A recent conversation:
“The panipuri here is really good, I must say.”
“Hmm, yeah, but I still prefer the streetside ones, rather than ones like these, where I have to crack open the puri, and pour in the curry with a spoon, and ladle some of the pani into it before I get to eat it.”
“So, what is it that you like there? The added taste of the vendor’s hands when he dips the puri into the concoction?”
“Not really. Part of the experience of eating panipuri is the urgency, I guess. ”
“Explain.”
“I mean, you are there, in a queue, and the vendor is in a zen-like state of panipuri-distribution, his hands working purely on instinct. He does multiple things at the same time, juggle preferences – like one customer wants only sweetened pani, one wants more of the filling, another wants more onions , keep a count of how many of the gobblers around him have gobbled how many panipuris. You are part of the system. You lift the panipuri from your plate in one fluid motion, taking care not to spill the water on your clothes or your shoes or ( sacrilege!) the ground. You gulp it down, making sure that you do not breathe when you do so – lest you cough up the puri on your neighbour and cause all the devotees considerable distress. And you also ensure that you’re done with the panipuri that was assigned to you before the next one lands on your plate – otherwise the older one will get soggy, and the newer one will unbalance, and that causes a disturbance in the Force. And that, my friend, is the Panipuri Experience, and not this – sitting at a table and using spoons and having to crack open the puri yourself…nossir. This is HEY, hands off my plate!!! ”
Unfortunately, no one can be told about the Panipuri Experience – you have to eat it for yourself. There do exist sites that tell you how to make panipuris at home. Do I care? Not really. There is this brilliant Wikipedia entry ( sarcasm intended) which says this of the mechanics of eating panipuri: ” You and others will be given a small plate and have to stand around the server. The server will then tart serving you all in a round-robin fashion. The servers are renouned to remember your choice of the combination of sweet or hot even when serving an entire croud(sic).”
This description, I am sorry to say, reminds me more of Andrew Tanenbaum’s book on Operating System fundamentals than anything else.
Well written. Gimme the Panipuri Experience anyday!
PS: I hate those mineral-water based pani-puris as well.
Thanks! :)
Too true, the Panipuri Experience has to be lived.
Well written!
Thank you! :)
haul your ass to Hyd , will treat you to out of the world pani poori near Nimboliadda. ;/
Hauling my ass
and the rest of my body to Hyderabad is gonna take time. I am currently working on it.
:) lol! That is quite a description. Totally totally agree. The only part I don’t like is where some panipuri stalls have flies around. Everything else – absolutely mandatory!!
You should replace the Wikipedia entry with that para.
Ignore flies, you must. Flies lead to doubt, doubt leads to fear, and fear leads to the Dark Side! Trust your tastebuds, and disappear, the flies will.
I agree – no fun using spoons and filling them up oneself.
I’ve found that three is the perfect number to people to surround a pani-puri wala. Gives you enough time to finish, and doesn’t keep you waiting too long. A couple of weeks back I was the lone eater, and at one point, I had one puri in my mouth, one in my hand, one in my cup and there was one more on its way.
You the man, sir! I have noticed this too – three being the perfect panipuri number, and exactly for the same reasons you pointed out.
Do you know that Cash is in India right now?
Do you know that Cash is in India right now?
Yes. He has a couple of days in Mumbai before he leaves that I’m planning to hog. Have you met him yet?
Met him yesterday. Planning to meet again on Sunday, after he, Sasi, Vasu, and Siddharth are back from their trip. :)
Hahaha!
The wise guys at the hostel mess got a panipuri-walla from somewhere to give out panipuri in the evening. :D
So this is what you do for management practice, eh? :-“
Gobble puchka you mean?
Then, of course.
Phuchka.
I bow before your spelling prowess.
More to do with word meanings.
Puchka=Chhota
Phuchka=Golgappa
So there!
Oh!
Right. I think, I didn’t stop to think there.
I didn’t stop to think there.
And what’s
mewnew, pussycat?no wonder I wasn’t able to find a “Phuchka wala” while searching for it in google.
Actually, you get golgappa relevant google results for both Phuchka wala and Puchka wala, but the pronunciation is like Phuchka. And when you search for “Puchka” the first few results are for some Travel Agency, but “Phuchka” gives golgappa results :P
Well written buddy.
