Mumbai's Mangalore stores are slowly dying

The Mangalore Store MahimOn a Tuesday afternoon when we walk into Sera Ladiesrsquo Fashion located in the labyrinthine Sai Bazar Shopping Centre Santacruz W owner Nitin Mascarenhasis in the midst of closing a cracker deal ldquoThese customers have come all the way from America So please give me a few minutesrdquo he requests us while unspooling a sequined material for them The white table is strewn with glittery lehengas and the shelves behind us occupy neatly folded dress materialsNitin Mascarenhaswith his mother at the Mangalore Store in MahimHowever a yearandhalf ago the store didnrsquot look anything like this The transparent wooden closets stacked Uddinahittu urad flour seasoned with yoghurt and sweet dishes like maddi halwa made of Bengal gram dal and jaggery kaai holige pancakes and undae laddu The floor had jute sacks filled with ukda tandul parboiled rice russetcoloured grains that were considered healthier than brown rice There was no air conditioner but an oldfashioned fan that had seen better timesAshtami undae made of jaggery and groundnuts better known as lsquotravelling ladoosrsquo as people carry it while travelling PicShadab KhanIn 2014 Mascarenhasaccepted that The Mangalore General Stores first opened in 1977 had become a lossmaking venture Like most other Manglorean shops in the city this too had fallen out of favour with a community that no longer depended on traditional staplesOnce central to Mumbais legacy and spawning all over the city the Mangalore Stores were over 200 in number till the 1990s Today their count stands at a mere 40 Save for Mahim there are no Mangalore stores in south Mumbai ndash even in Konkani pockets like Girgaum and Gamdevi The one in Mazagaon the last surviving Mangalore store in South Mumbai shut shop last year after 53 years Owner Ronnel Goveas and his wife Lavia admit age and slack in business made it difficult to run the storeBack to roots Nitin Mascarenhas mother Theodora Doreenrsquos face lights up when a customer strolls into her Mangalore Variety Store opposite Paradise Cinema in Mahim This was the first store established in 1952 by Mascarenhas father Louvis Basil Salvadore Mascarenhas In fact it is also the cityrsquos first ever Mangalore storeSonte or sweet potato chips at Goregaon Mangalore StoreldquoToday we get a maximum 10 customers a day But it was my husbandrsquos last wish that we run this store because of its sentimental valuerdquo says the 78yearold Doreenrsquos husband who hailed from Valencia Mangalore sparked of the trend when he realised that the number of Mangloreans migrating to Mumbai was increasing ldquoIn the 1950s Bangalore was not the job hub it is today and with Karnataka sharing a border with Maharashtra it became easier to move to Mumbairdquo explains MascarenhasThe store stashes goods ferried from Mangalore Every alternate day a bus that has journeyed 1000 kilometres over 24 hours delivers goods to all of Mumbairsquos Mangalore stores right from Mulund to Mira Road ldquoWe keep exclusive Mangalorean food items like kananga chips made of jackfruit and sonte prepared using sweet potato chips that you wonrsquot find elsewhererdquo Mascarenhassays opening a packet Despite being fiery red in colour the crispy sonte donrsquot burn a hole in your stomach The sweet potatoes are dipped in a batter of gram flour and masala and then deep friedldquoToday people are becoming health conscious so they avoid sonte My grandchildren donrsquot touch itrdquo he jokesDried fish is usually used in chutneysThe 49yearold recalls that till two decades ago his clients belonged to the Bunts Saraswat Brahmins and Mangalorean Catholic communities ldquoThis was their way of staying connected with their rootsrdquo he says Now however with intercaste and community marriages the connection to traditional Mangalorean cuisine is fading he feelsThis might be one of the reasons why at Prabhakar Nayakrsquos Mangalore Store in Goregaonrsquos Tilak Nagar Mangalorean delicacies like vadi rice based crispy crunchy fritters and traditional Konkani pickles like appemidi a tender mango exclusive to Karnataka share shelf space with general groceries like bread and potato chips ldquoAlthough we have a significant Mangalorean population it became necessary to introduce other items in order to keep the shop afloatrdquo says Nayak who set up the shop in 1991Mangalorean Mysore pak PicDatta AcircAcircu00c2u0080AcircAcircu00c2u0088KumbharWhile wersquore there customer Banta Shetty is purchasing atrash a sweet dish made with rice ginger and jaggery Shetty has been a patron for over 25 years ldquoI also come here for Mangalore Holige puran polis because they taste different from the Maharashtrian varietyrdquo he says Nayak agrees ldquoI feel itrsquos the water that makes the difference We also add dalda in the items I tried using the ghee we get here but it doesnrsquot taste the samerdquo he says The difference is visible even in the Mysore Pak which is nothing like the pure ghee variety made popular by Matungarsquos Sri Krishna This one has a centre the shade of caramelised sugar with the colour fading into butterscotch near the edges The centre has a mealy taste of besan chana attaroasted chick pea flour with a mild burnt flavour ldquoThis is one of the highest selling items here Unlike the pure ghee variety which gets heavy after two bites this one is easy on the tummy You can even finish the entire packet in one gordquo laughs Nayak But itrsquos the kori roti which sells the most Paper thin and crispy the kori roti is a special kind of bread which is made of rice paste and then dried These are later made into sheets that are broken into pieces When soaked in chicken curry the rotis absorb the gravy and turn soft ldquoThis dish is a hit at corporate events which I caterrdquo he saysStaying afloatNayakrsquos staff till about six years ago were local Mangaloreans Today they are from UP and Bihar ldquoItrsquos a challenge finding people because the job involves waiting at the highway for hours for the lorries carrying food Itrsquos almost a 15hour duty that people arenrsquot ready for Moreover Mangalore has developed and Mumbai is not an attraction anymorerdquo he saysUkda tandul at Kherwadi PicShadab AcircAcircu00c2u0080AcircAcircu00c2u0088KhanFrom the six odd Mangalore stores that dotted Goregaon the count has gone down to three ldquoI hear two more might shut down in the next two months because the owners are finding it difficult to run the businessrdquo Nayak tells us However at Amrith Kinirsquos a spacious 800 square feet Mangalore Store inside Kherwadirsquos chaotic bylanes in Bandra business is largely decent Despite being located in a predominantly Muslim locality Kinirsquos clientele drops by even from areas as far as Vasai and Virar ldquoThese are people who have bought from us for decades now so therersquos a sense of loyalty While I agree therersquos a slump compared to say 10 years ago there are no red flags yetrdquo says Kini who took over the shop from his uncle two years agoThe shop has everything from Kele Halvo banana halwa Sannas a toddyinfused idli and sheviyo rice noodles to mirsaange happolu papads made from Bedgi chillies and Patrado savoury colocasia leaf rolls ldquoEven vegetables found in Mangalore mdash gul green brinjal kook Chinese potato and bimbal a close relative of carambola mdash which are seasonal are available Yoursquoll get them during winterrdquo he informs usThe mezzanine floor stocks the dry fish which is very popular in Mangalorean cuisine ldquoYou can swirl it into a chutney or fry with marinated masala but the Thor or the Dry Fish is considered ideal during monsoons when obtaining fresh catch is almost next to impossiblerdquo he says The store has also Ayurvedic medicines for diabetes cough delivery and digestion ldquoEverything here is from Mangalore including the medicines We are trying to stay true to the name for as long as we canrdquo he smiles