We have it on good authority that the tomato and coconut chutney is the favourite among their customers. Another member of the family cooks the Sambhar, while somebody else is frantically mixing dosa's, - both plain and masala one's.

All these chores are completed by 0730 Hrs. Subsequently, the two brothers leave for their rounds, selling the idli's in seperate areas. Mostly, they have fixed areas where they sell every day. Even after all these years, the door-to-door selling of the idli's & dosa's continues, and people relish every bit of it.

Ayappan boards the CR train and is off to Dombivli at eight in the morning. He starts his business on the train itself, with the morning crowd in the local trains, even before he reaches his "selling" area. He has to do this so discreetly so as to not get caught with the "officials" and rip him off with "fines" or "chai-paani" (or should I say "Idli-chutney")

The familiar honking sound has not changed over the years, and leaves no room for doubt to the residents as to what, or rather who, is behind it! Like the ubiquitous idli vendor, the horn is part of the door-to-door idli paraphernalia.

These idli-wallahs have regular customers too - local shop keepers, paan-wallahs, and other small vendors and traders. For masala dosas, they generally have fixed customers. Business can be slow on certain days, especially on Mondays and Thursdays, as either the shops are closed or people fast. On such days our friend, Ayappan, tries to sell the idli's on his journey back home or gets off at Ghatkopar and sells off the remainder.

He walks nearly 15 kms every day in the course of his idli selling activity. He resides in Sion, where nearly every family is engaged in this idli making business. They prefer to be self - employed

After a hard-days work, Ayappan manages to earn around 300 - 400 rupees, out of which he eke's out a profit about 50 - 60 rupees. After deducting all kinds of expenses involved in the business , like the cost of kerosene, cocnut, daal, electricity, vegetables et al, He is able to earn about 5,000 - 5,500 rupees a month.

When it comes to this soft and fluffy south-indian dish, all language barriers are broken. Although the large Gujarti and Marwarhi community that cannot do without it, According to Ayappan, the Maharashtrains are not far behind.

The common man, and in particular the vegetable vendors, and all stall owners prefer it, as it aint only tasty, but very cheap. Just for 5 rupees, in these days of inflation and rising prices in the hotels, one can enjoy 5 idlis with chutney & sambhar! says Ayappan with pride and a smile on his face.