Remember the fanfare that was associated with this basic food, when the Shiv Sena came to power in the early 90’s. Then it seemed that nothing could go wrong and zunka bhakar was going to be the social antidote to all problems afflicting the poor man.
I am sure that there are very few readers who have ever had zunka bhakar at one of these stalls. Yours truly has twice had the opportunity to do so at the stalls opposite VT Station abutting Azad Maidan.
To be very frank, the bhakar was a tasteless hard disk of roti, which was so hard, that I could have played frisbee with it. The zunka or the gravy was no more than a whole lot of masala in a little bit of water. Extremely “teekha” and nearly unpalatable.
As expected, the stalls sold everything else but the zunka bhakar. It was only a period of time before they stopped selling that too.
Now as per DNA, the Shiv Sena is trying to revive the same scheme. Seems that the Sena cannot find anything more worthwhile to do.
One BMC councilman from the Shiv Sena says
“The state’s decision to shut down Zunka Bhakar kendras was a political move. It was started 10 years ago to provide employment to poor youth and food at minimum rates for hardworking people. But the state move has deprived the common man of such a cheap facility. It is high time such centres are reviewed,” said Satamkar.
Seems we cant learn from our mistakes. Can we ??
