His day begins sharp at 7 with a staple breakfast of samosa and jalebi. ?Other meals mean boiled vegetables, but breakfast just has to be samosas,? smiles Lakshmi Kant Tewari.

And why not? This 60-year-old, after all, is the uncrowned samosa samrat of the city.

Till noon every day, you find this genial man at his Kalakar Street shop, busy steering the samosa supply from a strategic spot in the middle of all the madness.

The mathematics of the madness: close to 2,000 steaming samosas are either served or specially packed in saal-bamboo wraps at the popular address, now well over six decades old.

?The margin these days is barely 25 paise per piece. We are managing only because of the economies of scale. Break-even is reached with 100 pieces,? reveals the man who has been sitting at this address since the samosas, now priced at Rs 6, would sell for 10 paise.

Price apart, Lakshmibabu?s earliest memory of the samosa ? also referred to as trikona or singhara in this Burrabazar bastion ? dates back to his school tiffin.

The times have changed, with his school-going grandchildren not keen on taking samosas for tiffin and the garam masala having mellowed to suit today?s tongue.

But Lakshmi Kant Tewari?s world continues to begin and end with the magic mix of maida, aloo and masala.

But what is so special about the Tewari samosa?

?The proportion of the maida and ghee must be perfect, the five spices have to be just right and the flame has to be low,? reveals Lakshmi- babu, rattling off the secrets of his samosa success with the candour of a confident market leader.

Success has given him the confidence to stick to his own recipes. ?My samosa is vastly different from the Bengali singhara without masala, but with coriander and peanuts. Yet, nearly 40 per cent of my client base remains Bengali,? smiles Lakshmibabu, whose creations find favour with both the Subhas Chakrabortys and Amar Singhs.

After Lakshmibabu who?

The matter has already been resolved in-house, with son Ramlal Tewari sitting in from noon to 6 pm to allow the elder statesman of the samosa to go home for an extended siesta. Ramlal, 35, did his schooling in Nainital and graduated from St Xavier?s College, Calcutta, before choosing to join the ?family business?.

The immediate future of the Tewari shop is secure, but what about the fate of the samosa? ?I don?t see any competition for the samosa for at least 20 years. But then, everything will depend on the next generation?s taste buds,? feels the legend of the traditional fun munch.