Street-food, class, and memories of masculinity: an exploratory essay in three acts

Abstract

Streets and sidewalks are often read as mere targets of urban development schemes, rarely acknowledged for their importance to various forms of everyday life. Western notions of public space as designed green places of relief from urbanity, or as the imagined public plazas and agoras of civic discussions, are inadequate theoretical frames that cannot account for the sidewalk, the paan-shop, or the tea-stall, as sites of commensality, conviviality, and potential violence. Drawing on personal experience and a range of secondary literature an alternative way of thinking about the streets and re-imagining the national cultural space is proposed —less officious, less bureaucratic, less national—than has been allowed so far in considerations of good taste.

Keywords:

• Street food
• memory
• urban space
• conviviality and violence
• food culture
• vendor

Notes

1. It is estimated that there are about 2 million cycle rickshaws in India. Gopa Samanta (2012) writes: “Rickshaw pullers are the poorest of the poor even among the various informal workers in the urban economy, not only in India but throughout the developing world. Their contribution as a collective body of labour to the Indian economy is massive, though there is no record whatsoever of this value. Rickshaws are also one of the largest sources of employment in Indian urban centres, employing millions of people. Besides a huge number of rickshaw pullers, various mistries (repairmen), owners, body-makers, shop keepers selling cycle parts and offering quick hand pumping facilities, tea stall owners and many others are involved in the rickshaw sector. Estimating their number is even more difficult than estimating the numbers of rickshaws or their contribution to the economy.” http://www.india-seminar.com/2012/636/636_gopa_samanta.htm

2. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-02-12/news/27647605_1_paan-shops-retail-sales-outlets.

3. Filmi refers to the poetics and politics of Bollywood films.

4. Tuhfat al-anzar fi gharaaib al-amsar wa ajaaib al-asfar (A gift to those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the marvels of traveling). Commonly referred to as Ibn Battuta’s Rihla (rihla means journey). Arabic version link = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7470/.

5. In the 1981 version of the movie the opening shot of the song sequence centers on the container of paan, the evidence underlined by tell-tale red-stained lips of the Madame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADKVUwj5uKI.

The 2006 version = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILG3homMZFs.

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjpHofETDp4 where a character retorts “Gilori khaya karo zulphan, zuban kabu me rhati hai.”

7. Street Vendors’ (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 http://nasvinet.org/newsite/.