nagpur when munnilalmunniyasahu began selling misal jawaharlal nehru was the prime minister gold rates were rs98 for 10 grams and sadars gandhi chowk where munniya runs his cart had yet to get street lights oh and his misal sold for an anna a plate much has changed in the last 65 years except swear munniyas legions of fans his savoury street snack poha murmura crispy chana peanuts sev boiled potato boiled jowar who would have thought onion green chilli coriander raw mango or lemon and various seasonings and spices go into munniyas misal its not even close to the maharashtrian misal of misal pav fame yet it is utterly moreish so good in fact that theres a steady stream of people from the time he sets up his cart at 6pm until he winds up around 11pm he says he is 80 or 85 years old now but his jet black hair alert mind and ramrod frame insist otherwise i came to nagpur from allahabad with my maternal aunts son when i was 13 or 14 he used to run a snacks cart but i am the one who got popular he says without a trace of irony adding that nagpurians who live in dubai and america tell him they still crave his misal thats probably because theres something strangely intimate about the way he goes about putting the misal together each person has a special preference an extra green chilli here or a skip the peanuts there munniya does it faithfully then the person gets a fistful of the misal for approval or further adjustments the fully customized relatively healthy snack is now ready its contents much more interesting than those of the newspaper squares it is served on the misals appeal is universal naved siddiqui grew up eating the mouthwatering delicacy and his children now love it from humble rickshawwallahs to doctors from school kids to housewives and dadadadi generation people everyone likes his recipe he says at gandhi chowk munniya has been as steady a presence as the gandhi statue that presides over the knot of narrow bylanes he knows several families that have been living here and eating his misal since generations he remembers how a certain mr patel likes his misal with a lot of crispy chanas and how a mr kanojiya prefers it a bit spicier than usual he also remembers his boyhood back in allahabad when nehru was contesting the election from phulpur near allahabad i remember running with a flag in my hand in his support at a rally he says nostalgia halting his gnarled hands ever so slightly he even recalls that a congress session had taken place in the city many years ago it was the one in 1959 and that he had taken his cart all the way to subhash road near the venue for all the three days nehru did attend the session proposing a resolution for introduction of cooperatives in agriculture unfortunately he didnt get to taste