[Reader-list] Paani puri politics

Sun Apr 24 20:12:42 IST 2011

For those who could not figure out why I posted the pani-puri-pee story, here is another view:

Much ado about pani puri
By: Paromita Vohra 	  	
Date:  2011-04-24 	  	Place: Mumbai

I've lived in Mumbai for over two decades, but I spent my teenage years in Delhi. So naturally, I've always liked Gol Gappas over Pani Puri. Even the name is more poetic  a round thing you pop in  gapp! My Hindi writer friend assures me it's not connected to gapp-shupp, but I like to entertain the fantasy that the words have a relationship  one jumping out of your mouth, as the other pops in.

Gol Gappas, according to me are more robust; tart and sharp and cold, like William Carlos Williams' plums. Pani Puri on the other hand seems tepid, timid and a little stingy. It has sprouts  definitely dweeby. Because it's Mumbai, the humidity has usually killed the crispness. Bengali people of course, snort at both versions of this universal snack as they scarf down Puchkas, intractable and mustardy, with a dash of soft potatoes, like a Bangla momma. But I accept that in the matter of chaat, you will always prefer the kind you ate when you were young. And while I advocate mix and match in most aspects of life, I respect the right of chaat to be consumed in its native place.

So I am confused by the MNS's hate for Pani Puri and their resolute upturning of all Pani Puri stalls in Mumbai. I thought they defended all things Mumbai. So did my criticism of Pani Puri have a sound basis all these years? I know they say it's because of the man who peed in his Pani Puri  but then they would have just overturned his stall, right?

No, said my friend. They care about hygiene and our health. Oh, I said. So have they also been doing something about all those malnutrition deaths in Thane? My friend looked uncertain. Why don't you shoot the malnutrition stuff and show them  they'll surely take action then. This seemed like a lot of trouble to me, so I said, what about those fancy SoBo (apparently you can't say Colaba anymore; it sounds too Mumbai and not enough EnWyeCee) restaurants where you can see bandicoots. Yeah, she said, you could shoot those with your phone camera.

But later I realised that will defeat the purpose of the sting operations as many fancy restaurants are owned by fancy people. Sting operations, with exceptions, I've noticed, are preferably used on small time characters. For instance, India TV sent a pretty young girl to pursue Shakti Kapoor, a fairly powerless, fading actor. She made various suggestive offers until he finally said OK, let's do it and I'll try to get you work. Then she told him smile, you are on secret camera. I've been looking for her to ask why she didn't go for a bigger fish who could actually get her a role  a movie director or something. But I guess big fish don't fit into the frames of small cameras. It's just a technical problem.

The rule is that the person with the small camera is usually in the right and gets to shout it out from the settops. Punish the corrupt and all. And till you can get to the big fish, we'll shoot the small ones. On our camera only, baba, what did you think?

What I'm trying to say is  can someone penalise the guy who peed in the Pani Puri and let the others feed those who like Pani Puris? You don't want to punish the big fish who beat up the Pani Puri boys, or hold the BMC accountable, fine, it's on your head. But... if you do, I'll eat a Pani Puri.

Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at www.parodevi.com.

The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.

http://www.mid-day.com/opinion/2011/apr/240411-Gol-Gappas-Pani-Puri-Urinate.htm

--- On Sun, 4/17/11, S.Shashidhar <ssabnavis at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: S.Shashidhar <ssabnavis at gmail.com>
> Subject: RE: [Reader-list] Paani puri politics
> To: "reader-list at sarai.net" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "TaraPrakash" <taraprakash at gmail.com>, "Yousuf" <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Sunday, April 17, 2011, 8:52 PM

