Near Udayganj Hanuman Temple, Sadar.

Ram Singh tells us that his father Bhairav Singh Mistry and mother Manuni came to Lucknow from Gonda. In 1955, they set up shop under a tarpaulin shade in the Bhoosa Mandi (hay market), selling poori-sabzi. Ram Singh was born and brought up in Lucknow itself. Recalling his childhood, he continues “I started helping out my father at the shop even as a small child. I went to school, too. Those days, we would sell khasta, samosa, pakauri etc., apart from poori-sabzi. Now it just poori-subzi. Business has grown so much that it is getting beyond the capacity of the workers to meet the demand. Customers keep queuing up for our pooris. For the last 10-12 years, we have started using machines to make pooris. This way, we can make 12-13 pooris in 30 seconds. About 3000 pooris are made every day. People come to have them from far and wide. When the politicians arrange for political rallies, it is our shop that supplied packed food for thousands of people.”“When I was small, a dona of poori-sabzi would be sold for one anna. Donas are no longer to be had ever since this paper and ‘anni-panni’ (polythene) stuff has come in vogue. But the food is made just as my parents had taught me. We are very fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene. No footwear is worn where food is cooked or served.