Days in June and July seem to have a mind
of their own. The fact that they bring the monsoons to the South Asian lands
probably goes to their head. Which is why, more often than not, you’ll find
them in a resplendent sunny mood for a week or so and then all dark and moody
in the week thereafter. I mind their mood swings, really. They don’t mind mine
and so, I think it’s only fair that I tolerate their yo-yoing behaviour.
It was on one of those days, when the
weather had started to plaster a scowl of a downpour on the city, that I
happened to find myself in a Jumboking outlet bang opposite Borivali station.
It was around 2:00 pm in the afternoon on a sulky Sunday (or Monday perhaps -
I’m not quite sure.), the Sun was fast asleep, and the humidity in the air more
than made up for the absence of the irritation that an afternoon in Bombay
prides itself with.
Jumboking keeps itself away from all the
fancies that a condescending queen would long for. It’s a no-nonsense fast-food
chain that has peppered the entire city with hassled tired nooks that sell a
dandified version of the Bombay vada pau.
Photo credit: Ranjitha Deepesh @ Taste & Flavours on TrendHype / CC BY-NC-ND |
Anyhoo, as I was saying, vada pau is not on
my list of favourites. I don’t resent it but I am not a die-hard fan of it
either. Nor I think are several others too. Which is why Jumboking manages to
sell a dolled up version of it and make a profit on the makeup it uses as well.
The makeup comprises buns in place of pau and a slice of cheese. All of that
gentrifies the taste of the rustic concoction and in doing so, probably lends
some modernism to the vada pau. And it’s probably that modernism - that I and
the rest who have no opinion about vada paus - is what makes dolled up version
convenient enough to buy and munch on.
That afternoon though, I wasn’t
overanalyzing my tastes in food. I merely wanted something to eat. Jumboking
happened to be the nearest approximation to a place I’d be likely to get
anything worthwhile to pass off as lunch; and so, there I was.
Its counter was squeaky clean. It did have
hints of it just being cleant - water had left its marks as it dried up from
the platform and the platform itself seemed tired and listless about presenting
itself to customers to lean upon. Three to four people kept me away from the
counter - the queue wasn’t all that long. And the guy taking orders at the
counter, for some reason, was in no mood to quicken his pace of interaction.
I am a bit impatient these days. Not that I
wasn’t impatient in the days gone by. I was. It’s just that that impatience
seems to be on the loose far too much than I would want it to be. Needless to
say then, I began to get impatient in that queue as well. But of course, I knew
that would not help the proceedings - that had a mind of its own - in any way.
So, I did what I do best.
I began to observe the people in the queue.
To be continued...
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