I was without any project for whole of February and half of March. My honeymoon period ended abruptly four days back when I got the call from my boss who assigned me one of the most ‘hopeless’ projects on earth. From now onwards my office will be in Churchgate. I know, the crowd of that place is such that a 25-year-old guy like me can make his day just by roaming on the streets whole day, watching Bombabes, but this poor soul will be slogging hard in the office to earn his livelihood. God...Why don’t have Gates as my surname!
It was around 2:15 PM when I started for my lunch today. I was strolling on the road in search of a decent restaurant. But this Mumbai heat can sometimes be too harsh on you. I know, Delhi is much worse. Still the humidity here can make you feel as if you are soaked in a jug full of boiling water. I barely walked for 50 metres when the heat forced me to a shady restaurant nearby. He was serving in ‘thali system’. It means you cannot order the food of your choice and you are forced to eat what is being served. No matter if it contains the most alien vegetables on the planet and two tea spoon full curd which can be mistaken as slightly thick form of butter milk and not to forget half cooked chapattis and a glass of water straight out of municipal water tank added with a few drops of soya oil!
Anyways, after the thali system, it was the coupon system. You need to buy a coupon from the counter before you can fill your tummy. The thali was costing an amazing 18 Rs! Imagine..in 18 Rs he was promising a dal, two vegetables, curd, papad, pickle, 5 puris (Yes not chapattis) and full plate rice! I was totally amazed at the price and that amazement lasted for exactly 7 minutes when I realized that the only thing on which the guy compromised was ‘quality’. Yes, quality stuff along with quantity exists only in Chor Bazaar of Delhi.
This cheap thali reminded me of my engineering days. All through four years of college, there was a constant competition between all of us on who can find the cheapest place to eat. Every month or two, one of us used to announce proudly the name of one shady reatsurant after another where we could fill our stomach in as little as 20 Rs, 18 Rs and even 15 Rs! (No,we were not regular at such places! It was just for fun and visit to such places were one-off) The price kept on dropping till Rs 15 after which we thought we touched the limits until this guy, Ankit, came up with a steller 12 Rs thali! And yes! He became regular at that place too! Just to save money for his astronomical cell bills! The guy is printing dollars in US now!
Memories refreshed…
It was around 2:15 PM when I started for my lunch today. I was strolling on the road in search of a decent restaurant. But this Mumbai heat can sometimes be too harsh on you. I know, Delhi is much worse. Still the humidity here can make you feel as if you are soaked in a jug full of boiling water. I barely walked for 50 metres when the heat forced me to a shady restaurant nearby. He was serving in ‘thali system’. It means you cannot order the food of your choice and you are forced to eat what is being served. No matter if it contains the most alien vegetables on the planet and two tea spoon full curd which can be mistaken as slightly thick form of butter milk and not to forget half cooked chapattis and a glass of water straight out of municipal water tank added with a few drops of soya oil!
Anyways, after the thali system, it was the coupon system. You need to buy a coupon from the counter before you can fill your tummy. The thali was costing an amazing 18 Rs! Imagine..in 18 Rs he was promising a dal, two vegetables, curd, papad, pickle, 5 puris (Yes not chapattis) and full plate rice! I was totally amazed at the price and that amazement lasted for exactly 7 minutes when I realized that the only thing on which the guy compromised was ‘quality’. Yes, quality stuff along with quantity exists only in Chor Bazaar of Delhi.
This cheap thali reminded me of my engineering days. All through four years of college, there was a constant competition between all of us on who can find the cheapest place to eat. Every month or two, one of us used to announce proudly the name of one shady reatsurant after another where we could fill our stomach in as little as 20 Rs, 18 Rs and even 15 Rs! (No,we were not regular at such places! It was just for fun and visit to such places were one-off) The price kept on dropping till Rs 15 after which we thought we touched the limits until this guy, Ankit, came up with a steller 12 Rs thali! And yes! He became regular at that place too! Just to save money for his astronomical cell bills! The guy is printing dollars in US now!
Memories refreshed…
