7.3 - The Story of Khotto (And That's Not Gujarati)

Background: This was written in December 2005, after a new joint called Idli House opened on the Circle, serving a variety of different idli dishes.

Man From Matunga: Story of Khotto (and that’s not Gujarati)

Here is the text of what I had written.

“Ek khotto do”. Sounds really weird in Gujarati, since this translates into “give me a wrong ‘un” (and we’re not even bowling). As in “khotto sikko” – “false coin”. But, this is what we kept hearing at Idli House, the new idli place on the circle.

Funnily, we actually landed up at this place, because we had no money. One Sunday morning, after finishing a run in our favorite ground, the kids wanted to do an “idli-dosa” breakfast. We decided on Anand Bhuvan, but while walking there, when we checked the pockets of our virtually empty running shorts, we realized that we barely had a hundred rupees. We had already reached Garnish, when we saw Idli House, which as we found out later, had just started a couple of weeks back. Being suckers for that “new” eating experience, we decided to go in, but only after we had looked at the prices. When we saw that the most expensive item (the mudho) was just Rs. 12, we realized that we wouldn’t have to go back home to get more money and we went in and settled ourselves on one of the only three tables there.

My wife and daughter ordered two plain idlis, whereas I had a mudho, followed by a khotto. The mudho is an idli steamed in a kedki leaf and has to be unrolled from the leaf and then eaten, whereas the khotto is steamed in a jackfruit leaf shaped like a cup and can be spooned from the leaf itself. There was unlimited pure coconut chutney, sambhar and malgapuri to go with the idlis. The mudho was really nice, though the khotto tasted just like a regular plain idli… I guess it requires a slightly more refined palate than mine to make out the difference in taste. And finally when we finished along with two cups of coffee, the bill was still under Rs. 50. Wow!

Yet, when talking of idlis, how can we not talk about Muthuswamy’s fabulous “rice pancakes”– they are the softest idlis this side of the Vindhyas and melt like butter in your mouth – if you’ve not attended a birthday party or similar event where he has catered, you are obviously not part of the “with-it” Greater Matunga crowd. Just kidding! Unfortunately, Muthuswamy does not have a restaurant and is available only on phone, assuming of course, that he deigns to talk to you.

Yet, even his idlis don’t compare to the ones we had at the Leela Goa, around 3-4 years ago! It was an epiphanic moment, from which time our lives have been a bit miserable, since no idli from then on has tasted as divine!. Kind of like the “dahi” at the top of the Palitana shikhar, if you know what I’m talking about!

I have been using the word “South Indian” a bit too loosely and a recent email by Mrs. Hegdewar set things a bit straight. Just for the record, all the “South Indian” eateries in Matunga are in fact GSB (Gaud Saraswat Brahmans, for those who need full-forms) run, and khottos and mudhos are GSB and not Tamil or Malayalee delicacies. But what really got me thinking was this sentence of hers “Maybe we did not merit a mention from you as we are a quiet lot, seen and not heard, unlike the Gujjus.” The question is, “Are we Gujjus really all that loud?”