Tikki Delight @ Tundla Junction
Stories revolving around food remind me of college days and my train journeys from Delhi to Jamshedpur, my hometown. While traveling from home, there was much less excitement around food as we were loaded with home-cooked food, neatly packed, lasting us the journey of 24 hours. There were not many direct trains from Delhi to Tatanagar (station name for Steel City-Jamshedpur) and these trains always started early morning. We availed of the student concession and some of us from college traveled together. We were invariably allotted berths in the ladies’ coupe of the second-class compartment.
I would be stressed a few days before travel and in the hostel, especially after exams. Not to mention waking up early to catch the train. Once boarded this stress would dissolve as I would hit the upper berth and be off like a light and lost to the world, including to inconveniences caused by co-passengers. But it was surprising that one always woke up, like clockwork – exactly 2 hours after boarding the train, as it would pull into Tundla Junction platform. It was perfectly timed for breakfast. One of the advantages of traveling in the 2nd class coach was it’s proximity to the vendors through the window, unlike in an airconditioned compartment. It helped me immensely as I was a nervous traveler and would not get off the train!
The food that Tundla Junction was famous for the garam-garam Aloo Tikki Chaat in patte-ka-dona! Numerous Khonchewalas, would be peddling this delicious fare outside each bogie to ensure it was sold in the short stop that the train made at Tundla junction. The fare consisted of a large aloo tikki, fried crisp, and mashed a bit with a dollop of yogurt and a big helping of green chutney and tamarind chutney. As if this weren’t enough, roasted jeera, kala namak, and red mirchi powder were generously sprinkled and adorned the tikkis.
The meal left us so satiated that one would go back into a deep slumber, for many hours, much to the concern of co-passengers who would wake me up to ask if I was feeling well! In all the 3 years of college plus the additional year during my PG course, every train journey was predictable as the tikki delight came at the same time, same place!