> Attention one more leak from
> yousuf... He knew all along that street vendors were spicing
> the food with fluids of their own and he jas done nothing
> about it, not write a single line of protest or even fast
> unto death to discourage all the others polluting his
> innards...
> 
> Relax man, relax, there has been a lot of anna bashing
> going on some of it by bobby and sudha is really enlightened
> and well researched, what you are trying to serve is hog
> wash. Please... Keep you half baked theories to self. 
> 
> If what yousuf says is true any further congragation of
> people voilent, non voilent, hungry, wanting to swim,
> participate in a dog show is all inspired by the very old,
> frail, fascist, mns henchman....
> 
> And for social awakening we have to look for donkey videos
> and punish offending childre.... Relax....
> 
> Holding my preassure for you
> 
> 
> Shashi
> 
> Sent from my Nokia phone
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Yousuf
> Sent:  17/04/2011 4:44:00 pm
> To: reader-list at sarai.net;
> ssabnavis at gmail.com;
> TaraPrakash
> Subject:  RE: [Reader-list] Paani puri politics
> 
> We did not need one Ankita to know that street-vendors pee
> and serve. We have known this fact all along, yet we consume
> the street food with pleasure. But when someone posts a
> video (which is rather vague and can be interpreted any
> which way), we come on to the streets (in the tradition
> created recently by the media hype around Anna Hazare's fast
> against corruption) and start vandalising all street-vendors
> that come in our way. Our police and officials are
> completely useless - they cannot ensure in their normal duty
> that the street vendors supply clean food and utensils. MNS
> assumes the role of law-maker, judge and punisher, and even
> the CM approves of what MNS does. How many kinds of
> hypocracies does on need to point out in this story and how
> many connections should one show with Anna Hazare?
> 
> Last week, someone posted a painful youtube video of some
> kids heckling a donkey for fun, ultimately throwing it off a
> bridge (and its called "What fun"). Has anyone gone out to
> the street and beaten all the street kids to pulp and saved
> all the stray dogs and donkeys yet?
> 
>  
> 
> --- On Sat, 4/16/11, S.Shashidhar <ssabnavis at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > From: S.Shashidhar <ssabnavis at gmail.com>
> > Subject: RE: [Reader-list] Paani puri politics
> > To: "reader-list at sarai.net"
> <reader-list at sarai.net>,
> "Yousuf" <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> > Date: Saturday, April 16, 2011, 6:36 PM
> > Anna hazare and his tribe grows...
> > Mr. Yousuf is ok with people peeing into his pani
> puri...
> > Get your facts right, anna hazare has nothing to do
> with
> > mns, if you feel sorry for people who pee and serve 
> > great.... If you want to twist and serve your own pee
> > stories congrats....
> > 
> > Sent from my Nokia phone
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Yousuf
> > Sent:  16/04/2011 6:24:43 pm
> > Subject:  [Reader-list] Paani puri politics
> > 
> > Anna Hazare's tribe grows. I don't know whether to
> feel
> > sorry for the street vendors or the MNS goons.
> > ----------
> > 
> > Paani puri politics
> > 
> > Posted On Friday, April 15, 2011 at 02:27:46 AM
> > 
> > On Wednesday, Mumbai Mirror had published the story of
> a
> > paani puri vendor - caught on camera by reader Ankita
> Rane -
> > urinating into the lota used to serve his customers.
> > 
> > Three days later, the isolated story which ought to
> have
> > triggered awareness about unhygienic street food, has
> turned
> > into a political circus.
> > 
> > Ankita, who has been besieged with congratulatory
> calls
> > since her story was published, saw nothing wrong when
> local
> > political worker Rahul Shelar organised a meeting MNS
> > supremo Raj Thackeray at his Dadar residence on
> Thursday.
> > "He (Thackeray) saw the video and congratulated me on
> my
> > courage," said Ankita. "He also said the civic body is
> not
> > doing its job."
> > 
> > Minutes after Ankita walked out, party workers were
> out on
> > a rampage across Dadar targeting vendors of Nimbu
> Panni,
> > Panni Puri, Bhel Puri, Batata Vada and other street
> food.
> > Ignoring the pleas of shocked and hapless vendors,
> they tore
> > down stalls, overturned carts and destroyed wares.
> > 
> > MNS workers clear the Dadar and Shivaji Park areas of
> > street vendors on Thursday afternoon.
> > 
> > The agitation gathered momentum and by evening MNS
> workers
> > in groups had managed to leave behind a trail of
> destruction
> > from Dadar right up to the suburbs including Dahisar,
> > Andheri, Khar and even areas like Colaba and CST. The
> > hawkers were no match for the marauding brigade.
> > 
> > Sandeep Deshpande, the department head of the party
> said
> > that this agitation is in interest of the common man.
> > “Hawkers sell unhygienic food on the streets and
> people
> > consume it. This drive is against such unhygienic food
> being
> > sold,” he said.
> > 
> > Chief Minister Prithivraj Chavan, who was in Ghatkopar
> when
> > MNS rampaged its way through the city - said, "There
> are
> > Supreme Court guidelines on food being sold on the
> streets
> > and the government will ensure that they are followed
> and
> > effectively implemented."
> > 
> > Back in Ankita's neighbourhood, the street food
> vendors had
> > disappeared before the politics of 'piss puri' could
> catch
> > up with them.
> > 
> > http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=2&contentid=20110415201104150228029897480759a
> > 
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