#06. Dahi Papdi Chaat :)

"The purpose of life is to find the purpose." — quoted Pagla Rinpoche in an interview.

From driving a Maserati through European streets to selling it on his journey back to monkhood—Pagla Rinpoche's story mirrors another: the monk who sold his Ferrari. But this isn't about him. This is about layers. The delicate, intricate layers of Dahi Papdi Chaat, and how they mirror this beautiful, complex journey we call life.

Picture it: a gourmet masterpiece before us. Do we eat it, or simply admire it? Crisp papdis cradle whisked yogurt. Boiled potatoes nestle beside chickpeas. Crunchy onions and tomatoes burst with colour, crowned with ruby pomegranate seeds and some dash of fresh coriander leaves. Tangy-sweet chutneys weave through it all. This is more than food—it's poetry on a plate, a soulful rendition from the chef's imagination to our table.

Life unfolds the same way. Each layer we peel back reveals a new colour, a new spice, a new taste. As we savour each spoonful, something magical happens—flavours dance with textures, creating a symphony that would even make Mozart proud (I suppose). One layer leads to another, each discovery illuminating what was always there, waiting.

But what if we never unveiled them? What if we stopped at the surface? Life would remain monochrome. The stars wouldn't glitter. The soul's fire would flicker, waiting for the fuel it never receives. Adam Smith might never have seen beyond a simple pin factory to envision the division of labour. We wouldn't have journeyed from those humble pins to the technological marvels of NVIDIA. Pagla Rinpoche's Maserati represented material success—until he peeled back that layer to discover something far more valuable: his true self.

The beauty lies in the journey itself. Each layer holds its own wisdom, its own lesson. The crisp papdi teaches us about foundations—how we build our lives on experiences that shape us. The cool yogurt reminds us of balance, of finding peace amidst chaos. The spices speak of passion, of the fire that drives us forward. Together, they create something extraordinary, something that transcends the sum of its parts.

The truth is simple yet profound: the spices are already within us. They're not missing. They're not lost. They're simply waiting—waiting to be discovered, layer by layer. Waiting to be invented and reinvented with each new experience, each moment of courage, each decision to look deeper.

That Dahi Papdi Chaat sits before each of us, in its own form. It whispers an invitation: to become not what we ‘ought to be’, but what ‘we want to be’. To taste every layer. To savour every colour. To finally discover what was always there, waiting beneath the surface. Unveiling the layers of life – the dahi papdi chaat of our own lives. 

(Pic.) Don't the layers contain wonder!? :)