Man Meet Chaat Joint

Fergusson College Road is the heart of Pune. It’s always full of students and young people walking around. We are near Sant Tukaram Paduka Chowk. It’s a small joint, mostly for quick bites. People stand around on the pavement eating their chaat. We don’t have much seating inside. It’s more of a grab-and-go kind of place. The sound of the pani puri water splashing is constant. We go through hundreds of plates a day. The traffic on FC Road is non-stop. You have to shout sometimes just to be heard over the noise of the scooters. We use a lot of tamarind and mint. My hands are always stained from the chutneys. We don't have a big staff. Just a few of us working as fast as we can. We try to keep things clean, but it’s hard with so many people coming through every hour. The 411004 area is lively until very late at night. We get students from the college who are always in a rush. They want something spicy and they want it right now. We don't have a fancy menu. Everything is listed on a board on the wall. Some of the chalk is rubbed off but nobody seems to care. It doesn't matter. Everyone knows what we have to offer. When the rain comes, people huddle under our small awning. It’s a bit of a squeeze, but we make it work for everyone.