Food path

Laxmi road, Kumthekar road and Sawargate resemble the look of a food street during Ganesh festival. Dagdu Gaikwad is a resident of Mulshi, who comes down all the way to Pune from his village to sell bhuttas. According to Gaikwad, 8220;We have our own farm and business in Mulshi and we come down to Pune only during these four days. The demand for corn during the festival is so high that we bring an entire truck filled with bhuttas and there hasn8217;t been a single year when the truck has not gone back empty.8221;

Santosh Dosa center is the name of a haath gadi that is normally located on Paud road near Ideal colony. But during Ganesh festival, the location changes to Laxmi road. The owner Santosh Pawar makes the complicated equation easy by saying, 8220;The number of dosas that I normally sell during a week is equal to the number that I sell during one night in Ganesh festival. The number might reach up to 100 to 200 dosas during one night of the festival.8221; What also attracts food lovers to Pawar8217;s haath gadi are the South Indian items like set dosa, butter dosa, uttappa, cut dosa and so on. Pawar eliminates the probability of customers going away due to hygienic reasons by providing paper plates and tissue papers. 8220;By doing this, I get a satisfaction that I am providing quality service to my customers,8221; smiles Pawar.

And how can wadapav, the most common roadside snack be an exception when the demand for roadside food is so high? Pandurang Gurav who owns a wadapav shop near Swargate adds, 8220;These four days make me feel happy about the location of my shop. I mean demand for wadapav is never ending but during these four days the requirement goes so high that I have to take help of some of my friends to meet the demand.8221;

While walking on the streets one can see temporary hotels set on the roads with food lovers enjoying roadside delicacies like pav bhaji, kachchi dabeli, sandwiches, egg bhurji, chanachur, guddi ke baal and so on. Devdatta Bhingarkar is one such food lover, for whom deciding between pav bhaji, wadapav, dosa, tawa pulao and countless other food items is the most challenging task. 8220;I am an active participant in the final day processions and after the processions when we are tired, gathering at one of the food stalls and tasting maximum possible food items is our favourite activity. Recently there have been new introductions like Chinese stalls and tawa pulao as well. However, the fun there is not about the food items but about the euphoric night it is,8221; he smiles.