The gooey mixture on the stove tempts with its smell and colour. The long wheat halwa is in the final stages of preparation and the sight makes me forget that the kitchen is cramped and I had made my way to it, climbing a narrow iron stairway.
The action unfolds on the first floor of one of the homes that line the heritage street at Vazhappally Junction, near the southern entrance of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Since 1985, wheat halwa has been the USP of Balaji Cafe, a nondescript vegetarian hotel located at the Junction.
