Ashok Vaidya: The Man who gave us our Vada Pav

Nestled in a tiny room in a narrow lane, in a chawl near Dadar station resides the family of Ashok Vaidya, who started the Vada Pav in Mumbai.

The Vada pav came into existence when a snack seller outside Dadar railway station decided to experiment. He came up with a combination of batata vada and split pav.

Soon it gained in popularity and others followed Vaidya. "My father introduced the first stall of Vada pav near Dadar station in 1966. Soon vada pav stalls mushroomed all over Mumbai," said Vinayak, Vaidya's elder son, who works for a multinational company.

Ashok Vaidya passed away in July 1998. But his family, comprising wife Mangal, elder son Vinayak and younger son Narendra (who although well-educated), looks after the stall now.

"My father was a hardcore Shiv Sainik. He decided to start his own business. This business gave us a decent living, education and respect. So, even after education and the passing away of our father, we decided to run the stall," said Narendra.

"But we are thankful to the Shiv Sena, without which this would not have been possible. The police used to harass my father very often. Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray went to Dadar police station and the local ward office and ensured that he wasn't harassed," he added.

The Vaidya family acknowledges the Sena's contribution, and is delighted that even after all these years, the party once again came forward and approached them to be vendors under the Shiv Vad scheme, which will launch vada pav stalls in July-August.

The family feels the Sena has always worked for poor people, and the scheme will provide a large market to the middle class.

"We have been in this business for 42 years. When we started off, we used to sell vada pavs at 20 paise. Now we are selling it at Rs 6. The increase of a rupee is only because of the recent hike in LPG prices," explained Mangal.

Despite facing stiff competition from McDonalds and Jumbo King, they never thought of increasing their price. Their strategy is simple. "The vada Pav is a poor man's meal. Not all middle class people can afford to spend Rs 20-25 on a burger. Keeping this is mind, we sell our vada pav, maintaining its true essence," said Narendra, who claims their USP is that one can even eat it cold.

The family is looking forward to its association with the Shiv Sena's Shiv Vada scheme.

Source: Mid-Day