Around Town: How a 1965 war veteran started Cannon, Mumbai’s beloved pav bhaji spot near CST station | Mumbai News
Did you know that Cannon, now a pav bhaji institution in Mumbai, started as an eatery serving batata vada and cold drinks? Or that it belongs to an Army veteran who fought in the 1965 war against Pakistan? During the war, Parshuram Dandekar suffered serious head injuries that later triggered epileptic seizures, along with a compound fracture in his right leg. A few years later, when the District Soldier Board invited applications from injured servicemen, he applied and was allotted a 120-square-metre plot opposite Victoria Terminus (now CST) station. There was no financial assistance. “I spent my own money, turned the plot into a small eatery, and decided to name it Cannonball,” said the now 87-year-old. Dandekar recalls details from the 1970s as if they were yesterday. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee) Yes, the eatery was originally meant to be called Cannonball. But the painter missed the memo, and wrote Cannon instead. “My friends insisted we keep it,” he smiled, adding, “Do you know that a cannon is used by all three defence forces — …
