Hema Chaha and Gagga Vada!

First of all a very Happy Diwali to all the readers out there who took out their time to read my blogs so far and motivated me each time to write better. This blog is very dear to me. I have been wanting to write it for a long time. So it's about a classic Sunday morning ritual, which starts with Misal paav at "Panvel Uphar Gruha", one of the oldest shops in Old Panvel that serves delicacies like misal, dahi misal, jalebi, fafda and a lot more. 

 The best part about this place was the Ajoba who owned it. His name was Vasudev Kapileshwari, he passed away due to corona. But I fondly remember him for his cheerful welcoming smile that he gave to every customer. And having misal was his sunday morning ritual too (or may be everyday ritual for him) because every time I went, I saw him having it on the counter while simultaneously handling the billing section all by himself. The last I asked his age he was going to turn 87 that year( which was probably in 2019 ), what took me by surprise was his passion and dedication for his work. As they say there is no age of retirement when you do what you like , he was the living example of that! Though he is no more but his photo with a garland right beside the counter still welcomes customers with a cheerful smiling face and what stays as his legacy is the "misal paav" and the famous "Hema Chaha". 

The misal paav tastes the delicious, the more you have it the more you would want to have it. It's just the right mix of ussal(sprouts cooked with mixed spices), rassa(kat in marathi), potato topped with onion, farsan and lemon, every bite is just luscious. 

Post misal, everyone orders a special and famous "Hema Chaha". The name catches the attention but because I am not a tea person I never had it initially. But just out of curiosity once I tried and fell for it! Then there is no turning back, every time after misal "Hema Chaha" is a must. Earlier I used to wonder why it is named "Hema", I used my own conjectures, but it turns out the tea is named after Hema Malini, the veteran female actor. As Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna had come to Panvel for film shooting, where people saw the shooting and were crazy about them so the few handful restaurants at that time started this trend of Hema chaha and Rajesh Khanna chaha. But what persists till today is the Hema Chaha. 

So after misal paav and Hema chaha we go to the "Mehta Hotel", it's a very authentic and rustic place in Old Panvel. The partners who runs it, both aunty and uncle together serve vada's and bhajjis. And yet again what outshines is the "Gagga Vada". It's not the normal aloo vada. It is one of it's kind vada that tastes a little sweetened and yet namkeen so basically you can't figure out exactly what it tastes like. It plays really well with the taste buds, but having one is a pure bliss. So today morning after having 2 of them I asked the story behind the name of the vada. The aunty who serves it with a lot of hospitality and warmth shared the story. So basically "Gagga" in gujarati is the youngest and the fondest kid in the house, she further explained that like we have kids with names chotu, motu similarly gagga is the favorite and dearest one and so is the "gagga vada" which was named almost 50 years back.

So misal paav + Hema chaha + Gagga vada = Perfect Sunday! What's your Sunday ritual? Do share with me in the comments section. And if you haven't tried this combination then please do give it a try!

PS: It's not a paid promotion, it's straight out of heart with love for misal paav , Hema chaha and Gagga vada !

Stay tuned,

Until next time,

Keep reading.

-Siddhi Bhosale.

Panvel Uphar Gruha

Mehta Hotel