On Sundays and Chole Bhature

Sunday is the day Misha always look forward to. Mainly because of two reasons. One of the reasons is that I am home. The other is that it's her day out to Hanu’s to have her weekly quota of Chole Bhature or Pao Bhaji.

“Chole Bhature and Pao Bhaji are oily and not healthy food”. Sometimes I try to persuade her so as to avoid going to the Hanu’s.

“Bhawna Mam has told that we can have junk food once a week.” She replies, in slightly annoyed tone having explained it to me multiple times. Bhawna Madam is her class teacher. 

From the middle of the week, she starts her count down to the Sundays. On Sunday mornings, as soon as she wakes up, she constantly follows up with me for the time at which we will go to Hanu’s. Hanu’s is the new restaurant opened last year inside the township, strategically located just besides the market. The settings is ideal for a leisurely breakfast, snacks or dinner. There is a manicured lawn inside the boundary and one can overlook the adjoining Central Park. With full height glass windows on two of its sides, there is ample light which makes it a natural settings. Although the setting sun kisses the lawn I haven’t seen it coming through the glass windows inside the restaurant. Squirrels and few birds occupies the empty lawn sometimes. One can overhear the muffled hullabaloo going in the market's parking lot. It's an ideal setting for someone to sit lazily and do nothing in particular. In the afternoon normally the restaurant is empty. Sometimes we both are the only customers, which gives us the option to choose the table. Earlier Misha was preferring the left side corner seat. But now a days we sit on the right side corner, which has clearer view of the lawn as well as the central park through the glass windows. If its late evening, we see the moon rising above the silhouettes of the distant trees across the park or the red sun going down in the opposite direction.

“Papa I will order food.” She says excitedly, having got a chance to behave like an adult. “One chole bhature and a Rava Onion Masala Dosa”. 

Most Sundays, our choice of food is same. Chole Bhature or Pao Bhaji for Misha, and Rava Onion Masala Dosa for me. If Jolly joins, she normally has a cup of coffee. Few months ago, Misha could only eat only one of the bhature. But now a days she eats one and a half. The other half is either consumed by me or Jolly. She carefully chooses one of the bhature to eat first and then punctures the fully puffed bhature with a fork. Gradually the steam is released through the multiple perforations which is accelerated by the gentle press on the surface with the fork. But still the bhature remains hot. It still need to shredded into small pieces to enable cooling and ease of eating. That is where I come into play. While Misha gulps down the bhature, the chole, achar and salad remain untouched. By the time Misha finishes her one and half bhature and permits us to eat the leftover, the remaining half is often cold and not so tasty. 

I did not know what chole and bhature was till about 14 years of age. One evening on the way to tuition in Class-10, one of my school friends had first introduced me to this delicacy. Going out to eat in childhood was a luxury I rarely experienced. As I grew up and had some spare pocket money, we could afford to go to a South Indian Restaurant in my town. The restaurant made good dosas and coffee. However, the most affordable  snacks was samosa and chutney in Bapu Hotel under the railway overbridge near GM College. During the Engineering Course, with higher pocket money we could plan visits to the restaurants. There was JAM just outside the main gate, which made good rolls. "Taste" near the Sector-2 Bus stand was good for dosas. In the Old market in Rourkela, there was a restaurant named Renu-Minu which was famous for its chole bhature. For proper dinner, Madhuban in Sector-4 was our go to place. During my last visit to college in 2018, I had a chance to have dinner in Madhuban with my Boss (who is also from NITR). However, the most go to places in NITR was the Kastro's (later named as Hexagon) and the Backpost for snacks, cigarettes and other things. 

Last Sunday was in Hanu's was different. We had ordered the veg pizza for a change. Jolly joined midway through. She suggested to try the Exotic Pizza which I found was tastier. Especially I liked the taste of the Paneer toppings. 

As usual, the outing ended with a Chocolate pastry for Misha. She has started her count down again for the next Sunday.

18th Nov 2025