💬 Jalebi from a box is not the same jalebi

I've been wrong about jalebi for years. I thought it was the same hot or cold. It isn't. Last trip home my brother brought a half kilo box from the shop near Dilsukhnagar, 20 minutes on his bike. By the time we opened it at home the jalebis were limp and sticky and sad. I ate 3 anyway out of politeness. My nephew ate 6 without looking up. Two days later I walked to that shop myself, at 6 in the evening, just to test it. The man was pulling them straight out of the oil. Into syrup for 10 seconds, then onto a paper. I stood at the counter and ate 2 right there with the paper going see through. Crisp outside, hot syrup inside. I said wow out loud. The man didn't even look up. Same shop, same jalebi, 20 minutes apart from the box. Completely different thing. I told my brother. He said, jalebi is jalebi, stop being dramatic. He ate 2 of mine anyway. When we order for guests at home I say nothing now. Cold jalebi is a hospitality item. But if it's just us I make him walk to the shop with me. There's no fixing it at home. I tried reheating one in a pan and the syrup split. It went oily and the shape collapsed. My nephew liked it anyway. He's 9 and eats anything sweet. My mother told me to leave it alone and eat it fresh or not at all. She's right. I go back in March and I've already told my brother we're walking.

Straight from the oil into the syrup for 10 seconds, that is the only way, and your shop man understands it. At a wedding in Secunderabad a cook made them live next to the stage and I ate 5 before he stopped to take a breath.

There is a shop near Charminar that hands you jalebi straight out of the oil, and eating it standing right there on the street beats anything I have had after carrying it home. My father always insists on waiting until we get home to eat properly at a table, which I think ruins half the point. We have argued about this for years and neither of us has budged.