I ONCE drove down to Bombay from Goa and stopped at the Taj's Riverview Lodge in Chiplun for lunch. Lunch was Konkan food, kokum sherbet to cool me down, masala bhat, Malvani mutton in coconut gravy, and puran polis with honey for dessert. The polis were thicker than chapatis, but thinner than parathas, soft with a gram and jaggery stuffing, and fragrant with cardmom, nutmeg and saffron. They were served hot with a vati of honey poured on top. One bite... and I've been a puran poli addict since then.

That's why I was happy to judge Tara's puran poli competition with Shobha, Vimla and Kiran Samant at Viva Paschim. The competition was fierce. The contestants were all Maharashtrian housewives from suburban Bombay. And they were demonstrating how to make puran polis at home for television viewers on the occasion of Gudi Padva. There were prizes, Gili diamond pendants, for three women who made the best puran polis. It was the judges' task to recognise the best from among them. First by watching how efficiently they made the puran polis, then by giving marks for taste.

Shobha and Vimla, I know, are veterans at Maharashtrian food. Shobha whispered (because we were live, on camera) that in Gujarat, they made puran polis that were small and thick and in ghee. In Maharashtra, no ghee was used, but some families liked their puran polis with milk. And Vimla, who has written books on such goodies, told me later about the Puneri Brahmins who ate their puran polis with aloo bhaji. She also talked about a dal-puri she had eaten off the streets of Mauritius that was our puran poli with a salty stuffing. "It is eaten with chutney and bhaji," said Vimla, making a face!

But the competition was over, the TV cameras were focussed on us, zooming in on Shobha rolling one out for the benefit of her fans on Tara channel, and Vimla stuffing another down Kiran's throat. It was difficult to make a choice. But with a little help from the lovely anchorwoman Rakhee Joshi, we picked out Sandhya Hindlekar of Lalbaug as the first prize winner, and Meghna Patil of Malad and Harshada Rane of Borivali as the second and third runners-up respectively.

Interestingly, two of the contestants who stood nowhere in the competition, though their puran polis were pretty amazing, were professional sweet makers. Making puran polis commercially was their business. Bad luck, Lata Khairnar (tel: 844 3297) and Chitra Pathare (tel: 863 8412). While the prizes were being distributed, Shobha whispered again, "I'm dying to finish the rest of the puran polis we have just tasted." And that's just what we did when the cameras were switched off, to my great delight!