The speedy chopping of batata, kanda, kakri, and tamatar, generous amounts of butter being spread on soft and fresh slices of bread laden with green chutney, a flip and flop of the chimta on a coal burner, sometimes topped with sev, sometimes coated in another thick layer of butter and red chutney, a long knife is used to cut the sandwich into six bite-size cubes that are effortlessly slid on to a plate traced with a newspaper. This is not just a recipe — it's an imagery that is iconic to Bombay's ethos. The working-class sandwich that a time-strapped CEO relishes with as much joy as the cobbler near the ladies compartment in Andheri station on platform number one — we have seen them both devour it. And do you know why this 25-rupee snack holds such a dear place in everyone's heart? Because iconic things are never expensive, only priceless.

So, on World Sandwich Day, we spoke to some of Mumbai's favourite sandwich walas who have been looking at this city evolve and devolve with time, through the smoke screens before their serves-all "no magajmaari" thelas. Here's what they have to say.