Parle-G is one of the best selling biscuits in the world and it costs almost nothing. Plain, hard, faintly sweet, and completely woven into Indian life.

It exists to be dunked. Eaten dry it is unremarkable. In hot tea it makes sense immediately.

Three seconds in the chai, no more, or you lose it to the bottom of the cup. Everybody has an opinion about the correct timing and everybody is wrong except themselves.

Available at Curry Corner in North Melbourne.