The First Street Food Experience

I’ll set the scene..since I didn’t think to bring my camera. Again. D’oh. Anyway..Think of a typical Pune street, both dirty and busy, cockroaches tunneling their way out of the sewers while the shopkeepers with their jammed-full shops are continuously buying and selling their products, people walking around everywhere, even in the street itself, dodging motorbikes while waiting patiently for their turn between cars and trucks. And don’t forget about the other animals roaming around for someone’s leftover food, dogs and cows mostly.
This is the place that Ma, her parents, Aaji and Bai, as I call them, Ma’s brother, Mandar, and I drove into on a fine day, just like any other. But our sights were set on something else that particular day. We wanted street food! Pani Puri to be specific, at a specific location of which Mandar must stop by each time he is in Pune visiting with family and friends. I was pretty skeptical as I was told multiple times by many different sources that it is always best to keep away from the wonderful smelling street food. But Mandar assured us all that this specific location was the only one he ever ate at, and he had never gotten sick from it. That was convincing enough for me! When we got out of the car and climbed around the line of parked motorbikes, Mandar immediately started ordering a bunch of food. We received each order when it was ready, just standing there watching it being made (me kind of cringing at how often the cook’s bare hands touched what I was about to consume) and munching respectively. Eating pani puri is an experience in itself, one that can’t really be described very well..But I’ll just say that it was well worth the risk of dying to eat that delicious, spicy, and most definitely dirty food! It was a success. And I ate way too much of it. Maybe it wasn’t just luck having not gotten sick afterwards, but I think I’ll wait until Mandar visits again before I have another street food experience.

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