This is not the usual hackernews content but I am a bit of foodie, so today I had gone to eat from one of my nearby shops that I usually frequent the most which is the nearest to my house. Fun fact but I have written about them on hackernews because they make some of the best french fries :D (Also because they are impacted by the gas prices because of the Iran war, I will get to it later)
So I want to give a bit of backstory, It is a shop owned by a couple. I call them bhaiya (brother), bhabhi (sister* in law) although they might be within their 30's when I am in my teens but we usually say the same to any shop to be honest.
They have a very nice establishment within, from outside it doesn't look so good though but from the inside it is very well made, it is very rectangular/long depth wise as you go inside and has sitting capacity of 16 people and they even have DJ inside where they play music from their phones. I wish I could share some photos but I don't usually go take my phone when I go for these walk/to-eat.
I was only introduced to them just recently within a few months but I have quickly become their fan, my mother had found the shop and it was quite near actually, I am a bit perplexed as to how did I/we not find the shop earlier.
So the last time was just 3 days ago that I had eaten their fries (for less than 0.5$) and I had read their menu and they make so so many items! I had promised to them that this time I will eat something new, french fries although nice were getting a bit boring so I decided to eat spring-roll this time (although it was a real tough call between spring-roll and burger xD)
technically I could've eaten both I mean my parents had given me enough money but I decided not to just out of some frugality and that I can go next time to the shop and eat burger haha!
Now when I had gone to the shop today, Bhaiya (brother) was sitting on the stairs and had a dog nearby (in reality two) and he was eating a burger and feeding the burger to the dog too.
I commented about this and he told me that the dogs have no-one to feed them and they feel unwanted on the streets so he is feeding them.
I didn't talk about what I wanted to eat until he fed them and ate the burger himself as well, He then asked me, what I wanted to eat, so I said that I wanted to try out something new today in excitement! and, so he asked me to read the menu, there were many things within the menu but I wanted to know if to eat spring-rolls or burgers.
Truly a conundrum wort having, in the end I picked springrolls!
He accepted it and started making springrolls, I had then sat down in one of the tables and he actually works within the middle of the hotel so you can actually talk to them (him/her (his wife) too)
Now when I had sat down, he had started the music with a dhurandhar (movie) playlist within the DJ and these are some really nice songs for what its worth which I really love and they also have some good blend of old remixes/new songs, I think everyone loves these song playlists in particular right now and so I am happy that I also vibe with them soo much (I have archived ari ari ari song)
I immediately commented on saying "bhaiya, you have also started the dhurandhar songs" and then I commented that these songs are really nice to hear and I asked him if he has watched the movie, he said that he has seen both the parts in cinema. It was nice to hear, we then commented on how the movie isn't something that is family friendly though, he said that he asked his son if he wanted to watch the movie and son said "no saying Dad the movie has too much swears."
We talked about how, these swears must have been added to please the masses, the story and everything are top notch but the swearing was added for the mass appeal/essentially money.
Now someone from the road then asked him if he can please tell him how much the DJ costs and other things. He answered all these questions. I then talked about if he is being impacted by cylinder/gas shortage, he said that he is extremely distraught by the gas shortage and is something he is struggling with, I said to him that one of the last times I was eating at the shop, I overheard him worrying about gas shortage so that was why I had asked him.
I talked about how the Iran war caused this shortage, and how its impacting households too, he then said that households are less impacted than the shops/businesses like his who rely on making food. We talked about the wars and he said that, "the people in power are protected against bombs etc. like trump but its the average person who struggles across the world", I agreed to him. We talked about the bombing of children within the Iran war as a moral concern that he and I both expressed.
He expressed the dilemma he faces in the rising operation costs/struggles and how he doesn't wish to raise the prices of his items either. Its a real conundrum in which I said that I genuinely hope that the war ends or any mechanism to help shopkeepers like you occurs as soon as possible
Within just saying that, someone else came (a family) and due to it being congested where we were both standing, i decided to go back within the sitting area and sat, the family had 5 people (husband-wife, two kids, I suppose wife's brother), in one table, there were 4 chairs, so the wife's brother sat in front of me and tilted the chair.
Now, they were talking to each other and gave their orders and within that time my order of springrolls had come, I also ordered a cole-drink which he gave me quickly.
The springrolls were really good, at first I felt like they weren't good, but my god, within the end this is one of the first times that has occured to me that I cannot eat more. They were so spicy (yes they give me some sweet sauce but I really just love using the spicy sauce) and I asked for even more fill-up of the spicy sauce which they provide for free.
The family was also discussing and laughing and doing things, as I have said that I don't have phone during this so I was either looking to them, my food or the location and listening to the dhurandhar songs :-)
One of the kids in the family said that "mama" (mother's wife) called Dad fat in joke I suppose, since he was sitting near my chair facing them, he just faced towards me with a face close to "Oopsie" in laughing terms and I laughed too and then the dad referred to me saying that bhaiya also laughed or something wholesome, I didn't really remember it properly but there was this sense of happiness haha towards each other for a second and I suppose I was a bit involved.
Then during the last two spring-rolls left, I decided to just take the moment and drank my pepsi which was remaining and then I genuinely had my stomach full by now and I just decided to eat the two more spring rolls to finish it on my table and then drank my remaining pepsi to finish this fine time.
I then moved from my seat and asked bhaiya who was in the front, how much it costed, it costed me 60 rupees for the spring rolls full plate and 20 rupees for the coke, overall 80 rupees (less than a single dollar)
I gave him the money and I said that I really enjoyed it today and I really appreciate this and thank you bhaiya and I will come again soon.
While I was coming back home, the first thing was that I wish to write something about all of this, especially because I see so many people being racist towards Indian fast food as the algorithms start favouring rage-baits over these moments. I have had some of my real life friends question what it means to be online when people are being racist to them/their country/the way its portrayed online.
I feel like it is the algorithm which drives the places to create extremization concepts about a country or a place and this isn't limited to India but other places as well and some if not most are based on not the true facts. I do believe that there must be some retailers who might not be keeping the best place but seeing the owner of a shop eat his own burger and feed it to the dogs at the same time and talk to us in such a way and my experience today was a very lovable experience and in some sense I write this to cherish these small moments of life.
In this sense it is why I am writing, a couple owned shop who work together so much near my house, I can say online however much that I wish to support genuine businesses with people who have hearts rather than driven by corporate greed but unless we take some action in figuring out and striking a conversation offline as well, I feel as if our efforts of wishing for these might be a bit in-effective.
So i hope that everyone shares some love to these fast food workers/shops. This is my way of showing gratitude to the shop as I came home smiling and being proud and relaxed, I am still not sure why exactly was I proud though and atleast within the perception of many, might break the perception that they might have through these algorithms about how Indian fast food is :D
I think that I was proud of the way they treated me and I treated them. It felt very human experience and I really appreciated that I can get this experience for so little amount and with so much love.
As someone who might be going to college[0] soon and might be leaving my hometown which has been my hometown for generations, I feel like, these are some moments I will look at with nostalgia.
To the person who has read till the end,
Thank you. I hope that I can instill some hope that there are some nice places and shops and they are far near your house than you might imagine with genuinely nice people. I hope that this article can urge even just a little bit to explore that and help those very people in supporting them in the process too. We are all in this world together.
Have a nice day.