Thanks sir! :D
bah…leave the heathens who do not understand the sacred joy of devouring paani puris, on the side. They can only wait and serve while we hog it all.
I loved this post.
Thank you. :)
my fucking mouth is watering and i have no fucking way of gettin pani puri now… burn in hell biatch!
Muhuhahahahahah.
You want me parcel a couple of panipuris and send by Airmail? If you wear a gas-mask, you’ll be able to eat them without any hassle.
The worst panipuri I had in my life was at a crorepathi’s son’s wedding where the food was dished out by Green Park.
Great post!! I’ll fix that wikipedia entry for sure!
Seems like you already have fixed the entry. By the way, do you get panipuri in Japan?
hmm…I didn’t fix the wikipedia!
No panipuri in Japan! :(
(But other than that, the Indian restaurants are the best in the world. And when I say world, I am including India. I’m serious: The competition in the food industry here in UNBELIEVEABLE. There are 3 restaurants PER LANE, and to survive, quality is not a choice.)
I don’t find those crude spellings there.
If you go to this page, which happens to be the history page for the Panipuri entry, and compare the timestamp of the latest change with this post, you will see that someone has changed the spellings, and part of the syntax. Do a compare with the previous version to figure out what I mean.
I exagerate sometimes, I know, but I wouldn’t be stupid enough to mess with a Wikipedia entry.
And combine that panipuri with stuff like Pav Bhaji or Bhel Puri or Cutlet Ragada and you have the most deadliest mouth-watering combination in the entire world. Chat culture is one of the finest things I like in our country. As you rightly put it, it’s more to do with the “experience” of it.
And if you happen to be from Hyderabad, round off your chat experience with a hot cup of Irani Chai and Osmania Biscuits.
Chaat culture
Absolutely true. Chaat makes me feel very patriotic. Matter of fact, everytime I finish a plate of panipuri, I look up at the sky and say – Maa Tujhe Salaam.
just joking.
Loved this post, beautifully written! Yeah, I agree self-service pani puri really doesn’t make the cut.
Thank you, sir!
Absolutely rockin post. The worst Pani Puri(Golgappa, actually) experience in my life was one in India Habitat Center, where I had to take protective food wrap off a plate which had a small plastic cup of golgappa water, a small plastic spoon, some mashed taters, and 4 golgappas. Blech.
We missed golgappas at Old Delhi last time, next time you’re here a promise will be kept.
next time you’re here
Which might be pretty soon, depending on how the next couple of days go. You are on, my friend. :)
You know you’ve eaten too many pani puris when you have 2 soggy pani puris in the plate, one in your hand and the plate is overflowing with the nimbu pani spilled from earlier soggy pani puris.
Nope. It just means that you have not learnt the way of the Panipuri Devourer. ;-)
Ahhhh
Dee-lish post. Have promptly linked and excerpt-ed on my blog. have also plugged your QM-ing skills.
Where are you these days? Hyd/Ban/Mum/Del/Jhu?
Gaurav
Re: Ahhhh
Thanks, Gaurav, for the compliments and the plug. I am in Bangalore right now, heard you were here too. Maybe we could meet up sometime?
Excellent :)
Sometimes when there were only a couple more customers alongside me, I would tingle in excitement realizing the Force (as you put it so wonderfully) would be one to reckon with!
-Gabby
(gratisgab.blogspot.com)
Hey Satya, what say about this?
The only thing I can say is – dude, how did you stumble upon this article?? :-D
Hehe..regular Mid-day reader online..gives me all the Mumbai masala I need to spice up life. :)
Crackpot
Another very important reason why self-made panipuri will never be any good. Because they will only give you a piddly cup of pani which can only fill maybe two puris to the brim. Whereas the Vendor, he is possessed of an unending supply of pani, the pani Source as it were. I suspect, if an a la carte pani puri had to have as much pani as is consumed when the panipuri is made by the vendor, the pani container would have to be the size of a coffee mug.
Re: Crackpot
Good point. It’s especially difficult to spoon the pani into the last couple of puris because there isn’t much of it left. Suckadelic!
Too good
your comments about Tanenbaum’s OS book is too good
I hate panipuri.
Wow.
one of my first experiences of Bangalore was this.. street seller ka panipuri. On the day of your post… or the day I saw your post; pani puri was served here at office as snack. I was grinning the whole time. Thanks beatzo :)
Heh, anytime. :)