10 years ago, while returning from school everyday, I used to eat Pani Puri everyday, at a little local chat bhandar as its called. A chat bhandar, one small trolley with four barely inflated wheels, topped by glittery glass fitted into a metal frame that would carry the meagre utensils needed to serve the savoury cuisine in the evenings. The seating would be 2 plastic stools placed on the most rocky uneven surface the vendor could find amongst the damp ground he owned, say conquered? Back then, when my family, a better than middle class family, earned 25,000 INR every month, he used to spare 2,000 everyday. Yes, the place was famous for its tasty dishes, prompt service and was a successful business plan.
On the other side of road was a tea-seller, the chai-wala who used a little metal box all day to make tea for the people around. The chai shop was equally famous with many who worked, mainly the auto-drivers and many private sector door-to-door work employees who would find it relaxing to have a cup of tea and chat for half-an-hour reading free newspapers under the shade of two big trees. As far as I can guess, the profit should have almost been equal to that of the chat wala. Both of these little illegal encroachments of the street made it look lively and chaotic, Indian.
I moved out of the city for higher studies, got into a cool hostel of a good college, went through ragging, lived by alcoholics, and slept every night at 6. Weed and party, mobile cheats and counter strike, were all commonplace. We all know this, right, TVF? Yes, there was one remarkable night when I came across a hilarious TVF originals. A world which represented most of our thoughts, those punchlines that made more sense of the reality, every Q-Tiyapa was more realistic. I loved TVF, like one of those 1.5 million subscribers did. I loved TVF for everything it was, right from super brains from the best colleges getting out-of-routine ways to make a living, to the way they could pour sarcasm and mockery into routine lives, reassuring that we were not alone or unique on this lifestyle. By we, I'm referring to those 50,000 individuals each year in the reputed better colleges of India who I often find rotting in the misconception that, only their college offers such a heavenly life on Earth.
I had worked for 2 more years and finally came back home to see that the chat bhandar had now turned into a real shop, right where the trolley was, with tables and chairs, menu cards and a couple of waiters. That anna who used to wait for me to lift my puri from my saucer, now makes me wait stand behind the counter for the change. Their dishes are more hygienic now, better in quality, more colourful and photogenic now. But only customers as old as me can tell, they don't even taste close to their old ones. They taste as routine as any of 40 chat bhandars, or even worse than a few of them, I could find on my way back from school to home. I visited the place 3 times out of loyalty and friendship, and it ain't appealing anymore. Afterall, it's a place to eat chat that's listed on Zomato.
Yesterday, I noticed the other side of the road was still as busy as in childhood, and the chai shop didn't change. Yes, there sprouted a pan shop beside, owned by the same guy, and now has 4 more long stones by the compound wall of some poor soul. But yeah, the people, they didn't change. They still were salesmen, insurance agents, and auto-drivers. The tea still boiled in aluminium utensils, went round in kettles, was poured into the same grooved glasses and was sipped. Yes, now cigarettes were added. I saw the street grow, more in number, and suffer in its lively chaotic being, being less Indian. I walked down for a cup of tea, and it tasted amazing. Maybe, I should've tried tea instead of Pani puri back when I was 13, I would've not been this fat.
Back at home, I see that TVF has grown up too. Just like I grew out of college into office, their shows did too. They now come with tie-ups, endorsements, and a lot of improvements on the technical front and a bigger group of casting, I dare say better. I am not here to cry about them pulling out a website or asking me to pay money to watch movies that couldn't make it to the big screens. I'm here to say, they are on the verge of losing one element in their shows, that one unique chemical X that marked them as different from many startups (no I'm not even speaking about those stand-up comedy guys, AIB), their Indianness. TVF is soon going to lose its sheen if they fail to deliver at this point. And as a huge honest fan of TVF team, I don't want this to happen. It's so good these guys grew big, became stars and made a name of themselves. But please TVF, be my chaiwala, not my chatwala.
P.S. : Everyone of you here might not be Arunabh Kumar (Is he still alive and part of TVF?) so, yes, the tang-and-twist-chat and routine-cup-of-tea references are intentional. I know I'm fucking poetic.
On the other side of road was a tea-seller, the chai-wala who used a little metal box all day to make tea for the people around. The chai shop was equally famous with many who worked, mainly the auto-drivers and many private sector door-to-door work employees who would find it relaxing to have a cup of tea and chat for half-an-hour reading free newspapers under the shade of two big trees. As far as I can guess, the profit should have almost been equal to that of the chat wala. Both of these little illegal encroachments of the street made it look lively and chaotic, Indian.
I moved out of the city for higher studies, got into a cool hostel of a good college, went through ragging, lived by alcoholics, and slept every night at 6. Weed and party, mobile cheats and counter strike, were all commonplace. We all know this, right, TVF? Yes, there was one remarkable night when I came across a hilarious TVF originals. A world which represented most of our thoughts, those punchlines that made more sense of the reality, every Q-Tiyapa was more realistic. I loved TVF, like one of those 1.5 million subscribers did. I loved TVF for everything it was, right from super brains from the best colleges getting out-of-routine ways to make a living, to the way they could pour sarcasm and mockery into routine lives, reassuring that we were not alone or unique on this lifestyle. By we, I'm referring to those 50,000 individuals each year in the reputed better colleges of India who I often find rotting in the misconception that, only their college offers such a heavenly life on Earth.
I had worked for 2 more years and finally came back home to see that the chat bhandar had now turned into a real shop, right where the trolley was, with tables and chairs, menu cards and a couple of waiters. That anna who used to wait for me to lift my puri from my saucer, now makes me wait stand behind the counter for the change. Their dishes are more hygienic now, better in quality, more colourful and photogenic now. But only customers as old as me can tell, they don't even taste close to their old ones. They taste as routine as any of 40 chat bhandars, or even worse than a few of them, I could find on my way back from school to home. I visited the place 3 times out of loyalty and friendship, and it ain't appealing anymore. Afterall, it's a place to eat chat that's listed on Zomato.
Yesterday, I noticed the other side of the road was still as busy as in childhood, and the chai shop didn't change. Yes, there sprouted a pan shop beside, owned by the same guy, and now has 4 more long stones by the compound wall of some poor soul. But yeah, the people, they didn't change. They still were salesmen, insurance agents, and auto-drivers. The tea still boiled in aluminium utensils, went round in kettles, was poured into the same grooved glasses and was sipped. Yes, now cigarettes were added. I saw the street grow, more in number, and suffer in its lively chaotic being, being less Indian. I walked down for a cup of tea, and it tasted amazing. Maybe, I should've tried tea instead of Pani puri back when I was 13, I would've not been this fat.
Back at home, I see that TVF has grown up too. Just like I grew out of college into office, their shows did too. They now come with tie-ups, endorsements, and a lot of improvements on the technical front and a bigger group of casting, I dare say better. I am not here to cry about them pulling out a website or asking me to pay money to watch movies that couldn't make it to the big screens. I'm here to say, they are on the verge of losing one element in their shows, that one unique chemical X that marked them as different from many startups (no I'm not even speaking about those stand-up comedy guys, AIB), their Indianness. TVF is soon going to lose its sheen if they fail to deliver at this point. And as a huge honest fan of TVF team, I don't want this to happen. It's so good these guys grew big, became stars and made a name of themselves. But please TVF, be my chaiwala, not my chatwala.
P.S. : Everyone of you here might not be Arunabh Kumar (Is he still alive and part of TVF?) so, yes, the tang-and-twist-chat and routine-cup-of-tea references are intentional. I know I'm fucking poetic.