Kharagpur is famous for the Worlds longest railway platform. It houses one of the IIT’s and  is 4 hours from shubbs ancestral home (? !) at shyam Bazaar – Am I correct?

Kharagpur is also where the rail lines from  Mumbai and Chennai meet, before entering Kokatta. 

My train from Cuttack to Jamshedpur was at 2 PM. After reaching station, I learnt that the train would come only at 10 PM.  Instead of sitting idle at station for 8 hours, I thought I would go to Kharagpur and take a local to Jamshedpur. By this I would be at my hotel before 11 PM – in time for late night Zee Telugu show.

Upon reaching  Kharagpur,  at 7.30 PM I learnt the next train to Kharagpur was at 6 AM. This left me puzzled. How come there was no train for the entire night on such a busy route.

I learnt the actual reason: No trains ply between Kharagpur to Jamshedpur from 8PM to 6 Am daily, due to naxal threat. It was then I realised that I was not  in independent, free India – world’s largest democracy. I was held to ransom.

I decided to check into a hotel in Kharagpur. I was in for my next surprise :. Kharagpur has no hotels and lodges – not even a dusty shanty where one could spend the night. I sent an SOS to my Kolkatta office to know what I could do other than romancing mosquitoes  in the station

They suggested that there was a hotel about 10 Km away on the Mumbai highway. I took an auto and got myself into a good room – in time for Zee telugu late night show.  The hotel was surprisingly   good  inspite of its remoteness – but had no telugu channel connection.

Until the next morning., I kept wondering why I was destined to stay there that one night.

I left hotel at 6AM to go to the station. I was surprised at what I saw along the entire 10 KM stretch of the  Malancha road to the station, for every 10 feet, i found a push cart or a house selling idlis. The familiar TN idli pot was all over the entire road. It dawned on me that this road has actually the worlds largest concentration of idli shops. Not TN, Not Karnataka and not AP- but Kharagpur of all places. All shops were busy at 6 AM ( It dawns at 4AM in the east in summer). School busses and kids busy on the days trip to school.

I suppose someone, some day will tell me how it ( the large number of idli shops in Kharagpur) happened and why it happened.

This post is about Idli my first and foremost favourite dish. Even after roaming all over the country, tasting food of various regions, there is nothing to beat the “steaming hot, super soft, whitest of white idli’s”.

98% of the hotels in India do not serve the type of idlis that I described above. Once upon a time it was so at Murugan Idli shop – Madurai Rly station ( where it was born) or at Geetanjali hotel in North Usman Road T nagar. Otherwise we need to go for the  push cart vendors at night in Madurai ( city that never sleeps) or at nearby villages or Trichy bus stand and some areas of other cities in TN, Geetha has a tough time matching my specifications . I always find that my moms idli was always hotter ;Geetha gets even more hotter on hearing this.

The sight of those steaming hot, super soft, whitest of white idli’s on a green plantain leaf with all its assorted chutneys is the most warm welcome sign to me after a hard days work – apart from my wife and kids hug.