Pav in Delhi

An inexplicable craving for a Vada Pav got me all excited. When one talks of being able to cook 'exotic' food anywhere, it's usually Thai or Italian or Turkish cuisine that comes to mind. To be able to cook something Indian in any other part of India isn't high on the list thanks to ghar ki daal-murgi being barabar. Once I realized that try as hard as I may, I'd never be able to lay my hands on the typical Mumbai Vada in Delhi, I chose to do the next best thing. It would be the Samosa Pav that would have to do the trick.

The pav that one gets in Delhi isn't the same. You might get the craziest of the ingredients to make far out foreign dishes but you'll never get a pav as good as the real one anywhere outside Bombay. So you can imagine the kind of Samosa Pav I conjured up thanks to the pav of Delhi. They were called Pav Bread!

All said and done the experiment wasn't all that bad as supported by the photographic evidence!

Mumbai...?

Paul Theroux once commented, 'Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.' Returning to Mumbai is like having the same dream all over again. Though these days it's more like a nightmare!

I look forward to my visit and once I land here there's a strict protocol that I adhere to: have a Vada Pav as soon as I hit the Western Express Highway. Then make a few calls informing people about the eagle's landing; crib about the never changing traffic problem. Ask the auto guy what's been happening in the town. Plan to check films out, eat some Keema Pao...

This time around it's been six months since my last visit. Many things have changed and needless to say, the more things change the more they remain the same. My friend's building, that i camp in, has seen a three fold increase in the number of vehicles. This list also includes children's pink colored bicycles. The same traffic problems plague the neighborhood. There was an open drain in front of a new mall that was being constructed the last time I was here. now the drain's covered and the mall's open but business doesn't seem good. It has been raining for the last two days and the situation isn't as bad as TV channels would have made it out (not in my neighborhood at least). Everything else is the same.

So what's the deal with coming to Mumbai? It's only the people you know here who might make it easier for you for everything else is going downhill.

Image Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com