samosa of the lot and lavishly poured highly diluted green chutney. I could almost hear the green chutney say, “Hi there, my name’s cholera, what’s yours?”
However that didn’t deter me from having a bite into the hot realms of the samosa. I avoided having too much of the green chutney though. Unsurprisingly, inspite of failings the samosa was lip-smacking. As goes the adage, “Never judge a book by its cover.”
This is the reason why I am never going to cease eating the humble vada-pav; the small piece of edible matter that clearly defines the spirit of Mumbai and is staple food for a majority of the inhabitants of the city.
2 comments:
I should get some of my North Indian friends from LnT to read this blog. They hate any food item that even remotely shows any relation to Mumbai (Vada pav tops that list, btw).
Try eating it on an empty stomach. And check bowel movements the next day. :P
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