Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Kalyanam in Singara Chennai

Saturday, 1630 and I was on my way to my friend's marriage in Chennai. As the train pulled itself with its load of passengers out of the Secunderabad railway station, my only goal then was to sleep, sleep and put to rest the week load of tireness that I had accumulated. The lazy side of me was always tempting me to pull out of this journey and spend most of the time sleeping within the comforts of my house. But I had to make this trip, for it was a once in a life time event in my friend's life and secondly I had the return tickets for another friend of mine who would be joining me in Chennai.

I had barely seen the outskirts of Secunderabad, when I heard the sound that I was waiting for "Vediga Vediga ... Samosa". Two hours had passed by and I was lost in the depth of my sleep only to be woken up by the sound of the samosa hawker. Nalgonda (about 2 hrs from Hyderabad) is famous among railway passengers for the hot Samosa's that the hawkers sell in the train. Their common slogan used to be "Vediga ... Vediga... Samosa" ("Vediga" meaning "hot" in Telugu). This guy had a special one .. "Vediga .. Vediga ... Very Very Hot Samosa". With a plate of "Very Very Hot" samosa in my hand, it was time to explore the length of the train !

2130 and the train made its pit stop at the Guntur station. The diesel engine had to give way for the electric engine, and I decided to find some stuff for my stomach to survive the long journey forward. Four bread slices were placed over egg yolk and albumen spread over the frying fan and tossed into the air, and folded in a typical fashion. This, guys, is the "guntur bread omlet" ! With a glass of banana milk shake, it was time to complete the second leg of the journey.

Chennai, the city that is famous for many things, its history, culture, tradition and of course, Sambhar. And if you are travelling by train to Chennai, the last thing that you would want to miss is the food at Saravana Bhavan. A plate of sambhar vada and one plain dosa, was enough to kick start your day. Well there was much more in store !!!

[TO BE CONCLUDED]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was in Chennai last week and had food at Sarvanna Bhavan at the station. Reading your post made me remember the taste of that delicious sambhar.

Thanks for the reminder. Have fun.

Vasugi

Anonymous said...

You never concluded this :P