There is Bollywood where Pani Puri is hyped to be larger than life. Proposals over pani puri in Mary Kom to Pani Puri competition in Rab Ne Banaa Di Jodi , to the unforgettable cycle ride to eat pani puri in RHTDM.On the other side, there are comedians who troll people ( especially girls) for brainless eating pani puri just because it is trendy.
And then somewhere between these two worlds are people like me, or rather us(including all my childhood friends) who neither see pani puri as larger than life, nor blindly eat it. We have genuinely grown up with Pani Puri, gradually liked it , eventually made it an emotion.
There is a beautiful Tamil movie called "Kaaka Muttai" where kids crave for Pizza. Their grandmother prepares a spoof pizza( modified dosa) which the kids don't approve. They finally end up eating Pizza but feel that their granny's dosa spoof was much better.
Our initial experience with Pani puri was the same too. Cousins and siblings tried to make Pani Puri for us at home which we did not approve. We finally found a place which served Pani Puri. It tasted like jal jeera and we didn't quite like it and marked pani puri as our most disliked food.
Early 2000s marked the entry of Pani Puri Thelas to our city. This slowly built street food culture in Dharwad. Pani Puri served here was grand . Peas and Potato mashed as hot Ragda, Pani , sweet pani, spicy chatni , finally garnished with sev, tomato and onion. Most importantly it's served one by one as shown in the movies. Back then , we entered this world with just one 5 rupee coin which would give us 8 pooris . Don't remember if we loved the taste of Pani Puri or the concept of street food or a sense of freedom that we now have our own adda where we can hang out, but Pani Puri slowly started turning into an emotion.
Any new friends made where brought to our Pani Puri shop as a ritual. We almost became brand ambassadors of Pani Puri to an extent that my friend's grandmother had named us friends as Pani Puri, Sev Puri, Masala Puri , Dahi Puri.
Celebrating exam results, winning a volley ball match, getting fast output in lab exams, celebrating getting first job offer letter, our Pani Puri Thela saw it all.
Even after we left Dharwad, Pani Puri was our reunion spot. In Bangalore, went to 1000s of Pani Puri shops and finally found 2 spots, one near U B City, one V V Puram which were almost near to our childhood .
( Not that the other pani Puri shops don't serve good pani puri. I realise that, when it comes to food and music , everything is good. But what we like is what we have tasted since childhood)
Lockdown happened. I came to Dharwad. But our favourite place had vanished. Waited for few months and almost forgot about it. One fine evening , our thela was back. This time with more hygeine. Gloves, purified water and same old taste. There is also a branch very close to home now. Me and my childhood friend go there frequently. When we go there, we feel that we are surrounded with hundreds of childhood friends and hundreds of emotions, memories we have made there.
Few years down the lane, looking forward to write part 2 of this blog cos I am sure we will continue making memories here .
Special mention- Savariya Thela and Bhaiyya for learning fluent Kannada and making us Proud
