Mac Masala Dosa

In times of troubled news, Facebook flashed: Masala dosa burger from McDonald. Like Americans landing on the moon, long, long ago. WOW me screamed, an enthusiasm Rama did not share. 'Kya ho gaya,' Madhavi chirped. 'Masala dosa burger abhi milega,' me told her and she felt let down. 'Unko kya maloom hai, masala dosa,' she said and added that her mother had called from a village off Solapur about groundut poli, mixed bhaji for Makar Sankranti. 'Wish you were here,' the old lady mobiled.  'Gross,' writes me good friend Krishnan from Palghat to McDonald burger masala dosa. Born and brought in Singara Chennai or Madras in his times, Krishnan perhaps, cannot take it; like sipping Old Monk Rum after glassing down pegs of Cuban rums with Cuban cigars. Maybe, he loves the masala dosa toasted at TamBram homes by grandmas. Do not know. Will have to make inquiries. Suspect Komi is unsure of the innovated dish, a 2017 avatar of masala dosa with McDonald credit lines. Wonder where they researched the idea; maybe they could have tapped an old woman living alone somewhere in Myapore or West Mambalam in Singara Chennai with sons and daughters settled in US and Australia. She might have fallen on the idea on a hot Chennai May, with children and grand kids pestering for eats. In the kitchen corner, lay an unused potato; the dosa was in the making when the aloo bhaji was thought up as a side dish; a grandkid might have made a dosa roll leading the old lady to the zen moments of masala dosa. With friends she may have patented the know-how, hardly for public consumption. She denied herself bylines. But Mac has its way and hope it has the tang and fragrance of a TamBram masala dosa with onion sambhar. Maybe, it may not be that classy; it may set up a new identity with a young, Facebook generation. The Indian Express has written a third edit on the fresh menu. The editorial writer writes: 'As a multinational fast-food chain announces it will soon launch a 'masala dosa burger', Indian foodies are clutching their foreheads and stomachs in shock, despairing over too much culinary mixing ruining their broth - or here, the burger bun/dosa batter. But why this tangy chutney of indignation at the innovation. The masala dosa is a many-splendoured thing, one of India's most innovative dishes, always metamorphising into delicious new forms.' Owner Anant Goenka may have knocked out from the copy any mention of Mac the American. Searched Wikipedia to its origins in Udipi restaurants. Me am not sure; rather, it hurts me TamBram ego; a large circular piece of white dough pebbled with aloo bhaji, roasted to a crisp off-red by me Mami in Sreevatsam in Alleppey, a page of poetry, cannot have been born in Udipi. To me a Masala Dosa including the Mac version is a wrap up of any and all North-South differences into a love toast; adored by North and South; potatos coming from above the Vindhyas, the dough from below the Vindhyas. Called up Mac; 'will be available shortly,' the counter said. Have booked a table at Macs in Dahisar. Mac can go fly kites on Makar Sankranti.