On a cold December afternoon, as a stream of diners enjoyed their chicken chowmein served on stainless steel plates, Shiv Narayan Chandra Bora was busy chopping vegetables on a wooden board. The 64-year-old claimed that he was the first person, a self-taught chef, who “changed the street food scenario of the entire Northeast region by introducing pocket-friendly Chinese dishes for all back in the late 1980s”.