Every time I return to Bangkok from Mumbai, I carry a few more kilograms than when I came, and they're all vegetables. Specifically, the smuggled vegetables are suran, tondli and arbi. If I see any parwal, I have been known to pick up a few, to fry them later in mustard oil to make potol bhaja, Bengali style.

For reasons best known to Bangkok, the city celebrated as the world's street food capital does not have the items mentioned above. Never mind that it has a large and influential population of Persons of Indian Origin, many of them now prosperous and tax-paying citizens. Mind you, you can find pretty much anything else from any other part of the world that you fancy in Bangkok - jicama, habañero chillies, Sichuan red pepper, salsify, Brussels sprouts, Cumberland sausages, Brie cheese with truffles, alphabet shaped pasta, shudh ghee, yea, even kasuri methi. But in Asok Market, on Sukhumvit, where many Indians get their curry leaves, hard-shell coconuts and plantain stems, you will not see my four favourite vegetables.