Manthra

Today is yet another rainy day in Hyderabad (pretty unusual in the month of September) and we decided to go for a lazy lunch and take the rest of the day easy. Kishore, Swaroop & myself literally entered into the nearest restaurent (Minerva) and then decided to withdraw as we were getting sucked into the same restaurent time and again for the very reason that we are just too lazy to think of another place to dine.

Today was different. We just came out of Minerva and walked across the Raj Bhavan road and climbed to the 4th floor to check out the new restaurent - "Manthra". One of us said - "Is it worth going all the way there to find the waiters waiting for customers?" and the other one said "So what, Nobody died" - The typical Lance Klusener statement, which is misused right royally here, because Lance said this when he dropped the world cup and we are using for a lazy lunch. But thats how we are used to showing off.

Vague experiences. We entered a dimly lit lounge , which opened up into a bar and then to another partition and then to another and so on. Anticlimax at the end. We were expecting an exotically new set up, because thats what sell these days and this restaurent being new , our expectations were not unusual. But we saw a pretty ordinary set up and I won't be boasting to my friends that I've dined in Manthra.

Well received by the waiters, (infact it was an overdose) we were little embarassed to see them receive us nearly and dearly like the treatment a filmstar would get. We quickly decided on the buffet after inquiring the after-tax rates. We thought it was moderately priced (159+ taxes). But what they had to offer in the buffet was nothing in par to what other competitors across the block were offerring. A simple Mutton masala and a chicken chettinad with a typical Dum biriyani on the Non veg side and Veg biriyani , steamed rice and a sambar on the veg side. Nothing more that makes your lips smack. We got the feeling that we were too early for the buffet (even at 1 o clock), but then thats all they had for us for the 159 + taxes. My brain was fast to erase the word moderate and quickly replace it with "expensive" for the money we are charged. But we continued with our usual discussion on cricket (coz thats the common interest that we all have and all of us have great passion towards that sport). Then we were getting restless seeing the jobless desparate housewives who gather at various restaurents atlunchtime and discuss on totally useless topics when their husbands are slogging their heart out at office to win their breads.

Now comes the interesting part. The waiter for literally standing next to us, patting our back to find what we want for the next helping. Infact even after declining few times he got loads of biriyani, paratas etc and was becoming a pain in the neck. We thought he was asked to do this to impress the customers. But what really happened was different and interesting. He did all these for the meagre tip that he was expecting and not at the best interest of the Hotel's business. He stole a fruit salad and offered it as a compliment to us first. We were little impressed in the beginning not knowing that he is doing all these for the tip. He then offered a kubani-ka-meeta with ice cream as a compliment and that took us by surprise. The when we settled the bill, he was paid with the normal tip what any waiter deserves and we were walking out. Suddenly we found someone rushing behind us. God, it was the waiter, asking for more tip and the reason he gave is that he offered 50 rupees worth of dessets as compliment without the knowledge of the management and expects a minimum of 50 rupees as tip. What should I say now, at the sorry state of the Restaurent and its management. Such cheap behaviour is only going to ruin their little brand and name that they are unlikely to earn with people like working for tip and forgetting that they are part of a bigger entity, the Restaurent.

Food was below par compared to what others are offerring, ambience was nothing new to be attracted. Other restaurents offer a variety of salads, dessets, fruits, papads, pickles etc apart from a delicious dishes (both indian and chinese) and still priced at 125 or less. My brain was again quick to erase the word "expensive" and replaced it with "Not worth it", but then when we walked out I only had to say myself that "Nobody died" and who knows, with all bitter experiences in this restaurent I may still choose to visit Manthra another day when I forget this experience.