Straight from the Saucer- Finish and Get Out

It is not uncommon to find, in Hyderabad's busy Irani hotels, notices pasted on the walls asking patrons to make space for others. Most people who come to Irani hotels spend a long time sipping the tea and chatting away. These people don’t bother about the boards that exhort them to leave the tables so that others can sit and enjoy the Irani chai. For these sort of stubborn people some of the Irani hotels seem to have found a nice solution.

One evening sometime last week I found myself in the vicinity of Secunderabad and decided to have a nice, piping hot cup of Irani chai at ‘Blue Sea.’ ‘Blue Sea’ is one of the smallest Irani hotels in Hyderabad and perhaps one of the busiest. There are hardly eight tables that can seat no more than twenty people at a time. Not that everyone wants to sit and sip tea in Blue Sea because more people stand out on the road before the hotel and drink their tea. These people do not have to bother about leaving. But those sitting inside the hotel do not get more time than is needed to finish their tea. All the waiters (about half a dozen of them) cry out one after the other, asking those who have finished drinking tea to leave and make space for others. It must perhaps be the only hotel in the world not to allow the patrons to sit back and admire its chipped crockery. The waiters are all businesslike, you tell them what you want and they will get it to you. No smiles, no small talk, nothing. That’s ‘Blue Sea’ for you.

But the “Light of Asia’ hotel in Abids is different. Or at least appears to be different nowadays. On Sundays when I am alone at Abids I drop here for a cup of tea while going through the mags and books I might have picked up until then. Yesterday, I had picked up a funny book and decided to leaf through it sitting in LOA. One welcome sight was a chirpy, talkative waiter who, with his easy manners and simple courtesy, made me order things I don’t usually eat. When I ordered tea he suggested I have the Osmania biscuits which he told me were hot off the oven. I gave in and ordered them. Indeed they were fresh. He was doing the same with the others in the hotel and surprisingly everyone was falling for his pitch. The guys who come to Irani hotels are different from the people who go to fancy restaurants. They just have what they want and no one can change their mind. But this waiter was doing it, taking in orders for things he was suggesting. It was an experience to watch him do his job with a lot of enthusiasm, persuasion and courtesy. It is a rare quality to find in waiters in Irani hotels.