Midnight treats

Anyone who has studied in Manipal would have, at some point of time or the other, hopped onto a bike at 2 AM in the morning and ridden to the road side food stall named "Presscarts" (since it was located near the Manipal press) and proceeded to fill his stomach with oily but lip smackingly tasty food that was rather cheap which ensured that he didnt have to stay up all night studying / working on an assignment on an empty stomach. How we wouldve survived without Presscarts we know not . An integral part and parcel of student life in Manipal this.

Bangalore was at a point in time, able to boast of having its Empire chain of restaurants open till really really late in the night where you could go if you were really hungry / not able to sleep at 3 AM. Times however have changed and the city shuts down at 23:30 which means that if you havent had food by 11 Pm you need to go home and fix yourself a maggi or tuck into bed really early and hope that your rumbling stomach doesnt wake up the neighbours. The thought of eating at a roadside joint at 12 AM never entered my head until last night when we went to this shady (well it was discreetly hidden in the dark.... I actually rode past it the first time as I didnt spot him) foodstall vendor who served up a mean combination of fried rice and omlette that we topped off with a delicious half-tea. Perks included unlimited seating (seeing as the pavement acts as a bench, it can seat any number of people), drinking / hand washing water of highly dubious origins and cops taking a break from their saturday night drunken drivers nabbing routine to come fill their copious pot bellies with even more food. In these dark days of enforced city shutdowns it isnt difficult to see why roadside vendors like this have become a vital part of Bangalore's nightscape. Now the only thing left to do is to come up with a catchy name for my new favourite really late late night spot - 'Airport carts'(its on airport road) or P.H.cart (its located opposite a Pizza Hut outlet) or S.S.R.F.S (Sidey Shadey Roadside Food Stall) .......