Ode to the Vada-Pav

Here is a particularly mouth-watering excerpt from the book. The eatery in question is a place called Borkar's somewhere in Dadar. It is supposed to be the best place for a vada-pav. It's a pity I have never been to this place. Definitely on my to-do list when I visit Bombay next.

"Borkar sits on his stall, frying up a fresh batch. An old board says:

Vadapav 4 Rs
vada 3 Rs
single pav 1 Re
Prop: Borkar

I wait for him to finish frying; the dozens of people around me do the same. I am tense, with my money at the ready. As soon as the ladle emerges from the vat of boiling oil full of the vadas, conjoined with wisps of yellow batter, the frenzy begins. People are thrusting their money forward, mostly ten-rupee notes; in front of the assistant is a thali full of two-rupee coins. Nobody seems to be ordering just one. Not everybody will get their vadapav from this batch; the timid will have to keep waiting. The assistant serves the women first. The stacks of pav have been sprinkled with chutney - the top half of the inside of the bun is bathed in green chutney, the bottom with red garlic chutney - and the assistant reaches out with one hand, in one continuous arc of his arm opening the pav, scooping up two of the vadas, one in each nest of the pav, and delivering it to the hungry customer. I walk away from the stall and crush the vada by pressing down on it with the pav; little cracks appear in the crispy surface, and the vada oozes out its potato and pea mixture. I eat. The crispy batter, the mouthful of sweet-soft pav tempering the heat of the chutney, the spices of the vada mixture - dark with garam masala and studded with whole cloves of garlic that look like cashews - get masticated into a good mouthful, a good mouth-feel. My stomach is getting filled, and I feel I am eating something nourishing after a long spell of sobbing. Borkar has done his dharma"


God, I miss vada-pav!!!