From Korma to Vindaloo

‘Chicken Balti!!!’, screamed the customer. It was a Friday evening, time for the great British tradition of ‘Curry and Beer’. It did not help that it was nearing what passes for as ‘summer’ in the UK and India was out of the World Cup. The kitchen was humming with activity, but the orders were not coming through at the rate it was expected. As I peered at the customer through the kitchen porthole, I looked at my ‘Front Office’ taking the orders and I remember saying to myself – ‘Good Lord what have I got into, there is no such thing as a Chicken Balti in India.’ Chicken Balti or for that matter, Vindaloo, Madras et al don’t exist in India; neither does the ubiquitous Cobra. All these should find a place in the museum as part of the Great British Inventions along with the Hovercraft and Viagra.