Oh yes! I do have monsoon plans. I have a list of places to
visit, if not in this monsoon, maybe the next. But most importantly, I have a
list of food items that I’m not going to miss, and the rains are only going to
add the fun of having these food items (mostly street food).
So, the “birth”
of this ‘Monsoon Food Plan’ can be traced back to a time long back, when me and
a friend of mine were discussing about all the amazing street food in and
around our college. The plan goes such: on a day when it’s raining heavily, we
walk a little from our college towards Matunga Station. Exactly opposite the
Station, there stands a “Pani Puri”
stall (it’s called “New Pankaj”). What’s special about the mouth-watering pani-puri here? Well, unlike the usual pani-puri, which is filled with hot ragda, this one conatins some normal
filling, but what makes it delicious is the ice-cold, tasty Paani. I shouldn’t be talking more about
this, now. My mouth has started watering, literally.
So, next, we walk
back towards our college and on the way lies our favorite sandwich stall,
Subhash Uncle’s sandwich. The chocolate sandwich there (with extra chocolate)
is just something one can’t resist because as soon as you pick up a piece of
sandwich to eat, you realize that the chocolate is melting already! But the
chocolate sandwich is not the only sandwich on the menu, rather, in monsoons, I
would prefer having an ordinary sandwich with extra-ordinary taste.
So by the time we’re
done with the sandwich, we’re half full and with immense enthusiasm, we march
towards our beloved ‘Ruia College Canteen’ and order for a plate, or two, of Bread Pakodas with some delicious
chutney and sauce and when the plate is clean after having eaten every bit in
it, there comes a loud sound, in chorus- BURRRPP!!!
We’re full and we
realize that we can’t eat anymore, so we simply move out of college and have
some tea from a nearby tea stall. With the last sip of tea, we realize that it’s
time to go home. But wait! We’re still not done with the list, so all we can do
is wait for another rainy day.
And now that
this ‘another rainy day’ has arrived, we, in full determination of completing
this list of food items, walk outside the college and halt before a vada-pav stall (the stall earlier stood outside
the I.E.S school nearby, so we call it the “I.E.S vada-pav. But it has now been shifted near our college, much convenient
for us, anyhow!). And after eating the vada-pav,
we enter “Mani’s”- the very famous South-Indian food joint, just a few steps
away from our college. We have the “garma-garam
Dosa or Idli”, along with the extremely yummy chutney.
Our previous
list was supposed to end with the vada-pav,
but we realized that without including “Mani’s”, the list was simply
incomplete! A very significant addition, indeed!
So this monsoon,
this is something that I and my friends are certainly going to enjoy. Well anyway!
Happy Monsoon!
