Long before my parents moved to Besant Nagar, Grand Sweets, Adyar has been our chosen venue when shopping for sweets & savouries. Murukku, cheedai, kuzhi paniyaram – you name it, you’ll get it. Every time I make a trip home, I will make sure I pay at least a couple of visits to the place, to get my fill of it. It is the only shop I know that looks more like your grandma’s sprawling bungalow than a prosperous shop. Every morning and evening, one of the workers would even wash the entrance area and decorate it with kolam.

The best time to visit the joint is around 3.00 PM, when the kitchen would be doling out made-that-instant thattais and murukkus. That is also the time when a harried lady would be bringing in plate after plate filled with donnais of free sweet pongal or kesari or some such. The resulting scrum has to be seen to be believed. Respectable old gentlemen and weedy maamis would abandon idle chatter at the sight of the freebie and make a run to the table. Some would have camped out there since the previous night. I have found myself front row centre on couple of occasions and all around me were thousands of elbow joggers who tried to shove five others out of their way to get their hands on a free spoon and a half of sweet pongal.

This time, I even heard a maama whine, “15 nimishama wait pannaromma!” while another wheedled, “idhu varaikkum oru cup thaan kadaichidhu“. The sight has to be seen to be believed. For those who cannot take a trek to the place, here are some pictures.

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