Santanu Bhattacharya

Welcome to Hyderabad, where Bengaluru traffic looks cute now.

Near Girish Chandra Dey & Sons sweet shop in Kolkata’s Lake Market, there’s a cart. No signboard. No branding. The wife assembles plates. The husband makes rotis. That’s it. No written menu. You figure it out from the smell. Chicken curry. Veg kofta. Duck egg kosha. Basanti pulao. Chicken liver curry. And prices that feel like a mistake. I’d gone to pick up duck egg kosha for my Maa. She has a thing about haansher dim. I was waiting, watching. Plate. Ladle. Roti. Steam. Phonepe. The usual. Then a man walked in from the direction of Lake Mall. Office clothes, slightly worn. Small plastic bag in hand. “I work there,” he said, nodding toward the mall. Then: “Aaj shudhu ruti enechhi. Torkaari lagbe… taka kaal debo?” (Brought rotis today. Need some vegetables… can I pay tomorrow?) No pause. The wife reached for a plate. Mixed vegetables. Then egg curry — not asked for, just added. “Aage khao, taakar kotha pore hobe.” Eat first. Money can wait. The husband took the plastic bag, warmed the rotis on his tawa, handed them back. No word. Just done. The man sat on the ledge nearby and ate. Will a restaurant with mood lighting and a curated playlist do this? Somewhere, size got in the way. Compassion became a process.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Here, if you’re hungry, you eat. That’s the whole system. And somehow that’s the most premium experience in the city.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ In any city.

Michael B. Jordan delivers his acceptance speech after winning the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the movie “Sinners” at the 98th Academy Awards. (🎥 Oscars/Youtube)

Sanju Samson said, “I reached out to Sachin Tendulkar when I wasn’t in the XI, he constantly guided me and helped me out. Even yesterday he called me and checked upon me, I’m really grateful for that”.