FOOD AND CULTURE

A short excerpt written by Abhijeet Kulkarni on his experience visiting Dudhsagar Warerfall and Old Goa.

Hunger stories Last week we had hiked our way to the most picturesque waterfall seen, the Dudhsagar. A hike along the railway tracks from kolam till the mesmerizing waterfalls ( 12km one way) was filled with greenery, forests , rainfall and no food. We were motivated by the scenes to reach the waterfall (‪#‎riversandridges‬). A train hitchhike, 5 km walk and few hours later, we were back to kolam hungry, drenched and tired....

Looking around the station to find something to silence our growling stomach, we were instantly enticed by a small hathgadi / thella on the end of the road... The smell of Fresh buns and omelettes lightened up the dull atmosphere... This hathgadi was being run a well dressed ( formal attire mid you shirt and a trouser), well kept (shaven and long hair tied as a ponytail) gentleman named Prasad.. He had dishes like omelette pav, egg curry pav and single omelettes....hunger had already won over our senses and my spouse ( who BTW loves eggs) ordered two Bun omelettes... The preparation of omelettes was BAU ( Business as usual - egg Yorke plus onion and tomatoes and a tava to fry) . the thing that made the difference was his buns, which were very close to fluffy peeta buns. Soft and tender with little bit of sesame seeds on it, combined with the hot onion omelette made it a bite from heaven.. The egg gravy was accompanied with an omelette and chicken pieces and the buns... After stuffing the omelettes buns to our necks and drinking tea to digest them, we felt energised and at peace. I, then , spoke to Prasad and how long he has been going it. Prasad, the omelette Bun king ( I call him that) , has been doing this for the past 14 years. He recalled that he started this hathgadi on 8th Aug 2001and has been doing it ever since. Priced at a meager 20rs for an omelette Bun, he runs his house hold on this. I was fascinated by his buns and asked him his secret recipe. He smiled and said he makes it with whole wheat, with little bit of milk, tops it with a little sesame seeds and makes it in the bhatti.. The orders were lining up like people line up to buy new Apple products and he got busy with his omelettes... 

We left kolam with the sight of the majestic waterfalls dudhsagar and the taste of the omelette Bun ..... Kudos to the omelette Bun king...may you live long and create an empire...

As written by Abhijeet Kulkarni.

Below is a mercerizing view of the Dudhsagar waterfall which you see after walking on the railway tracks for approximately 3 hrs and 8 kilometers.. Its totally worth it.