Inside-Out Vada Pav at Marine Lines (2)

- By Deepa Krishnan

I had written earlier about "Inside-Out" Vada-Pav in Dadar. Yesterday near Saifee Hospital, I saw yet another version of it. This one is flat in shape. The pav is sliced in half, like how you slice a burger bun. Then the two open tops are layered with potatoes (with the usual spices, green chillies, etc). The whole thing is dipped in besan batter and deep fried. 

Ready to be dipped in batter and fried

The flattened shape of the end product.

I'm always happy when I see street-food inventions :) :) Obviously, this version of the vada pav also makes good economic sense for the vendor! An entire "ladi" of pav, which can make 24 such vadas, only costs the vendor ten rupees. Way better than making large potato vadas. Have you seen the vegetable prices these days!

I've only begun to see these vadas in Mumbai in the last 2-3 years. Have you seen them earlier? Where? 

How my lane has changed

- By Deepa Krishnan

When I was growing up, this lane behind my mother's house used to be empty.

The neighbourhood boys would play gully cricket here. We used to have sports events in this street. We made friends with all the children from other buildings on the street. We celebrated Ganpati. We hosted movie showings by rigging up cloth screens, and everyone came to watch.

Nowadays there are cars parked on both sides and the road has become narrow. We don't see any street games these days in this part of the road. People don't talk much to others in the street, because everyone is busy watching TV. Kids from all the buildings in this street don't know each other.

I was happy to see this girl cycling. It reminded me of my childhood, the old Bombay, in an era before cars multiplied.