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FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
A city lives on its stomach and
roadside food provides the city not only sustenance but also
spirit. It sustains both those who cook it and also those who
depend on its ready availability. Roadside food-sellers who
cater to all sections—labourers, rickshaw-pullers,
office-goers, students, travellers and visitors—are an
integral part of city life. In the effort to sanitise urban life
and apply BIS standards, can we afford to lose sight of the
millions who depend on roadside food for their survival. Can
they be wished away and their right to work be denied? Tribune
correspondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Amritsar and
Ludhiana report |
"We
cannot fight the government"
The recent ban on street
food is bound to affect the livelihood of more than 3 lakh
people, reports Vibha Sharma from
Delhi
Last
month the Supreme Court gave its final approval for regulations
on hawking and vending activities, which also includes a ban on
roadside cooking, except serving tea and coffee. |
The great
equaliser
In Kolkata, it is not only
the working class but also babus and ministers who patronise roadside
food, reports Subhrangshu Gupta
Anjali
Dutt, a middle-aged working woman at Writers Buildings, lives in a
rented flat at Beliaghata with her daughter and son, both studying in
colleges. |
Heart beats for
roadside delights
Take the food stalls away
from Ludhiana and you take away a lifeline, writes Kanchan
Vasdev
Ludhiana’s
inhabitants, be it in the
heat of summer or dead of night, are not deterred from making a
beeline for food stalls, such connoisseurs of food are Ludhianvis.
They feast on Pandit’s round-the-clock paranthas in Ghaas
Mandi.The eatery, being managed by the third generation of Panditji,
witnesses rush even during the wee hours. Traffic jams occur here at
the dead of night.
Mumbaikars don’t
care about risks
Roadside food keeps the city
alive at all times and one can’t imagine life without it, reports Shiv
Kumar
The
Supreme Court order banning cooking of food in the open has begun to
be enforced strictly in some parts of Mumbai while business continues
unhindered in most parts of the city. The crackdown on cooking of food
gathered steam after a young girl died shortly after eating Chinese
food cooked at a roadside stall some time back. After Vishakha Kokate,
17, died suddenly at her home in Thane, doctors confirmed that she
could have consumed something poisonous as part of the meal.
Eat and be
Amritsari
The food culture of this city
is legendary, reports Varinder Walia
Imagine
life in Amritsar without the mouthwatering roadside foods. If the
recent Supreme Court ban on cooking food items on the roadside in
Delhi is extended to Amritsar, it would spell doom for scores of
vendors, especially migrants. Residents would be deprived of the
famous Amritsari kulcha, pav bhaaji and tikkis.
World’s largest
open-air laundry
The dhobhighat is situated in
the centre of Mumbai. It attracts flocks of tourists, thrilled by the
sight and sound of the site. There is nothing like it anywhere in the
world, writes Raghavan Pillai
The
dhobighat at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai will now find its place on the city’s
tourist map, thanks to the efforts of the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC). The civic body has finally decided to designate it
as a tourist spot, as it has attracted flocks of tourists thrilled by
the sight and sound of dhobis washing, drying and ironing clothes.
(Pushpesh Pant is
away on holiday. His column Food Talk will not appear this week.)
Bangkok
The
happening city
It offers a heady mix of the
modern with the traditional. D.B.N. Murthy visits the city of temples,
which is also famous for its nightlife and exotic food fare
There
is magic in the air as one walks in the streets of this great city
Bangkok, known as Krungthep, City of Angels. There are food
carts everywhere serving hot delicacies. Seafood lovers have a great
choice — one could choose one’s fish, turtles or squid right from
the restaurants’ fresh water tank. Durian, the fruit that resembles
our own jackfruit, has its own votaries.
More movies for
kids this summer
Snehesh Alex Philip
With
bookings for Spiderman movie still going full, it seems like he has
indeed cast his web on children who were eager to enjoy the hot summer
ahead. And, it is not only Spiderman who is casting his web, but likes
of Shrek and Captain Jack Sparrow too have planned to
imitate Spiderman with both Shrek 3 and Pirates of
the Caribbean III looking all set to woo the children in the
coming weeks.
Karan’s style
quotient
Do
clothes maketh a man? Karan Johar, currently the cover boy of a
fashion magazine , discusses his style mantra. Did he ever imagine
that some day he would be a cover boy on a fashion magazine?
I owe it all to
Captain Jack’s role: Johnny Depp
Hollywood
actor Johnny Depp revealed
that he was not a "Blockbuster Boy" prior to Pirates of
the Caribbean movie series.
There’s no
Hollywood invasion
Shakuntala Rao
This
summer belongs to Hollywood", screams the headline of a national
news daily. It began with the stupendous success of Spider-man 3 at
the box-office. No doubt that everyone at Precept and SONY (the film’s
distributors) are ecstatic given that Spider-man 3 made more
money in its first two weeks than all Bollywood releases put together
in the first five months of 2007.
Blue-eyed legend
Paul Newman’s decision to
quit films has disappointed his fans. Vikramdeep
Johal on the high points of the versatile veteran’s career
His
piercing blue eyes and chiselled features would’ve sufficed to make
him a Hollywood star. Such stardom, however, would’ve been
superficial, only skin-deep. With histrionics to match his looks, Paul
Newman has wowed audiences for the past over five decades.
Clint Eastwood’s
biggest fan
If
there’s one director in Hollywood that legendary actor Anthony
Hopkins holds in the highest regard, it would be Clint Eastwood.
Caesarian
births are the trend
Fast-track deliveries have
gone up dramatically in Indian metros despite the risks involved.
Delhi’s leading hospitals report an alarming spiral in the number of
C-sections amongst the city women, reports Neeta
Lal
IN
keeping with Delhi’s dizzying urban growth trajectory, its
would-be-moms are also rooting for fast-track deliveries.
World’s
longest, most expensive saree
The
world’s longest and most expensive silk saree — measuring 486
metres— and depicting India’s cultural heritage will be on auction
in Sharjah shortly. "We expect it to be sold to a prestigious
buyer or a museum," said Beena Kannan, CEO of Kerala-based
Seematti Textiles, which has designed the traditional Indian attire.
Shades of the
season
Go in for warm yet muted
colours this summer, says Ritusmita
Biswas
If
you thought summer was a time to go pastel and pristine white, then
think again. This summer the colours are in and ‘just white’ is
out.
‘Hero’
barber’s centenary celebrations
The
birth centenary celebrations of Variappan, a barber who refused to
serve the British way back in 1930, was recently celebrated by the
people of Vedaranyam, near Porayar in Tamil Nadu.
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