GROWING UP WITH FOOD!

Food was always an integral part of everyones growing up years. As you grow your tastes change, your likes changes and what you liked sometime ago, is not even remembered now. But at times re-visiting the delicacies of the days gone by is a lot of fun. 

I remember when I was young, one of the most important meals for me was Maggi Noodles. You come back home from school hungry as hell and a nice hot bowl of Maggi Noodles are waiting for you, the aroma of the ‘two minute’ masala spreading its long tentacles and enticing you to devour that entire bowl. Maggi was and is an all time favourite for kids growing up. Maggi by itself, with tomato ketchup or boiled vegetables, always a very welcome meal any time of the day. In-fact in the later years, when I was up late night cramming for hindi exams or struggling with complicated Math problems, it was Maggi that satiated the midnight growls. Every home had its own style and expertise of making Maggi. Ours was with lots of vegetables and cheese. 

Another delicious treat to remember was the Punjabi Samosa at Heera Mishthan in my school, ask any of the old timers from G D Somani school and they will sear by it. Costing about Rs.2.50 each, they were a treat to gobble up in the 15 minute short break, slobbered with a thin watery pudina chutney and served hot, as we bit into them, their delicious flavours of the garam masala was enough to make you forget the screams from the Geography teacher for not being able to point out where the Tropic of Cancer lay. Heera today has given way to a fancy bank, bye-bye samosas, sure the recent batches of G D Somani School will never know what they were like.

As I moved out of school and entered college, the stalls outside H.R. College were a favourite hangout. Especially the Dosas there. Five of us would order one butter sada dosa with an extra dash of mirchi powder and a sprinkling of onions. They were then re-ordered five times over! Next to him was the sandwich stall which made the best toasties ever. Brushed on both sides with butter, the crisp brown toasty oozed out streams of butter and cheese as you took the first bite, without worrying about burning or scraping your palette or caring about whether you need to credit what comes in or what goes out! The growing hormones needed food at that time. Thereafter just behind H.R. College and opposite Industry House, sat the very very popular Vada-Pav walla, he ran a flourishing business of selling piping hot crunchy juicy wadas, kanda bhajees and all sorts of bhajiyas to be washed down with ice-cold lemon juice. Those were the carefree college days, not a worry in the world, needed just enough money to shell out for these deliciously cheap road side delicacies. Then packing up in cars to hang-out at scandal point in the evenings, to ogle at the Napean-sea Road babes and eating yummy frankies from Rajesh’s stall. He still exists ever so popular! Not too far away and very close to Priyadarshini Park which was all but a wasteland those days was “Papas”, a very popular hang out to go on cheap dates with even cheaper babes, a favourite was a mini-meal of Roomali Rotis with succulent cubes of paneer in a creamy makhani sauce. The only thing that could divert my attention from starring at her assets!

Nights would be cheap Manchow Soups or greasy American Chopsuey at ‘New Hungry Eyes” mobile chinese vans parked at the end of Nariman Point. Good meals for less that fifty bucks. Enough to treat your girlfriend and all her nerdy friends to earn brownie points. But a true Bombayitte can never forget the dandiya nights! Those late nights of frenzied dandiya-playing till 3.00 am much before the noise curfews were put in place. Cars spilling out with hormone-raging guys in kurtas and chicks in backless cholis ,lined up outside Bhavans Juice Center at chowpatty, watermelon juice, steaming hot idlis, buttery pav-bhajis and indian ishtyle  pizza were the order of the day to fuel hungry stomachs from a night of debaucherous dandiya-playing! Yes those were the carefree days, where having a babe by yourside at Papas was the ultimate high and getting laid was all that mattered!

As college gave way to work, Nariman Point was a hotbed of all sorts for street food and cafes. Every space on the footpath was taken up by roadside stalls. There used to be a chinese stall right outside Atlanta Building. His so-called chinese was finger-licking delicious, saucy tangy chop-suey topped with a huge heap of fried noodles mixed with a bowl of vegetable Manchurian was just enough to fill your stomach, not empty your pockets and yet have a doggy bag to give to the office accountant as a bribe to release your reimbursements faster.  Serious dating had just started , girlfriends understood that Santoor at Cuffe Parade was fancy as it could get. The Black daal and paneer makhni was the best all over Mumbai. It was difficult to find secluded and discreet places to meet up , make out and mojo at, but places such as Flora at Worli, Chinese Room at Peddar Road, Kobes at Chowpatty, were all dim lit and very popular to go to. As the romance flourished, the earnings increased the cheap places were replaced by the five star coffee shops, a favourite being the Trattoria at the President & the Shamiana at the Taj. Just perfect places to go to after a late night out drinking and partying. The Mushroom Trifolatti , Quattro Fromaggio Pizza at the Trattoria, drenched in olive oil and the free bread baskets gave the system enough carbohydrates to absorb all the excessive alcohol. The steaming hot cups of deliciously thick hot chocolates, the huge platter of veg biryani were a must have at The Shamiana any time of the day. These two were like second homes to us. Many an early mornings have seen us leave, dreary eyed out of Shamiana driving home as the milkmen started their early morning delivery rounds. 

And as you grew up, the street food stalls gave way to the fancier Moshes and Indigos, the Sada Dosas replaced by Crepes and ice cold lemon juice replaced with Lemon Tea. But if you grew up in Bombay, I am sure you too must have followed a similar gastronomical journey all starting from the basic Maggi Noddles and ending up at a Five star coffee shops. The faces changed, the places changed and the price tags only grew fatter, but what did not change was the love for food, getting off at the Flora Fountain signal to qucikly grab a delicious wada-pav or call for a vegetable chutney sandwich. My love for good food whether at a street side stall or a fancy Rs.1000-a-head reastuarant grows only stronger!