Campus Food

Wherever you go in Life, whatever one achieves in life, wherever one eventually reaches, few things always remain entrenched in your memory for ever .... Your First Love, First Kiss, First Date, First Job - But one of the things that shape up your Career  eventually have a major bearing on ones life is Your School, Your College, Your Alma meter. Its the memories of your alma meter that one so fondly recalls in life at times when most needed & they provide an almost Instant dose of energy & charge .... College & Campus Memories are almost imcomplete about food ...Yes the food that we all ate as students .... Campus food or the food ate at our Favorite Cheap Joints with Friends, Girlfriends, Potential Girlfriends, Prospects for girlfriend...... All of us have our deep & fond memories of our Favorite food or restaurants where we gorged our hearts out .. Those are the days when one is fearless in life, fearless in Love & fearless in eating....Roadside food, street food, Outside Railway Stations, Outside Bus Stands, Outside small temples, everywhere .. I spent a good amount of my time in Pune & Mumbai .... Pune for  Engineering  & Mumbai for the MBA Mktg Course.....

Pune was about reaonable food & my first experience with Maharashtrian Food ... My tryst with Vada Pav started here..Vada Pav with Cutting chai used to be a Hot favorite for Breakfast & Lunch......Punes Very Famous Marzorin , Located on MG road, which served some of the Best Sandwiches, Milk Shakes, Pastries ... Or Budhdhani Wafers, which serves some of the Best Potato Waffers In Pune ....... Or Kapila Kathi Rolls ...Pune is actually a Foodies Paradise with Junglee Maharaj Road, housing a record breaking no of Retaurants in a Single Lane ........ Pune was where i discovered the Foodie inside me ....... On Days when one would have a little more money to spare than usual, Hotel Aurora Towers, or AT, as it was commonly known, served the most amazing Non Vegetarian Chicken Sandwich Called Sky High.....
Mumbai, is where i did my MBA & with in a few months of my Course, realised that if Delhi is famous for its Tandoori Food - the Tandoori Kukkad, the Chicken Tikka or Mutton Champs, Mumbai also has a huge & Impressive Street food...Infact I could never Imagine eating outside any of the Railway stations, with strong perceptions about their Inferior quality of raw materials used..But Mumbai is different... I have had some of the Best Omelettes  Pav Bhajis- Outside the Mumbai Local stations ... Omelettes  made in Butter & the Pavs lightly crisped on the Tawa with the Butter ... It used to be quite a meal  a very economical one ... You would also get the Baidaa Pullao or the Egg Pulao & Polish it off with a hot & strong Cup of Adrak Chai...

Or many times while being awake till late night or early morning if you could call it, when Hunger pangs would strilke, the Local South Indian Vendors - Anna - would be standing with his cycle carrying a drum of Hot Coffee & a Hot Case carrying Idlis & Vadas, served with Coconut Not Chutney . Not the Best of the meals, but quite satisfying for a hungry soul & for a Pocket having a Big Hole ... Bun Omelettes & a Cutting Chai in any of the Irani Restaurants in Mumbai along with a simplified dope of the Common Mans understanding & views about the Big Issues of the Country ...& one is ready for the day..No need to rummage through the News Papers..Not that  One really cared to, as a Student...

I am lot of People would have their many many fond memories of the Food they ate at Campus, as Students, that whole experience of eating with a group of friends .. That slight tension, of who can eat faster, or get the better or meatier piece of the Dish, & finally, who would ask for the Bill & what would be the share of Payments, in case of a Dutch ....Vow...Miss those days, miss that Food ...as the famous song from 3 idiots said -- "Give me Some SunShine, Give me some Rain, Give me another Chance, I want to Grow Up Once again.....