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Monthly Archives: December 2023
An Eventful Bus Ride, A Poem
A blue DTC e-bus
Glided to a halt.
Near me at the bus stop.
My heart jumped with joy.
Yes, it was going to be
A pleasant ride,
I told myself…
I rushed to the entrance.
Little did I know,
A nasty surprise awaited me.
The glass doors slid open;
And all hell broke loose.
While a small crowd jostled
On their way into the bus
Another lot from inside jostled
On their way out.
Creating meaningless chaos.
Someone behind me
Placed his hand on my waist.
Aghast, I turned around to slap him.
My hand stopped midway.
Calm, placid eyes
Met my gaze.
Innocence personified.
I sprinted to the exit door,
My arms wrapped tightly
Around my backpack.
The driver was kind;
He touched a switch
The doors opened
And then shut behind me.
The bus began moving again.
I dropped myself
Into the first available seat.
Next challenge:
Get a pink pass.
The conductor was busy
Handing out tickets to the crowd.
I took my ticket online on my phone.
Mission accomplished!
The bus began gliding again.
With my eyes shut,
Back pressed against the seat
I returned to my safe inner world.
A few seconds later,
The conductor at the back screamed,
“Driver Saab, stop the bus, open the door.”
“Someone here wants to vomit.”
The bus stopped near the pavement.
A few people clambered out.
The bus began moving
And it was calm again.
A few seconds later,
Someone cried out.
‘My mobile phone is gone!”
But the bus kept moving.
People around me said wryly,
“Those damned pickpockets again.”
“With so much bhukhmari, unemployment,
“What else can young men do?”
…Jasbir Chatterjee
Twinning With Yellows
A Love Triangle
Mother And Child
Mobile phones have completely transformed our lives. See this pic on top…a mother and her little child travelling in a DTC bus…engrossed in different worlds…the mom in her thoughts and the child in a mobile phone.
B-Tech Paani Puri Wali
B-Tech Paani Puri Wali recently catapulted to fame about a year ago for their golgappas; “delicious, healthy, and clean;” that’s what they claim across all their social media. It’s a combo that we health-conscious Delhiites rarely ever associate our roadside golgappas with.
When I first read about this new startup begun by Tapasi Upadhyay, a young 21-year-old B-Tech Engineering graduate, my curiosity was sufficiently aroused to want to check this out for myself. So I added it to my list of to-do tasks.
Because of my hectic daily routine, however, my visit to their stall in Tilak Nagar just couldn’t materialize.
On 22 November 2023, when I was on my way home in a DTC bus, I got a pleasant surprise. B-Tech Paani Puri Wali stall standing right there, just two stops away from my home!
I had a strong temptation to hop out of the bus, but many other urgent errands awaited me. So I promised myself that I will visit tomorrow. And yes, this time, I kept my promise. See the photo on top.
I had the great fortune of meeting the owner Tapasi herself. She turned out to be a soft spoken, humble, down-to-earth person and bowled me over completely.
I asked her if they had other items too, such as bhalle-papri, etc. She said, “Yes, we do. In place of normal yoghurt, we use peanut yoghurt. The vegans love it. But, we haven’t started it here yet, as today is our second day here. We will add it as time goes by.”
You might be wondering, dear readers, whether I had those famous B-Tech paani puris at the stall that day. Yes, I did. The combination of all those different flavors, sweet, hot, and sour, was precisely what I had been craving for.
The best part, I discovered, was that despite all the pains they take to ensure cleanliness and hygiene, their golgappas cost Rs. 5 only per piece, just like any other stall in Delhi.
I got some golgapoas packed for my family too with a reminder to the serving girl to add more of the sweet flavors.
My daughter Suroshri had this to say about the golgappas.
1. The “Paani” is too hot, too many green chilies.
2. The filling is too bland and too less. No chickpeas, green coriander, and mint leaves. Just a little mass of boiled, mashed potatoes.
3. While the paani slowly trickles down your throat and the different flavors hit your taste buds, you want something crunchy between your teeth. That wasn’t the case here.
Though Suroshri enjoyed the experience of eating those B-Tech paani puris, she said with a shrug, “Well, Mom, “Healthy and Delicious can’t always co-exist, can they?”
More pics here.
Here’s what I did with the leftovers.
1. The bland potato mash went into my alu-parathas next morning.
2. The air-fried puris disappeared after two days. We had them with the leftover pani and a filling of Haldiram namkeen.
3. The paani sat in the fridge and took about one week to disappear. I had a few sips of it daily after returning from work. That’s the time when I feel like having something that’s both salty and spicy.
Best of luck, Tapasi! A word of advice for you. Strengthen your product offerings while expanding your business.
jasbirchatterjeephotoblog 
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