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The Vada Pav Stall - Fuelling Bombay

Caveat Emptor: If you have not spent time in Bombay, this post may appear a bit whimsical, but for those fortunate souls who have, please be aware that the photos in this series may cause your senses to have violent flashbacks and cravings for a taste of the fuel of Bombay's teeming masses...the  humble vada pav.
Be it a cart or a table precariously perched on a footpath, the vada pav stalls sprinkled liberally over the city (some with a legendary fan following and usually quirky timings) offer a quick bite to the hungry rickshaw driver, harried worker or frugal student. The enterprising ones also provide a menu of ussal, missal and bhajji, each of which can be mixed and matched to create a quick change of flavor for the discerning palates of the hasty traveler.
Of course each one of us has his or her particular idiosyncrasies like sukkha or geela (dry or wet) chutney, green chilly toppings or sometimes just preferring to bite into the garlicky heaven of the vada sans bread! But before I drive you nuts, please grab a 'cutting' and take a peek into the world of a particularly enterprising vada pav stall...

Independence With A Flair

Today is the 60th anniversary of India's Independence. As the country celebrates with  irrational exuberance...Here's to a very Happy Independence Day!

Elephants In The Neighborhood

The sound of tinkling bells on a lazy weekend morning turned out to be two decorated elephants sauntering through the streets of our tony Vasant Vihar neighborhood...Yehi Hai India!

Bhaji On The Beach

Chowpatty beach in Bombay on a Sunday night is a flavorful cornucopia of light, color, humanity and street cuisine being served from beach stalls. Here are some snapshots which may explain why people come from afar to experience the culinary delights of this sunset strip...

Holi Holiday

As with almost event in India, the festival of Holi symbolises many things for many people. The religious celebrate the triumph of good over evil, the farmers celebrate the onset of spring and everyone celebrate an occasion to relax, unwind and gleefully  paint friends, families and total strangers with every paint color known to mankind! This year we celebrated by walking around the Vasant Vihar, visiting neighbors, eating sweets, dodging balloons and buckets of colored water being poured from roofs, applying gulal on every passerby who happened to be walking by and them reciprocating in kind...

Who Draws The Lines

Midnight in Bombay...This painting from a childrens art competition at a street festival, hit home with visceral intensity. Makes one wonder if there is any truth to the adage that one grows wiser with experience and age...

Barber Shop Duo

Bharatpur is a dusty town in Rajasthan, whose claim to fame is its world famous bird sanctuary. The town itself is a jumbled mass of streets winding through crowded localities and even more crowded bazaars where new brick buildings jostle with old havelis. Sipping tea at a roadside tea stall, I looked across the street and saw this odd couple indulging in the favorite pastime of the male gentry... sitting at the crossroads and watching life go by...

Airport Painter

Amidst the cacophony of conveyor belts and the disembodied announcements of arriving flights, I spied this painter at Calcutta airport, oblivious of his surroundings and focused on his mission in life...warning mothers to keep their errant children away from the belts...

Diwali Dhamaka

Diwali, the festival of lights, welcomes Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth to our homes. Rather than travelling on the extended weekend, we decided to stay in Delhi for a change and welcome the goddess ourselves! Activities for the the night consisted of a lot of lamp lighting, pujas, stumptuous meals and then the piece-de-resistance... fireworks...of all shapes, sounds, colors and sizes. We had a field day gawking at the neighbors as well as lighting some ourselves. Here is an encapsulated version of the happenings of a very special night...

Vignettes Of Durga Puja

This festive season we stayed back in Delhi and did the obligatory pandal tours of the Bengali enclave of Chittaranjan Park. However the probashi Durga Pujas in Delhi are positively tame when compared to the madness and mayhem that is Calcutta during the festive season. Eating chicken rolls and kobiraji cutlets at midnight did ease some of the pangs but I was left pining for the majestic pandals, jostling crowds and joi de vivre which transforms Calcutta into a throbbing mass of energy. Reaching back into memory, here are some vignettes of life during the Pujas...

Of Gods Demons And Monkeys

During the the period of the Navratras, families gather with their neighbors to view episodes of the Ramayana, enacted over the period of nine nights (hence Nav Ratra). The arrangements range from quiet neighborhood ones with the local children playing roles with great gusto, to mega events which have professional actors, huge budgets and fairgrounds attached.

Last week, we went to a Ram Lila in the Kamla Market area of Old Delhi and rediscovered the charms of the epic triumph of good over evil. Memories of Amar Chitra Katha flashed by as we watched Rama display his archery skills, Hanuman fly over mountains to give his master's ring to Sita and Ravana gloat over his prize catch. We laughed aloud as the children dressed as monkeys scampered around trying to avoid tripping on their tails and the microphone belonging to one of the demons' malfunctioned.

The adjoining mela with shows of the snake man from Itawa and other assorted gems, the daredevil drivers in the speed globe and photo studio's where you could click a photo with Aishwarya or Aamir were the icing on a perfect evening out in Old Delhi...

Breaking The Fast

The street opposite Gate No 1 of Jama Masjid has long been one of my favorite haunts. For those of you who are gastronomes, yes it is the same lane that houses Karim's the legendary restaurant of Old Delhi. This being the month of Ramzan, the street takes on a whole new character in the evenings, with shops piled to the roof with sweets and sevaian. As families break their fast after sunset and come out into the streets, it is as if the night has turned into day...

Cotton Candy Man

Woke up from my slumber on a lazy Sunday afternoon and glanced outside the window to view some flashes of brilliant pink against the parked cars and the garden shrubs. On a closer look, it was a man on a cycle with a wierd looking machine attached to its back, churning out giant webs. I ran downstairs and introduced myself to..Surender...the neighborhood Cotton Candy Man. As we chatted, I saw him work his magic using his tools...a manual cotton candy maker, hand powered and heated by a spirit lamp, sugar and color. Surender has been in this business since 1981 and his machine was an 'original' made in Aligarh. I could see him crinkle his nose in disdain as he mentioned the cheaper 'local' ones made in Delhi and the electric cotton candy makers which were slowly making inroads into his livelihood. We talked about how the neighborhood has changed, how his clientele has shrunk since children are 'different' these days, how the rich madams try and bargain with him for a few rupees as they contract to him for their children's parties and the white sahibs who sent him to Aligarh in their car to buy three machines for themselves. I ended the conversation by thanking him for bearing with my camera and also bought two pieces for Rs 5 each, not because I particularly like sweets but because i felt that I was paying a tribute to master craftsman and his trade...

Sounds Of Independence

6am...August 15...Munsiyari...a small corner of India... where the tarmac ends and the trekking trails to the Himalayas and Tibet begin. I woke up to the sound of distant drum beats and slogans breaking through the drone of the incessant rain. Grabbed my camera and wandered out into the mist. Through a cloudy haze appeared a group of young students...sharply dressed...chests puffed...heads held high...singing patriotic songs as they scrambled down the hill slopes on their way to the village parade...The pride I felt was an amazing start to India's 58th Independence Day...

Attarwalla

For many centuries, merchants have travelled across India trading in attars, francincense and myrrh. One afternoon I caught a glimpse of the past reflected in the crystal bottles of the attarwalla's box...