The humble pani puri, the spiritual salt of the earth
When people ask me for a health tip, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, channel the spiritual gnome inside me, put on the voice of one of those blademaster sage types on Aastha channel and tell them that in an ideal world, I’d end every day with a healthy serving of pani puri. Note that I did not say gol gappa. Pani puri is a spiritual experience. Gol Gappa is a crime against humanity. The former is imbued with all that is good about this world. The latter comes from Delhi.
How many pani puris do you normally get served in one portion? Six, you would think. You would think wrong. The seventh is the one designed to soothe your spice ravaged mouth from the pleasurable devastation of the pani. Seven. That’s a spiritual number. Seven Wonders. Seven notes in music. It’s cosmic.
Gol gappa, on the other hand, is spiritual in the way illicit arrack is spiritual. It’s crude and at best, a compromise. It’s like coming home at the end of a tiring day and eating a micro-waved meal. Pani puri is filled with the wholesomeness of warm potato and chickpea gravy. Gol gappa slaps the insides of your mouth with all the tastelessness of cold potato.
Pani puri represents the principles of cosmopolitanism. It’s hot, cold, spicy, sweet, tangy in the kind of harmony that brings strength. It is the symbol of tolerance. Gol gappa marries the violence of spice with the arctic cold of potato. It is showy and shallow. It’s airy and filled with gas. It’s all style and no substance.
Pani puri is the salt of the earth, all humility, hard work and contentment. Gol gappa is served with arrogance, stuffed with a lack of hospitality and makes one angry. The former is resilient. The latter is corrupt. Pani puri is honest. The very name screams honesty. It is water and fried bread. Nothing more. Under-promise and over-deliver. Gol gappa is the epitome of dishonesty. For starters, while it claims to be spherical, it is not. It’s typical of it to take a rough spheroid shape and pass it off as a sphere and I don’t even know what gappa means.
When people eat pani puri, they elevate their minds to another plane. They are prone to hug each other and even do impromptu dances as flash mobs. When people eat gol gappa, they become listless, plan badly and end up being dispersed by cops.
So yes, I love pani puri and hate the fact that my city Chennai serves gol gappa in reality and calls it pani puri.
And oh, any symbolic similarity of pani puri to Mumbai and gol gappa to Delhi is wholly coincidental and completely unintended and accidental.
When people ask me for a health tip, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, channel the spiritual gnome inside me, put on the voice of one of those blademaster sage types on Aastha channel and tell them that in an ideal world, I’d end every day with a healthy serving of pani puri. Note that I did not say gol gappa. Pani puri is a spiritual experience. Gol Gappa is a crime against humanity. The former is imbued with all that is good about this world. The latter comes from Delhi.
How many pani puris do you normally get served in one portion? Six, you would think. You would think wrong. The seventh is the one designed to soothe your spice ravaged mouth from the pleasurable devastation of the pani. Seven. That’s a spiritual number. Seven Wonders. Seven notes in music. It’s cosmic.
Gol gappa, on the other hand, is spiritual in the way illicit arrack is spiritual. It’s crude and at best, a compromise. It’s like coming home at the end of a tiring day and eating a micro-waved meal. Pani puri is filled with the wholesomeness of warm potato and chickpea gravy. Gol gappa slaps the insides of your mouth with all the tastelessness of cold potato.
Pani puri represents the principles of cosmopolitanism. It’s hot, cold, spicy, sweet, tangy in the kind of harmony that brings strength. It is the symbol of tolerance. Gol gappa marries the violence of spice with the arctic cold of potato. It is showy and shallow. It’s airy and filled with gas. It’s all style and no substance.
Pani puri is the salt of the earth, all humility, hard work and contentment. Gol gappa is served with arrogance, stuffed with a lack of hospitality and makes one angry. The former is resilient. The latter is corrupt. Pani puri is honest. The very name screams honesty. It is water and fried bread. Nothing more. Under-promise and over-deliver. Gol gappa is the epitome of dishonesty. For starters, while it claims to be spherical, it is not. It’s typical of it to take a rough spheroid shape and pass it off as a sphere and I don’t even know what gappa means.
When people eat pani puri, they elevate their minds to another plane. They are prone to hug each other and even do impromptu dances as flash mobs. When people eat gol gappa, they become listless, plan badly and end up being dispersed by cops.
So yes, I love pani puri and hate the fact that my city Chennai serves gol gappa in reality and calls it pani puri.
And oh, any symbolic similarity of pani puri to Mumbai and gol gappa to Delhi is wholly coincidental and completely unintended and accidental.
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