Sev

If Indore is the street food capital of India, Sev is Indore’s favorite snack.

Indorians cannot do without Sev. It can be had as an evening snack, or as a combo with pori (there is a hindi name for this that I cannot recall now), or sprinkled on poha (in fact sprinkled on anything edible) and there is even a Sev paratha (born of a Punjabi-Indori wedlock). But what takes the cake is the Sev tamatar sabji – may not sound very tempting but very tasty may I add. In fact I prepared it the last time I went home.

Now that we have established that Sev is important for just about any food preparation, comes the next confusion – which variety. Ratlami Sev, Ujjaini Sev, Lehsun Sev, Hing Sev, Palak Sev,…..there are literally scores of varieties!

Whichever variety you choose and in whatever mode you consume it, Sev is the king of Indorian street food - period.

Signing in from Indore

Back in action after a long hibernation. Well, truth be told blogging completely skipped my radar till last week a friend from office casually hinted that he had chanced upon my blog and read a few posts. He also encouraged me to write more often.

Well, time is definitely not a constraint. A month or two after my last post, I moved to Indore. And being away from family for most of the time I do have a lot of (weekend) time on my hands.

Obviously the first topic that comes to mind is the new location. Its been close to a year now and Indore has a charm that is difficult to resist. As with any other city/town there are pros and cons and it is easy to focus on the negatives.

But actually it is a case of perspective. On hearing that I was moving to Indore one of my friends shared his experience that it is a difficult place to live in – especially the food. But my experience in the food department has been the opposite – eating out in Indore has been much more easier – in terms of variety, quality, price and overall experience - than in Trivandrum. You see for a person whose diet is primarily non vegetarian and who cannot do without rice (especially the red variety), it is difficult to eat out. But for a vegetarian this is heaven, Indore is the street food capital of India! Different strokes for different folks!

Enough about food – there is a lot to bitch about Indore – the traffic sense (lack of), the heat (midday), the biting cold (winters), lack of vegetation (Indore is part of the Malwa region and terrain is primarily flat and barren), general lack of sanitation … but on the flip side there are lots to be thankful for. Even in peak summer, there is a cool breeze at night (try surviving the Delhi summer), cost of living is less than many tier 2 cities, and mostly for me the commute is never more than 30 minutes (even during peak times)

It depends on how you approach any change – you can either moan about it and suffer, or adapt and enjoy the journey.

What did you say? “Hau” ? - that’s Indori for Yes :)

More on Indore later..