Lanka loses legends: Iconic Varanasi joints Pahalwan Lassi, Chachi Ki Kachori, Mahendra's Paan razed; locals mourn, shops relocate
VARANASI: The famous joints of three Banarasi delicacies -- lassi, kachori and paan -- have lost their iconic address forever. Pahalwan Lassi, Chachi Ki Kachori and Mahendra's Banarasi Paan Shop on Lanka trisection -- the go to places for tourists and natives alike for decades, were removed during a road-widening drive late Tuesday evening.
A team of PWD razed 35 shops in the area for the conversion of Vijaya crossing-Lanka-Bhikharipur-Lahartara Road into a four-lane road. The PWD officials told TOI that maximum work on this Rs 215-crore project was complete and work only in a few patches in Lanka was pending.
According to PWD officials, the shops were situated on land owned by the Ramlila Samiti headed by Sankat Mochan Temple's Mahant Prof Vishwamabhar Nath Mishra.
The Samiti had been paid the compensation for the land and all the shops had been served notices a month ago to vacate the place.
Hence, no protest was staged, as the agency completed its work by Wednesday early morning. The only exception was an outburst of emotions by Prabhu, the owner of Pahalwan Lassi, reaching his shop, hands folded, but he was also taken away from the spot by his brothers. The images of debris and dusty Lanka Trisection neighbourhood that went viral on Wednesday morning, however, made people across the globe nostalgic.
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Many social media users started sharing the old pictures of these shops.
Former general secretary of Banaras Hindu University Students Union, Bhupendra Pratap Singh Rintu, shared memories of the 115-year-old Chachi ki Kachori shop, saying, "Student union leaders of the past, like Jammu and Kashmir's Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and former MP Bharat Singh, used to pester the woman vendor, addressing her as 'Chachi' and how she used to lace her serving of kachori-jalebi with the choicest expletives.
We took her abusive language as a blessing because actually she loved us and after her death, her sons and grandsons have been running the shop."
Former BHU student, Ajay Singh, spoke about celebrities and politicians who visited Pahalwan's shop for lassi topped with rabri. The shop's owner, Brijesh Yadav, said nobody forced them to quit and the shop was likely to be reopened near Mahendru hostel building on Lanka-Sankat Mochan temple road.
Chachi's son Kailash has already set up shop in Kabir Nagar and plans a kiosk opposite his old shop. Mahendra's famous paan shop is being run by his grandson Ravi Mishra from his house in Prafull Nagar. Mishra said, "District administration sought cooperation for road expansion to ease increasing traffic load and we only wanted to ensure the Ramlila tradition was not affected."
Meanwhile, portions of Rohania police station and other buildings were razed by PWD on Wednesday to facilitate completion of Mohansarai-Cantt 6-lane road project.
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