Saturday, March 01, 2008

Vaishali





On a crisp, somewhat chilly Sunday morning, I really miss my favorite place in Pune.
As a rule, our Sundays opened in a small, cosy, South Indian restaurant called Vaishali.
Vaishali is not just a restaurant. It is a way of life. We grew up eating there. I still remember our school days. We were an infamous gang from Abhinava Vidyalaya that comprised of girls and boys who were a little full of themselves. We used to go this place on our push bikes and occupy a big table for we used to be a group of fifteen or twenty at a time.
All our high school romances blossomed with the consistently tasty Shev Potato Dahi Puri
( that goes with an acronym SPDP) and cold coffee. About ten years down the line,those "we are forever" couples from high school have split and moved their own ways, but the SPDP is still the same.
As we went from school to undergraduate school, we used Vaishali or "Vaish" as we lovingly call her to meet up and keep in touch ( which was just and excuse because I have never in my life been out of touch with my best friends from school).
We discussed so many heartbreaks over Meduwadas swimming in a big bowl of Sambar.
We wallowed in the sea of failures and shed some serious tears into the very famous Ganga-Jamuna juice.
In the sickeningly happy times we "hi-fived" our greasy Mysore Masala Dosa fingers in celebration. I also fell in love with the Vaish Idli when I used to be on a Ritzy diet and survived on oil-free food.
About five minutes walk from Vaish towards Deccan and there is a replica of this restaurant called Roopali. The funniest thing however is that Roopali is haunted by those typical "small-scale-industrialists" or middle aged Marathi men who are looking forward to talk about all the boring things that a man could talk about. My dad and his best friend Vinu kaka haunt this restaurant. They camp themselves in Roopali on Thursdays ( when the Pune industry takes an off). Their day is spent eating various combinations of Idlis and Wadas and drinking innumerable cups of coffee.
There was a time when my baba used to threaten me that if I do not behave the way he wants me to, he will come to Vaish with his friends the same time as I go there. It was enough for me to listen to everything he said and obey him.
When I was in college and I went to Vaish bunking lectures I used to be extra cautious not to pass Roopali on Thursdays. However sometimes when Vinu kaka saw me on Fergusson road loafing around with my gang, he used to come and tap me on the shoulder and say that he had this compulsive urge of calling up my mom!
Sometimes when Vaish is out of Sambar, you can see the Udpi bhaiyya waiters carrying a big bucket of fragrant Sambar all the way from Roopali!
If a guy asked you out and he took you to Vaish, he was labeled as a "regular-full-blooded-Puneite-who-could-be-taken-seriously". When we sat there twisting our spoons in filter coffee on Saturday evenings, I used to scan the place to guess the number of "first dates" that were happening around me and give my best friend Ameya a detailed analysis of all the awkward and shy moments they were going through.
Vaish attracts a full spectrum of people. You can see salwar-kameez-clad behenjis and skinny alfa women with a tattoo on their arm! The common thread that binds them though is that if you probe into it, the behenji and the alpha woman would probably have the same last name - Gokhale. :)
Whether it is our Joshi Kaka who is seen in Vaish at eight in the morning in his tennis shorts or Kulkarni kaku with her girlfriends at four in the afternoon, Vaishali radiates the joy of being a Puneri. :)
I promise myself that the moment I reach Pune, I would rush to Vaish for a hot piping Idli Sambar!
There are very few things that get me truly nostalgic and Vaish is definitely one of them.
Love you Vaish!!!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

vaishali: mee tithe far wela gelo nahiye, pan ekoon changala hotel aahe.

aamhi tithe gelyavar mostly CCD madhe pan jaycho. tithlee devil's delight (kee asach kahitaree naav aslelee) coffee mala faar aavdaychee.

<<< hope you accept comments in marathi >>>

Dhakaldo said...

I think Shree is talking about "Devils' Own"..
U bet.. Vaish rocks.. BIG time..
but how come You have not mentioned the klass 'upama' U get there..
We used to go there on Monday mornings after r practs.. I remember once ordering ' astil tevadhe upame aaNa' :D
but somehow I always like Roopali coffee more..
One thing is awesome that the taste and quality is just the same awesome for so many years..
aNi mala watala hota ki tu 'ajun' dusare kuthle photo lawshil ithe :D
Now I can see that this commnt is turning into a new post so I stops..
paN nxt time jar tu mazya aadhi gelis Vaishali madhe [ sakaLi ] tar ek upama kha nakki.. lol

Saee said...

@ Shreeshankar
Kay are..CCDt kay jawa Vaish nantar!! And I accept comments in all languages. Thanks for the comment. :)
@ Pushkar
Mala upama awdat nahi. I think it is the worst thing you can do to Rawa and Peanuts. :P

Raj said...

Good post! Being an ex-wadian, I rarely wondered as far as Vaish except when coming to BCL. maybe we crossed paths :))) But i know that many of my ex-ferg friends have a soft spot for it.
It was sheer torture about reading all those tasty dishes though. especially since i have not tasetd them in almost two years :-(

Saee said...

@Raj
yeah..I have decided that everytime I miss something I am going to write about it. The desperation turns into art you know. :P
Thanks!!

sam said...

saee why am i getting a feelin dat as july approaches the no. of things dat'll get u nostalgic r only gonna increase wid each passing day ;)...ofcourse i havea magical potion 2 help u recollect many nostalgic moments in ur life-white mischief+lemon+sprite on the rocks..haha ;)...dis combo itself shud make u nostalgic right??
anyways vaishali is definitely amongst the very few gud eating places in pune...tc luv ya:)

Unknown said...

tis post reminded me of ma own "nostalgic places" back home...gd wrk!
damn! i am now craving for south-indian dinner tonite! =)

शिरीष said...

Hi Sai! Very nostalgic post! Vaishali,Rupali always takes you back to the memory lanes.You cannot exactly describe the relation you have with these addas.
I have been visiting Roopali since 1978! 1978 to probably 1984-85 it was a regular affair but then the visits decreased and now it is occesional with Vinu Kaka on Thursdays.

You can always notice a peculier pattern that people have their fixed timings.At different parts of the day different groups occupy the place.They come share a coffee and sometimes Uttaappa,Dosa or Medu Vada chit chat for a while and disperse. They meet as friends with no expectations from each other and hence the groups last for so many years.
Some body can write even a good story or a fullfleged novel with characters from these places.

You have done a good job!

Saee said...

@ Sam..
Hmm white mischief sounds interesting. :P
Thanks.. :)
@Shall
Yeah..I was actually craving idli when I wrote this
@ baba
Yeah..I have heard your "amchya kali wada 25 paishala milaycha" stories so many times..Then you went "Ani cinema amhi balconyt 1 rupayat baghaycho"
GOD!! Everytime I remember your an Vinu kaka's stories from the past I promise myself that none of my current experiences are going to turn into that kind of a story. :P

RJ said...

amen....

Saee said...

@ Rj
hehe..Thanks :D

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