VADA PAV

वडा पाव 

Outside it is raining. Lovely view from my balcony in Wakad. I yearn for a hot Vada Pav. And my mind harks back to memories of the tastiest Vada Pav I ever had.

MOUTHWATERING MUMBAI MEMORIES

CTO VADA PAV

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Vada Pav (or Wada Paw, if you want to spell it that way) is my favourite Fast Food. It is affordable and fulfilling. In fact Vada Pav is the ultimate Indian Fast Food - what a Burger is to America the Vada Pav is to India.

I have a Vada Pav almost every day and have relished Vada Pav at countless places, and though it’s been a long time, I still have fond mouthwatering memories of my all time favourite Vada Pav – the inimitable CTO Vada Pav at Ashok Satam’s stall on the Hutatma Chowk (Flora Fountain) side of the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in Mumbai which I enjoyed every afternoon on my way back home from office or during my evening stroll.

The Vada is served freshly fried piping hot and is crisp and crunchy on the outside. Thats how a good Vada should be from the outside – nice and crisp, not soft and soggy like most of the fare dished out elsewhere.

The moment you bite the sharp zesty effect of the spices and greens hits you there is an abundance of tangy greens in the tasty fusion inside: green chillies, coriander, curry patta, ginger-garlic.

Don’t chew, just roll your tongue and press the hot stuff against your palate and let it dissolve. You will feel stimulated for sure!

The Vada is not only mouth watering, it may be nose-watering too if you have a delicate tongue. So might as well put the vada in a pav and savour the CTO Vada Pav gazing at the Hutatma Memorial, the Fountain and nice pretty faces in the crowd rushing by, to and from Churchgate, CSTM and the bus stops.

I wonder whether the CTO Vada Pav Stall still exists and if the Vada still as zesty and delicious as it was. Will some Foodie Vada Pav aficionado Mumbaikar let us know.

Meanwhile, can anyone tell me where I can enjoy a good Vada Pav in Pune?  I have tasted a few so far, even the famed Joshi, Diwadkar, Rohit et al, also during ontervals while watching plays at Balgandharva etc, not to forget the ones at Karjat Railway Station too, and found them quite soggy and insipid compared to the Ashok Satam’s crisp, zesty and stimulating Vada near CTO in Mumbai.

VIKRAM KARVE

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