PURAN SINGH DA DHABA & MAGANLAL CHIKKI
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
02/VII/2021
The other day I was watching a programme related to roadside eating joints on one of the channels. They took us to Ambala. I am not sure how many of you would be familiar with that place but it is a huge Army and Air Force cantonment. It is one of the few places which has two railway stations called Ambala Cantt and Ambala City.
While travelling to play our inter school cricket matches with Sainik School, Kunjpura, (Karnal) and Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai a little ahead of Ambala, we used to halt at an eating joint at either Murthal or Ambala Cantt. Dad used to be the cricket Coach, and I used to represent my school team. School boys loved this break midway to our destinations.
Bang opposite the Ambala Cantt railway station, there used to be a Dhaba called Puran Singh da Dhaba. It was famous for its non-veg preparations, especially mutton. I had the privilege to taste that mouth-watering dish from the mid-seventies till 2003, when I was posted in Punjab and had to frequently visit Ambala on official duties. The taste hadn’t changed an iota.
On my way back I used to get those delicacies packed not only for home, but for my colleagues posted with me in the Brigade Headquarters. Finger licking is a mild way to describe that taste. A little too spicy but no one could stop eating, even if one did ssssssss, sssssss and sweated away to glory.
Our school bus could find easy parking space anywhere around this Dhaba, but over the years that place being bang on the GT road, NH 1 later and now probably has a different number became Choco block after a flyover came up infront of the dhaba. Parking space for a car used to become a problem.
Puran Singh’s workforce was so efficient that within minutes items were delivered. The fun used to be sitting and eating in the Dhaba, served with piping hot tandoori rotis and asking for extra gravy, even if your tummy was full. Their staff used to make special seating arrangements for us as we used to be in uniform.
It was surprising that over the years Puran Singh da Dhaba had so many branches mushrooming alongside, that to identify the real one became an issue. Puran Singh da Dhaba, Asli Puran Singh da Dhaba, Sachha Puran Singh da Dhaba, Nakli Puran Singh da Dhaba. Their logos and sign boards were almost the same. For a man in transit, it was difficult to differentiate. No one even bothered to check, till they served those lovely delicacies.
The real Puran Singh died and his son was automatically handed over the charge of that Dhaba. His nephew, who worked closely with Puran Singh was part of the management & wanted to take forward his legacy as a ‘hot head’. He could not maintain customer relationships.
The son, very docile and soft spoken, held onto the reins. Some of his workers found this an opportunity to establish parallel Dhabas adjacent to theirs and named it the same. Soon other workers too broke away and opened their own joints. With the population explosion, all those Dhaba’s started flourishing. If we walked into any Dhaba they would say that they were the real Puran Singh. The others are fake, or duplicate, or not adhering to the recipes of the bygone era.
How do you believe who was saying the truth? It was only the old timers or the lucky people who somehow landed up at the original place could enjoy the tastiest mutton I have ever had on this side of Ganges. Of course, not forgetting his Chicken curry and Keema-Kaleji. My mouth is watering as I key in these words.
The same phenomenon we found when we used to visit Lonavala. If in Lonavala, there is no way you could leave without visiting “MaganLal Chikki”. From NDA, we hiked on cycles to Lonavala in 1984 and had the privilege to taste that yummy chikki. We had one guy called Rajpurohit and there was only one shop which did not call itself MaganLal but Purohit Chikki. Within minutes Jeevan befriended them and the rest of us freaked out on all possible eats they offered and in good quantities.
After twenty-five odd years when I was working again in Maharashtra, at least twice a year we used to visit Lonavala. From Khandala to the other end of Lovnavla there was only MaganLal and MaganLal chikki. To find the real MaganLal shop one had to have an insider who could guide you to a place behind the railway station to get hold of various Fudges besides luscious Chikki.
The spread of this PS da Dhaba and ML Chikki around the town was definitely an ‘insider’ or a ‘breakaway faction; who wanted to establish their hold on the patented brands.
Is there any similarity of what is happening in Maharashtra today? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
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