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Time of India

Taco Bhel

Bachi Karkaria's Erratica and its cheeky sign-off character, Alec Smart, have had a growing league of followers since 1994 when the column began in the Metropolis on Saturday. It now appears on the Edit Page of the Times of India, every Thursday. It takes a sly dig at whatever has inflated political/celebrity egos, and got public knickers in a twist that week. It makes you chuckle, think and marvel at the elasticity of the English language. It is a shooting-from-the-lip advice column to the lovelorn and otherwise torn, telling them to stop cribbing and start living -- all in her her branded pithy, witty style. LESS ... MORE Street food always comes up Trumps It also gets tarreefs. Wall Street has been unkind to versatile taco by associating it with a guy who's merely versatile in changing his mind/policies/friends/foes. Its acronym has been particularly snarky to a President for whom all things Mexican are difficult to swallow. It's doubly delish that TACO was dished out by a street called Wall, coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong. Should I succumb to the temptation of bringing in the 'strong arm' tactics of the present POTUS? Na–chhod do. Letit pass. 'Trump Always Chickens Out' has bred a brood of jokes, but the ones laughing all the way to the bank are street-smart dealers who bought when a tariff announcement took a bite out of a stock, and sold when a rescinding made it regain its mojo. Takings have been plumper than a Butterball turkey since Trump has see-sawed 50 times on tariffs since he returned to the menu. So, there's much Thanksgiving there. 'Good friend Modi' may not use the TACO jibe about 'Good friend Donald', but 'taycos' have plenty of takers in Gujju-land. In fact, Taco Bell has Mehtamorphosed to Taco Bhel, stuffed with anything. This has also been the fate of the traditional quintessential Bombay dish. Indeed noun has become verb; it's been 'bhel-puried'. Actually all dishes 'Make-see-kun' have been revolutionised, ordered from outlets called Pancho Villa, and polished off in a 'Zapata'. That's when the hungry aren't leaning towards 'peeza'. Masalafied Mexican and Italian have a pan-Indian following but nowhere more than in Ahmedabad. Remember, it was called the experimental theatre of Hindutva, but I've always found it to experimental theatre of food. Anything goes, even ingredients/toppings/fillings that don't conventionally go with one another. I'll get sarson da saagified for saying this, but culinary 'new normal' was first institutionalised in the khao galis of Amdavad. Like in another context, if others gave you a 'goli', they'd give you an ice 'gola' – in 22 flavours. The laadiwalas' of Manek Chowk had innovative pani-puri pani long before fancy fusion chefs started serving it in cutesy containers, and at distinctly uncutesy prices. Yes, there may be plenty of Ahmedabaddies, but I'm all for streetside Ahmedagoodies. *** Alec Smart said: 'Drones are now the worker bees of the war-hive.' Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.