The fried balls of Moong dal came to be known as Ram Laddoo But No one knows how it is.The vendors, mostly migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, carry the wicker baskets of Ram laddoos on the head and a bamboo stand under the arm. They stopped where the crowd was, prepared the stand and served the meatballs in a bowl of leaves, garnishing them with grated radish, green chilli coated in fried dough and a generous portion of mango and pudding chutney. The laddoo is dry, but the juicy radish knocks down his tenacity. The brittle softness is balanced by the bitter bite of the chutney.

Such sellers are often seen in Janpath's flea market. There is one at the bus stop in South Extension-I. At the Lajpat Nagar Central Market, vendors store their barges in cars. Theirs is softer, but they do not add additional lining to earn extra points from customers. It is this stubborn simplicity that makes Ram laddoos so reminiscent of the old days when life was less complicated.

I could have followed the Hindu belief that something without a name can always be attributed to Ram, one of the most revered gods. Interestingly, two completely different foods are labeled Ram laddoo in Delhi. While one is these crunchy daal dumplings, the other is a tamarind ball, sweet and sour, made of tamarind pulp and pomegranate seeds.