India, July 18 -- Where do you get the best food in India? It's not a difficult question to answer. The best food in India has always been on the streets.

India's street-food vendors get a really bad deal. They are terrorised by the police. They have to pay off municipal officials from their meagre earnings. And most of them barely eke out a living.

As some of you may know, I am part of an organisation that does a list of India's top 30 chefs and also rates restaurants. When our awards and ratings are announced at glittering functions, they attract enormous attention and confer immense prestige on the winners.

But for me, the skills of the top chefs and the cuisine of the great restaurants fade in comparison to the genius of our street...