A BIG VILLAGE, AN UDUPI HOTEL AND BREAKFAST Usually the day of my Udupi hotel begins at 8:30am when the shutters are lifted. The rumbling noise of the grease hungry shutters in a dust laden town almost sounds like an alarm to the entire house above and it is ShowTime. No wonder Udupi Hotels are known for cleanliness for the owners have been relentlessly and meticulously fighting these dirt and dust like warriors throughout their life. Regular customers have almost set their body clocks to the opening of the shutter such that that leave their homes and walk in to the hotel in a continuity tandem with the raising of the shutter. Their items are fixed and so are their bills. They seldom talk, for our waiters know every ones preference, and this silent trade continues for an hour. It’s a great sense of pride for the waiters to serve without being ordered and so is an honor for those early birds who get their worms served without commanding. The next couple of hours our hotel resembles the Lok Sabha din. Ignorant milkmen, morning hawkers, office goers etc. in a rush of their own and at the pitch of their voice command, order, cancel, reorder the same dish which was cancelled, order things which we never served in past 50 years, demand explanations why we didnt. The morning hassles also witnesses parcel packing of tiffins for school going kids usually exercised by their grandparents. Such orders due to inexplicable culture of Udupi hotels, is done with high priority and care by our waiters. The idli and wada sambhars in the campus are great social levelers. It gets into everybody without discrimination and for almost every day of my life I have been consuming these wonder food along with my parents and workers. The pre-noon time witnesses leisure for a couple of hours, as this is the time of this “businessmen” dominated city to open their fort doors and alight on their thrones. Being a Nizam ruled town, their impacts and culture heavily absorbed in the functioning. These business men resemble no less than Kings and their young progeny behaves no less than a prince, deserving so because they carry the bulk of the market economy, hard earned through generations, which would embarrass the top banker in the town. All the shops irrespective of caste, creed and community, including my Udupi hotel opens with an ‘agarbatthi’ ritual. Agarbatti or the incense sticks are a great morning rhythm equalizer in my town. As a child I have been seeing small shops and people selling incense sticks on their cycles and it’s no wonder that I see it till date. After the ritual the self proclaimed socio-honored Seths ascend the throne and the markets opening bells are rung, least to the real sense of these econo-Kings of the town realize they they “kick start” the economy of this otherwise Lazy town. Each and every other activity (barring the Govt. offices) is just a link to the chain controlled by these business class people. I wonder if all the business men quit then this town may well see the death of a working culture. Welcome to see the Spectrum of Parbhani. :) :) :)
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:35:23 +0000
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