As mentioned in the earlier part, we were unable to have the darshan at the Chidambaram temple. After we came out and decided to have lunch, the next logical question was "where?".
Raghu had mentioned a "fancy" restaurant called "Udupi Sri Krishna Vilas" very near the temple. He'd also said that it wasn't a very fancy looking place and was more like a typical eating place you get in those regions. I remembered him vaguely mentioning something about long tables made of granite etc.
When we came out of the temple through the eastern gopuram, we saw a board that said "Udupi Sri Krishna Vilas". From the outside, it sorta matched Raghu's description. So, we went inside.
Inside, was not actually the dining area. We entered a big hall kinda place, which was still being constructed. There were cement bags, sand piled up, tall mixing tubs etc. Further down this hall, there seemed to be another room and here, we saw a couple of people eating.
I called up Raghu to confirm if this was the joint. He now said that the hotel he was referring to was not on that road but on the other side. So, we came back to our car, which was parked on the main road which in turn is perpendicular to the road leading to the eastern gopuram. You must follow the directions very closely here, else you will not be able to appreciate the bulb we got.
To go towards the direction that Raghu indicated, I had to make a U-turn on the main road. This I managed and went some 100 metres or so. We crossed the road leading to the eastern gopuram and almost immediately, we saw a board that said "Udupi Sri Krishna Vilas". I pulled over the car to a good parking spot and all of us got down.
When we entered the hotel, it still didn't look like the right one. My mother even checked with the guy at the kalla petti about the presence of "Udupi Sri Krishna Vilas" hotels in the area and he said that this was the only one.
We ordered 3 meals at the cash counter. Curd had to be bought separately. It was Rs.20 for the meal and Rs.3 for the curd. So, for 3 of us, the total was Rs.69. I handed the guy a 100 rupee note. The cashier took it and opened the cash drawer. Something there caught my attention. I guess all of you have seen the typical cash drawer in such places. Its a big draw where the notes are kept. And at the end, there is a small setting to keep steel cups. The coins are usually kept in these cups.
So what caught my attention in this particular cash drawer, was the fact that there were toffees in one of the cups. I thought it was an odd place to keep it. But within a second I noticed the cashier's hand dip into it and take one piece out. He placed it in front of me and handed over Rs.30 in notes. I was a bit shocked at the nonchalant way in which he replaced Rs.1 with a toffee. I just took it and went towards a table.
We handed over the tokens to the "server" and also ordered bottled water. We were served pretty ordinary food. The only good thing was that the place was clean and surprisingly, totally fly-free.
We had taken up a seat towards the end of the dining hall and near our table, we saw an entrance. The kitchen was on the other side and so we got curious about this place. On closer inspection, we found a lot of cement bags and also a pile of sand. There was also a tall blue colored mixing tub.
Ta-daa.... That was the very place from which I had approached this hotel earlier. I had actually called Raghu to ask for directions from a spot next to that tub!!! We had a good chuckle.
We continued eating, all the while pitying the guy who was serving us food. The pity was because he had a look that said that he was having trouble using his exhaust pipes, but had gotten used to it.
Towards the end of the meal, the guy gave me a separate bill for the bottled water. It was Rs.13. I knew that I had few coins in my wallet and got a sudden inspiration to give Rs.12 through the instruments issued by the Reserve Bank of India and the balance Rs.1 through the instrument sold by Cadbury's or Nutrine (I don't even remember what the toffee was).
I told my parents this and they somehow seemed to be proud of my approach. We even started discussing strategies of how to give this toffee back. What to say if he refused to take it back. What kinda arguments to put forth etc. etc.
Once the eating formalities were completed, we headed out. I stopped over at the cashier's place. A bit to my chargin, I found a new guy was seated in the kalla petti. However the guy I first transacted with, was standing near him. Since it was a new guy, I was quite sure that he would object to the toffee. And I started picturing the whole discussion I was about to have with him.
I gave him a Rs.10 note, a Rs.2 coin and then gave him the toffee. The guy didn't even bother to look at me. He just grabbed everything and put it in the appropriate places in his cash drawer.
It was my turn now to act cool. If I lingered there long enough, it would indicate that I didn't anticipate his action and so it would be clear to him that he won. So I quickly started moving out of the hotel, goading my parents to come along.
I have a strong feeling that the folks at Chidambaram use these toffees as actual currency!
We then resumed our journey and at around 1.30 PM, reached Hotel Sampoorna at Sirkazhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment