Indian chowmein tastes the best, when you are actually present, near the hawker, watching it get made.
Of course you are hungry. You see a chinese stall, with decent looking people wearing full sleeved shirts, with IT company lanyards around their necks, polishing off their plates. Enough positive signals for you to partake in.
You tell the wiry looking guy, you need one half plate, he barely registers your request, as he is busy murdering the noodles with hellfire. His forehead glistening with sweat, in the light of a petromax.
You patiently wait, as fumes of various spices enter your nostrils. Suddenly the guy throws a handful of veggies in his cauldron, they scream as they touch the red hot surface. Then he slaps the base of a bottle to emit questionable chilli sauce, while the stove hisses fire. Then all of it’s tossed with violence. Endlessly. You get hungrier.
Each time you think, maybe it’s done. He tosses it again. It’s less of cooking and more of a performance, a ticketed show, in which you get a complimentary plate of veg chowmein with a spelling mistake. Nothing elevates the taste of Indian street food more than a typo.
Everyone around the stall is just watches it get made, nobody is checking their phone. After JCB digging, this is the 2nd most watchable thing on the streets.
Then finally it’s done. Half plates come out from a tub, being manned by a teenage helper from the same village, then magically, the chowmein walah, distributes the Kadhaai-ful of noodles equally in all half-plates. Someone throws in some freshly cut onion on top. And then it’s served to you with a fork planted in it. Onions taste like apples, sweet, when had with this half plate spice bomb. Don’t miss.
Middle class households which get an AC for the first time, their leader of the family, becomes the AC whisperer. The guy who regulates the usage of Air conditioner for the household. He frequently says stuff like:
“Room Thanda ho Gaya hai, ab band kar do”
“DOOR KAUN KHOL KE CHALA GAYA”
“Kitna acha lag raha hai na”
Buying an AC is a milestone. A success metric. ♥️
India has its ‘Unknown Men’
But also its ‘Unseen Women’
Props to Kangana for bringing such stories to life. 26/11. Armed Pakistani terrorists, on a rampage, killing people indiscriminately. Yet a few good women stood tall. Watch Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata to know how unarmed nurses saved 400 people from armed terrorists. Kangana in the lead, delivers a composed performance. No melodrama. Such stories need to be told