Bandra-Khar - Colour me red!, Reviews,

The paan-seller is to be found in every nook and corner of not only cities andtowns but even in villages and other smaller places. He is omnipresent in the sense that one can find a paan shop at railway stations, outside the theatres, or bus stops. Every paan seller has his special recipe to make. There are as many styles of paan as the states of India. Most paan wallas are from the heartland of UP and Bihar.

Tucked away into a small corner adjoining Signature restaurant at Seven Bungalows, Andheri is another ordinary looking paan stall. But five minutes of casual conversation with its owner will dispel all notions of the 'ordinariness' of this little four-by-four structure selling betel leaf concoctions. The stall belongs to T R Swami who hails from the IT

savvy state of Karnataka. Swami is a graduate from University of Bangalore and had a job in Bangalore till 1971 which fetched him a handsome (according to standards in those days, as Swami explained emphatically) Rs 116.50 per month. Lured by the promise of more, Swami migrated to Mumbai and worked in the cotton and silk mills in Mumbai till they shut down. He then worked for a while at the Oriental Bank of Commerce but was soon laid off from there too as economic depression became more pronounced in the city. Finally after being jobless for a while, Swami set up his own little paan stall in 1987.

Today at the end of the month Swami can manage to put aside at least Rs 2,000 as savings. "My son got 87% this year in the 12th exams and I sent him packing to Bangalore to study engineering. Of course I had to take a bank loan for this but at least my son will have a chance at a better life than mine," says Swami confidently. He adds, "I didn't want him to study further in Mumbai because I'm totally disheartened with the state of education here. The students here have become pawns in the game in economics and politics." You can't help but agree with this statement. Amidst talk about the various kinds of paan and how he got his weekly supplies from Crawford market where the betel leaves came straight from Kolkatta, Swami admits that he has over the years learnt how to identify quality leaves from the bad leaves, make some really good paans, and even have stars from Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Om Puri, Sadashiv Amripolkar amongst a host of other TV stars grace his stall and appreciate his paans. An ordinary day starts at 8 am and ends at midnight with an average of 300 to 500 customers per day.

When asked if he was aware about the harmful effects of tobacco, he says defensively, "I never eat paan myself, though I do smoke regularly. And yes, I know all about the harmful effects of tobacco. However, I see myself simply as a trader selling what the market produces. On every packet of cigarettes there is a statutory warning printed which says 'Cigarette smoking is injurious to health.' And yet, if people still want to harm themselves then who are we to stop them?

There is no gutka in my shop and the use of katha has also been stopped. I'm simply selling what the market produces and earning my living. And just for your information, tobacco companies especially for certain blends such as saffron blend of tobacco make as much as Rs 350 per 10 grams! And for every visit by the municipality every couple of weeks I loose a days earnings. But then this city has taught me that you have to give some and take some, lose some and win some!"