In memoriam of southie pet pooja

I have always liked and tasted whatever came in my way as food. Disciplined by my father from a young age…I ate and took in my plate only as much as I could eat and cleaned the plate. My appetite is less but my search for good and tasty food is enormous. When my stomach growls my brain pays attention and actually thinks…”what should I eat”…
There was a time that all I had was a decent pocket money…one that I liberally spent on books and music…it used to be my annual spree to rhythm house at kala ghoda…to buy the choicest cassettes (this mode of music is almost defunct now…n I am left with many cassettes and no player). With books…well I searched through second hand shops of matunga (where my college was there) joined British council and Xeroxed some of them…or college library….this habit still continues…and I buy only those books which I will read more than once or twice…hence all the sheldons and kings don’t find their way in my collection. But in the list of borrowings J
This is how I am…I am talking about food and look where I actually ended up being. Now with most of the money in music and books…it left me enough to frequent taj J hence I frequented lots of Tajs along the roads…one which specialized in Chinese food, Indian burgers (read vada pav) which came in ¼ of price of their videshi cousins J one such food that I preferred to have any where, something hot and fulfilling was idli, vadas and dosa. Usually it would be dosa…plan sada dosa…minus the butter and at least second helping of chutney. Idlis and vadas came close second. When I was stuck with choice it would be idli-vada (as usual…Libran indecisiveness)…depending on my moods and fancies I would have it either submerged in Sāmbhar or Sāmbhar shepret (seperate)J..I have had these at numerous places…ranging from meager 5 rs. a plate (no Sāmbhar only chatni…dal was costly even then) to 30-40 rs a plate.
My first taste of dosa was at two places one of them was café shringar at Andheri, walkable distance from home…where aai and dada took us sometimes over the weekend and where I had my first taste of HUGE sada dosa J. Which as my sister recollects…I ate slowly (age factor…I was 4-5 years old at that time) but relished every bite and finished the dosa to the last crumb. Another was at one of the few (at that time) shopping centers. From street standards it was good. A bit limp…but the chatnis served by them were never tasted by me anywhere else. They were truly good. later a stall opened at the neck of our lane…where I rarely had their limp hot dosas…only in case where stomach was going under coma…just to sustain it.
The vadas were always crispy and so were idlis...always fresh. This result was definitely replicated at Radhakrishna at Andheri shoppers stop and at Ramkrishna vileparle west…who served sublime idlis and just out of the world vadas
Though dadar boasted of sabudana and batata vadas it never catered to idli dosa…so didn’t share many memories here
The dosa outside alliance francaise de Bombay, marine lines was lovely…I guess mainly because I used to almost always be very famished, out of library and lunch would still be a 2 hour travel home…hot, crisp (the best thing I love about dosa) and fresh… vadas…(cold…yikes) and idlis (rubbery…for steaming too long) were strictly out of question.
The dosa at mani’s (matunga central) I got to taste only after I met an ex ruia college colleague and a lovely friend who accompanied me for giving me the taste…the dosa was as lovely as it was when my mom had it when she was at Ruia college…sambhar had a real homely taste. Idlis were usual rava and vadas definitely tasty since they were out of stock J
Sustainable dosa I also found at thane near teen haath naka where I either gorged on sada dosa or mysore masala dosa…a bit limp but definitely better than searching home for something palaptable to eat.
On the contrary I found lovely crisp sada dosa at woodland retreat…a restaurant we frequent whenever we are hungry and don’t feel like cooking at home. They have that sambhar that I have rarely tasted elsewhere. Not that loaded with veggies but oh so fragrant with freshly ground masalas and chopped onions…wow…I could drink it or just have it with steaming hot rice and papad…a meal is done.. Idlis are always tasty here and they serve mini vadas ,the tini morsels of delight
What I loved the best however were small idlis and chatini that my friend and I gorged on our way home in the morning from library…studying famished us…and idli chatni @5 was all we could ask for…we either had them at the stalls having freshly stamed idlis and crisp fried vadas..but that was rare…we usually had them on the road…with hard paper serving as plates…we would usually meet them in the morning…dark-skinned south Indian fellows with “maunvrat” who would say nothing beyond how much we owed them. Carrying their wares on the cycle and having that typical sounding horn “pom- pom” surely evoking hunger in millions others wishing to have fresh idlis for breakfast at their doorstepJ