-Brian Mendonça
A nice burger is always welcome on a moist, cold, windy
day. Especially when you are travelling. We happened to discover one bravely
titled Between Your Buns. It was located on Salunke Vihar road, in the
Kondwa area of Pune. When I asked
Michael how he chose the title he said he and his friends came up with it back
in college. ‘Since college kids are usually thinking about these things, we
felt they would connect with the name.’ When we told him we had breezed in from
Goa he said his fiancé was from Cansaulim and he was getting married at Quinta de
Valladares, Verna. Small world.
So we sat down and ordered a takeaway of a lamb
burger and a fish burger. It set us back by about four hundred rupees. Pushing
fifty, we seemed out of place in a space where teenagers hung out. At spare wooden tables they sat, hunched
forward talking delicately with the occasional chuckle. An enormous king
burger, almost a foot in height was carried past us as we waited. In the
background, sounded the strains of Cold Play.
We were in Pune for a first holy communion in the
family. As I watched little Maegan open her gifts, I felt like a child once
more. I felt I was also privileged to
receive the host for the first time. Medals, rosaries, Bible stories, prayer
booklets, necklaces and key chains were offered to Maegan to accompany her on
her spiritual journey. We picked up a card for her from St. Paul’s on East Street
with the beautiful words, ‘I will
instruct you and teach you the way you should go. I will counsel you with my
eye upon you.’ (Psalm 32:8).
As we meandered along Pune’s famous Main Street
(M.G. Road) in Camp I indulged myself with a teak-coloured low waist trouser
and matching choco-checked shirt for an afterparty the day following the FHC.
The Brooklyn fit styling of Indian Terrain suited me well as I emerged from the
blues with a splash of rust. From Oceanic
Sound and Vision just after St. Paul’s, we came away with a CDs of Amy Winehouse
and Ray Coniff.
Lunch was an inspired mutton biryani at George
Restaurant. This was a stone’s throw away from what used to be the bustling
Irani eateries Naaz and Mahanaaz. We used to trot over for the
delicious samosas in the early nineties. Marzorin,
a strong contender, was always overcrowded with the swish set. The irony is
that Naaz is history but Marzorin holds its ground till today. We
were dismayed to learn that the iconic Kayani
Bakery on East Street had been closed down due to issues with the Pune Cantonment
Board. Where would we buy their famous shrewsbury biscuits now?
Let me chew on that while I munch on my grilled
chicken burger with cheese. This one is from Fatwich,
another burger joint I happened on, along the CHOGM road on the fringe of
Porvorim.
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Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 7th January 2018. Pix taken by Felix Mendonca at Salunke Vihar Road, Pune on 20th November 2017.
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