Friday, August 17, 2012

A Small Guide to Pani Puri/ Puchkaa/ Gol Gappa


I don’t remember when I had my 1st pani puri but the credit for making me being obsessed with pani puri has to go to the Bengali bhayya who put up a stall near my intermediate college (11th & 12th std. in A.P.). He had this “best pani puri guaranteed” or “crispy pani puri challenge” in those days even before the retailers and e-tailers boasted of “low price guaranteed”. Hold the pani puri in your hand, go down the street and consume it there to find that it’s still crispy. That was his challenge though nobody had so much time to take it up. I was more than interested but thanks to the IIT/AIEEE/Intermediate coaching classes, I never found sufficient time to take up the challenge.
Some people find it surprising how I can have pani puri every single day. The human body is pretty interesting and weird. It becomes immune to something which you’ve been consuming for the past 10 years (true in my case but yet citation needed).
Being a veteran in this domain, I take pride in guiding you to have a good pani puri experience.

      1.  How and where to find a good pani puri stall: Finding pani puri stalls is a no brainer as we all know that usually we can find them at bus stops, auto stands, outside malls, outside offices etc.
But the real challenge is to find a good stall. This is where you can use my expertise. Follow the below steps:
·         Visual Inspection: If you find a huge crowd around a stall and very less around his neighbor then that’s the place.
·         Details: If the person who is serving wears plastic gloves then you can assume, with 95% confidence interval, that the food is going to be good there.
·         Survey: Ask your friends who live in that area. But this method may not give you good results if you do not know about your friend’s taste in pani puri or if he/she wants to take revenge against you.

      2.  Number of co-eaters, n(PC): Co- eaters are those people who stand next to you and get pani puris along with you. They can be of any age from 6-60 and usually have plenty of requirements depending on their age. Just make sure you don’t roll your eyes when they specify their requirements to avoid trouble.
For a fairly experienced pani puri server, the optimum number of co-eaters, nx(PC), is 4.
·         If n(PC)>nx(PC), then the lead time for every pani puri increases (the time in between 2 successive pani puris you get). There’s no fun in that.
·         If n(PC)x
(PC), then there is too much inventory stacked on your plate which soaks the puri which in turn leads to loss of crispness.

      3.  Know your rights: It is your right to ask for a sukha puri per plate of pani puri you’ve had. Also, you should know that it is the server’s right to decline it. It’s ethical; nobody follows it as a rule. A good pani puri stall owner always gives you one per plate without being asked. Also, you can ask for extra pani if necessary which, as far as I’ve seen, hasn’t been declined by anyone. So practically, you get an extra pani puri.

      4.  Precaution: When your pani puri is being put in your plate, there is a huge probability that your feet get wet. If you love your shoes, back off a little and stretch your arm.


That is it for now. You are always welcome to ask doubts. Happy pani puri gobbling.


PS: At some places they give you puris in a plate and some pani in a container.  This “Do-It-Yourself” pani puri is the most boring kind of pani puri experience and hence it hasn’t even been considered in the above guide. 

Friday, July 13, 2012

AWWW..!!! HOW CHWEEEET!!

Monika, my 1st crush. It was 1st std and pretty Monika was my partner thanks to my class teacher who put her next to me. Break time was for playing “Running & Catching” where I used to slow down so that she could catch me. Gifting her fancy teddy bear erasers isn’t just enough for a girl so pretty. She deserved much more. That’s when “Colgate Gel” advertised showing a glowy helix that encircled the person who brushed his/her teeth with Colgate Gel. This was it. I had to be the special boy in the class with the helix. After torturing my parents to buy that I was only shocked how companies can mislead its consumers with such false depictions. From then I never believed any advertisement.


A few days ago I was shopping with a new friend at Kolkata when we decided to buy toothpaste. Almost all toothpastes have the words “Brush twice everyday” printed on the boxes. Being in my rebel mode, I started my rant. “Brush twice everyday! Eh! Says who? The marketers? Why should we believe them? How do you know that it’s the dentists who’re saying so? How do you know that the marketers are not paying the dentists to say so? Our elder generations have used a stick from a neem tree to brush their teeth. No toothpaste (with or without salt), no toothbrush with aesthetically places bristles and yet they can still crack open a walnut with their mouths even now. Guess what, they used to brush only once a day. Brush twice everyday, my foot! Brush twice everyday! Says who?!”

