Muchhad walla: the king of paan (Nimisha Barua)

Popularly known as ‘muchhad walla’, Jaishankar Tiwari, is the man behind the amazing and mouth watering paan (betel leaf) in Mumbai .Born and brought up in the Tiwaripur village of Haldia district of Allahabad, Tiwari first came to the city in 1977, when he was barely seventeen years old. He had to look after the family business, that is, their paan shop, which was initiated by his father. His father Shyam Charan Tiwari started the business forty years back.  Their paan shop, on the Kemps corner, South Mumbai, is today known by every one in Mumbai as the ‘muchhad shop’.

A characteristic feature of the paan sellers here at muchhad shop is that they all maintain big and long moustaches that almost touches their ears. This tradition initiated by Shyam Charan, is religiously followed by his sons and grandsons even today. And this could be the obvious reason as to why all the paan lovers in the city know them as the muchhad paan wallas. Taxi drivers, the residents living in and around the area, the shopkeepers or even the young crowd of students; the muchhad wallas are known by all.

The shop is a home to a variety of paans like kalkatta, maggai and benarasi. Of all the three types, the kalkatta paan is always on a great demand. Another striking feature of this place is its variety in the paan preparations. Some of the all-time favorites of majority of the customers are the muchhad special meetha (sweet) paan and the chocolate paan.

“Serving the customers in the best way possible” is definitely the driving motto behind their successful business. The Tiwari brothers often draw immense satisfaction in serving their customers with the best, at all times. For many of the regular customers to the shop, believe that it is the “family-like service” that attracts them most to the place, apart from the very obvious, paan. The brothers are known to treat their customers like god and maintain friendly and family like relations with them. Often after a treat of meetha paan, the customers are offered a jar of water to wash their hands while humming a religious shloka for the goodwill of the guest by one of the brother .Warm and friendly gestures like these often attracts a good bunch of paan lovers, especially the students, in the evenings. Radhika, a regular customer to muchhad says “I love coming to this place, simply because of the variety in flavors. Since I’m a student, I come here very often with my friends whenever I feel I need to do something crazy. The evenings are the best time to visit the place”. Many of the customers also feel that the “paan are priced at very reasonable rates and the ingredients used here are pure and genuine”.

In the list of regular buyers, the college students and office goers features the most. Also not to forget, in the list many Bollywood stars like Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Neil Nitin Mukesh, to name a few, often come here to take a bite of the muchhad special paan!