Growing up in the Nineties, Nirula’s to us Bombaywallahs was a far- fetched foodie wonderland that only a few had the pleasure of experiencing; they were the lucky lot who would travel to Delhi for their summer or Diwali holidays, and later return to regale us with stories of these gastronomical pilgrimages during school lunch breaks. It didn’t help that we had to bite into an Amul-cheese sandwich in our lunchbox while the lip-smacking fantasy was narrated. Giant burgers, salad bars, ice-cream sodas, thick milkshakes and French fries…the only good thing these conversations did for our imagination was that it made us believe, at least, partly, that India could also have its version of Pop Tate’s, from Archies’ Comics fame. Years later, we made that trip to the iconic Connaught Place outlet, and realised that it’s not just about the fare – because by then, Delhi and all of India, was experiencing the MNC boom – Nirula’s was a slice of nostalgia that was part of most Dilliwallahs’ DNA.

When Deepak Nirula passed away last week, social media was flooded with tributes and memories from the young and the not-so-young – they all had a Nirula’s story to share – be it a date, a college reunion, or a family bash. It made us jog our memory to recall if Bombay had an equivalent – an indigenously created fast food chain that evoked similar emotion. We drew a blank. But that’s when the ‘rewind’ button moved to the ‘play’ mode [excuse the analogue talk; we got carried away with the subject here].