Then my friend decides to open his mouth and reply, “My wife, bro. So I have no choice but to follow that rule.” and turns away. I resisted my urge to say “Awwww..!! How chweeet!!”

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Answered?

It was 8:40am when I was waiting, in the humid Mumbai climate, in front of the apartment gate to catch an auto to attend the last day of my internship at Indian Oil Corp.
A man in his early 30s joined me and stood towards ma right. As an unoccupied auto arrived from r rite, we signalled the auto man to stop. Despite being closer to the auto, he stepped aside to allow me to get the ride as I’ve been waiting longer. Loving the city more, i got in and came to a conclusion that Hyderabad can never be Mumbai in some aspects I respect.
When I was living at Hyderabad i never met a person who had a cool temper. Everybody was in an irritable mood every time. Be it early in the morning or late in the night
I always got harsh and irritable replies from the shop keepers, auto men, roadside vendors etc. I'm forcing myself to resist the urge to rant on about the traffic and the horrible traffic and civic sense there. But as my friend says, maybe I happened to look at only 1 side of the coin. Maybe I happened to c only those people who're frustrated with their lives. But not meeting a person who can give a proper reply in the almost 2yrs I've spent there doesn't support his assumption.
What I really don't understand is: Why do people have to be so frustrated? Even during early mornings when you wake up fresh?
The auto halted at Andheri railway station from which I am to catch a local train to Bandra, a 10min journey in the fast local. A train came by and I couldn't even put a foot in because of the crowd. I decided to use the next local. Didn't want to fight my way through the crowd. Peace.
"Hello boss", called me a passenger in the train who was sitting by the window, "Do we get cool water in the stall behind you? Find out.." What am I? How do I look like to him? His butler? I found that cool water was available in the stall and told him so. He gave me money and asked me to get him a bottle of cool water.
This time i was hesitant. I had enough. But still, don't know why, went to the stall, bought a water bottle and handed it to the passenger. I asked him, "You want me to order tea or coffee or breakfast? Or would this water bottle suffice your needs, Sir?". The man stared at me, a little hurt and a little confused as to what to answer.

The train started to leave just when a voice in my head said, "So, Chandu, you were thinking about something in the auto. Is that question answered now?"

Saturday, October 3, 2009

TIME SENSE

Time zone of India: GMT + 5:30
Time zone of hyderabad: GMT + (5:30 + X)
where X>= 30 and depends on the individual and his/her mood.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

My Triangular Love Story

Everyone must've heard the term "triangular love story". A guy loves a gal but the gal loves some other guy or a gal loves a guy but he loves some other gal.

How can you call that as a triangular love story? Where's the triangle?

CHANDU'S THEOREM: In any triangular love story, there exists atleast 1 homosexual pair and/ or a bisexual person.

For those who haven't got it yet, here's the proof.

PROOF:

Let us say A, B and C are 3 people (ref fig 1)





A loves B and B loves C. If we assume that A is a guy then B will be a gal and so C will be a guy.
(ref fig 2)





But is this a triangle? It can be called as a triangle only when C loves A(both are guys).
So the fig becomes:






So if its a triangular love story, there is atleast 1 homo pair.
I said atleast 1 homo pair because there can be a lot of combinations:

A B C
guy guy guy
guy guy gal
guy gal guy
guy gal gal
gal guy guy
gal guy gal
gal gal guy
gal gal gal

NOTE: You may think in vector terminology and say arrow AC should be pointed towards C.
But A is already in love with B. Even if he/she has the tendency or capacity or ability or the money to love both there still is a homo pair. In case A loves both, then A becomes a bisexual person.


CONCLUSION: In any triangular love story, there exists atleast 1 homosexual person and/or a bisexual person.

So think twice before you use the term "Triangular Love Story" again.