Dip-Idli pangs on Mt Kilimanjaro

Home is where the heart is—but more importantly, where the idli-vada is. As a devout Dravidian, my spouse feels that the farther you stray from your homeland, the louder the craving for idli-vada grows. This truth hit home—quite literally—when he and his colleagues returned from scaling the mighty Mt Kilimanjaro in Kenya. 

After battling torrential rain, bone-chilling cold, and the kind of exhaustion that makes your soul want a nap, all of them descended the mountain with only one thing in mind: piping hot Indian food. The dream wasn’t Everest-level complicated: just some spicy, soul-stirring, desi food would do. 

As they stumbled into a local market, their eyes darted like desperate food-sniffing drones, scanning for any sign of Indian-ness, or the neighbouring Malay, Thai, or Sri Lankan…even fusion food at that point would be a near consolation. And then, it appeared, like a mirage in a desert… Anna’s Cafe. 

Men will be men. They practically sprinted into the café with the prospect of something close to home food. The menu was flipped, turned, read diagonally, and possibly sniffed for masala residue, but to no avail—no idli, no vada, no sambar in sight. With growing anxiety and growling stomachs, they summoned the waiter and asked, “Do you serve idli vada?” The man looked puzzled. “No sir,” he said, “we serve English breakfast all day!” in his heavy African accent. 

That was the Eureka moment, the moment of awkward silence when the realisation struck like an idli thrown to your face. This was Anna’s Café, not Anna’s Café—as in, not the beloved South Indian “Anna” (brother) who serves up dip-idlis with a smile, but just a regular English girl who liked baked beans, French toast, and sausages! 

Facepalm moment! Pride bruised. They settled for insipid eggs and toast. However, the moment they touched back home, they made a beeline to the nearest Darshini, where crisp vadas and soft idlis swimming in sambar brought all the hungry trekkers’ appetites and common sense back to life. 

Moral of the story: Always double-check your Annas when on foreign soil, and especially when hunger fogs your brain. And never, never ever underestimate the power of a well-timed dip idli! It is a force to reckon with in the culinary world, and it is a powerful motivator for people to come back home.