I distinctly recall a 2019 college road trip to Kasara which lies along the Mumbai-Nashik route. The plan was an overnight trek to Maharashtra’s Sandhan Valley (also known as the Valley of Shadows). We decided to fuel up before commencing the long walk through the ravine.
At a local food joint, piping hot Maggi, samosas (a savoury Indian pastry), vada pavs (deep fried potato dumplings in bread), and chai occupied the length and breadth of the ricketty table as 17 hungry adolescents feasted to their heart’s content.
Manners and etiquette waltzed out through the window as we smacked our lips and licked the spicy Maharashtrian garlic chutney off our fingers. It became clear to me why since time immemorial, dhabas (roadside food stalls) have been the first choice of truck drivers.
Presumably, the first instances of dhabas appeared around the middle of the 20th century on Grand Trunk Road (one of Asia’s oldest roads that connects Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent). I can…