Union Park Road No. 7 (8)

The morning vada at the Candies corner tastes nothing like the one at tiffin time. If I hadn't seen them mashing the potato, I might have guessed they'd filled it with upma: creamy texture studded with whole chana gram and curry leaves, mustardy without even a hint of coriander. The chutney slopped onto the bun was dilute to the point of absence. All that, plus the dewy desolation of the Sunday morning sidewalks, lent the neighborhood a profoundly foreign feel, as though I was in Southie being served "ethnic" Bambaiyya food.