Sabha canteen chit-chats 19/12

I was at Parthasarathy Sabha yesterday for Malladi Brothers concert. The hall was packed but when I took a break , I realized that the canteen was also packed.

The caterers also for their share are exhibiting a lot of innovation now. Mountbatten Mani's canteen has the interior decorated with portraits of eminent artists both current and old, from Semmangudi to T.M.Krishna, from M.S to Sowmya, you can see everyone. It doesn't stop there. The snacks menu is loaded with unheard stuff be it Raagi Vada, Ilaneer idli, Chocolate Dosa.. There is no dearth for imagination. Need to utilize the rest of the season to try few of these. Yesterday I was not very experimental and was content with Kuzhi Paniyaram and Kancheepuram Idli.

I had 2 Maamas, who had conveniently left their wives at home, for company at my table yesterday. It was fun listening to them as they moved from Kanceepuram Idly to Idiyappam, in parallel catching up to start off on the personal front and then chewing on some Kutcheri gossip. Topics moved from their NRI friends who couldn't make it this time, family, the previous day's TNS concert and so on. Then having finished the above two items, one of them called the server asked, "sweet ennappa! adhu enna athipazham alva? innikku pannadhunna onnu eduthundu vaa. Appuram 2 nimisham kazhichu strong aa rendu coffee sugar kammiyaa"

I moved on with a smile. Canteens are an integral part of the Sabha experience and it is really the Senior citizens who seem to be having a blast in these canteens. I guess this is an opportunity for them to taste a variety of deep fried and ghee loaded items which might otherwise be taboo at home.