Gol Gappas or Pani Puri

Its a famous Indian snack, and eaten almost throughout India. Eventually, it followed its way to wherever the Indian diaspora went. The pic above is the American way of serving 'Pani-puri', yes the American way of "Do it Yourself" :) .

And of course it doesnt even come close in taste or looks to what we get back home. And dont even ask me to compare the price :). For the amount of 8 pani-puris I could easily get at least 50-60 in India. :)

Anyways, would like to share this quote from "The Death of Vishnu" by Manil Suri, in which he describes the feeling of a character after she eats this for the first time :)
"And that one moonlit starry night - when she crushed that first golgappa in her mouth, felt the crisp papdi shards and the soft yielding chickpeas between her teeth, tasted the sweet and fiery chutneys on her tongue, closed her eyes as the gush of tamarind water exploded down her throat."

Memorable Quotes from The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri -3

Mangoes. So full, so sweet, so scented, the oranges and yellows of sunlight.

For I am the one who decides where our campaign will take us. A rider can only journey where his horse conveys him.

You do not kill, I remind him. You just send them to a less ignoble birth. sweep down your sword, and let them be born away.

As he watched the grime from his body swirl across the tile and vanish into the drain, he tried to think of a day when water would flow just as freely for the residents of Dharavi.

Wasn't medicine, ultimately a matter of faith? Faith that the doctor knew what they were diagnosing, faith that their prescriptions would make you whole, faith that the tablet dissolving in your mouth would cure you, not kill you.

Memorable Quotes from "The Death of Vishnu" by Manil Suri - 2

The eyes. Surdas's eyes.
The two fountains of sight.

He said, with these eyes have I sinned, and with these eyes shall I cleanse myself.
these eyes shall be my freedom. These eyes shall be my penance. With these eyes shall I attain salvation.

And that one moonlit starry night - when she crushed that first golgappa in her mouth, felt the crisp papdi shards and the soft yielding chickpeas between her teeth, tasted the sweet and fiery chutneys on her tongue, closed he eyes as the gush of tamarind water exploded down her throat.

That he would scrape and scrub away at her Dongriness, until she emerged polished and precious, like a multifaceted jewel, able to hold her own with razor wit and glittering personality.

Why, then, did he not understand the mechanism of faith? What did religion do to people, to provoke such obstinacy, such hysteria - how did it push people to the stage of torturing themselves and killing each other?

Religion existed to control society, to monitor those without the capacity to think things through for themselves, to provide promises and shimmering images in the sky, so that the urges of the masses could be calmed and regulated.

What after all, did the word 'Faith' connote, except a willing blindness to the lack of actual proof? It was only natural that Arifa, with her untended intellect, had to lean on this crutch of faith to negotiate the inscrutability of life.

After all wasn't he constantly amazed at the number of very smart people who were believers- hadn't even Einstein professed the existence of God?

He supposed this was the essence of faith. There was no science that governed it, no calculus that propelled it, just the raw strength of his own conviction. Whether he succeeded or not depended on how well he could combat doubt, both his own and in others.

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