LIMITED MEALS I have noremembrance of eating limited meals in Kerala hotels. The first time I orderedmeals in a hotel was when I came for an interview at Trivandrum in 1964. Irecollect I was served two plates of rice in Aruna lodge and hotel at Palayam, whereI stayed. When I got posted as high school teacher at Trikkariyur nearKothamangalam I was having tiffin and meals from a nair hotel at the junction.There too no limited meals served. Late when I came to Trivandrum as lecturerin Training centre in 1991, still Aruna hotel was there at Palayam, but oldfame had gone. It became one among the many hotels served vegetarian food.
When I cameto Chennai and joined as clerk in Madras CTO, there were two types of meals inmost hotels, one limited meals and another full meals. Certain hotels had onlyfull meals. If requested,ordinary meals were given with curd also. Limited meals hotel issued a couponbook, which was prepaid. A rubber stamp was affixed on the coupon book if curdhad to be supplied. A 30 leaves coupon book was issued which had to beexhausted within 45 days. For full meals also coupon book was there indifferent colour, full meals were served in another row or another floor. Full mealshad added on items like large Papad, curd and more dishes. Quality of rice wassame. But dishes were different. Railwaystations offered mostly limited meals with curd. A display board of departureof trains, and announcements 2-3 minutes prior to departure of trains were doneby railway in the restaurants. Now onlydisplay board in many stations. If one wantedto go home town urgently, coupons were given to another, mostly with a requestto take them, and they paidmostly later. If the person could not come within days permitted,the amount paid for coupon was lost. So some body using and paying any thingwas better than losing coupon cost. Exchange oftickets was common, especially in the month end. One might have just gotexhausted the tickets and no money to purchase ticket book. Slight increase inprice of open coupon was significant on those days. Others used to share. Among friendsno penny calculation was there. I recollectan incident while working at Madras CTO. A middle aged Iyer with grey hair hada family quarrel and came with some money and stayed along with us in sharedroom. In spite of our advice he remained with us telling enjoying thedays. One day afternoon he came to meand asked whether I took meals. I said positive. After few minutes one Tamil friend told me he maybe indirectly asking for coupon. I rushed to him in the room andthrust on him five coupons. He told one is sufficient, in reply I told onexhaust he can take more. Three days hestayed, one day he disappeared. I could gather his wife in Iyer attire came withhis only child, and he left with her with a laugh to home in Saidapet. After afew more days he joined duty and came to me with a laugh- I enjoyed Bachelorlife with all of you. I cannot forget those days. I smiled. Anotherincident coming to my remembrance is a stenographer one day came to me andthrust a full coupon book telling, keepit in reserve, you are on training, stipend will not be sufficient, I amshifting to YMCA hostel from shared lodging, hence the coupons are no morerequired. It was from a nearby Brahmin restaurant.He was a man from Calicut having family at home. He was right. Rs 50-00 stipendwas just sufficient. After three months I thrust on him the coupon cost whichwas initially reluctant to take. Later when Igot posted at Ranipet in 1967 as junior engineer, hotels had only limitedmeals. But in suburban areascredit system was there. Some sort of introduction required by another for oneto get credit, though there was no financial commitment from the friend.Tiffin and meals charges were entered by the person in his page and page numbernoted in the bill. Within 10thof next month, the credit had to be paid. Though more than 70% paid in full,few made some sort of excuse and paid 50-to 70%. Such customers were watchedfor their credit amount and sometimes reminded with a smile to clear as earlyas possible. Norash words. Though I wasmarried and had home meals, still for convenience I had credit accounts in thehotels in most stations where I worked in Tamilnadu. Exception was Kodaikkanal and Pudukkottai. Thisenabled weekly visit with children and wife to hotels and they could eatwhatever they required. This credit system was discontinued from the time Istarted working as lecturer at Telecom training centre at Trivandrum. In themean while I had already my posting as Asst Engineer. The creditsystem in hotel changed to a pan shop opposite the training centre, mostly forpurchase of banana and plantains, tea, petty items etc. Now evenlimited meals are excess for most. However the credit system and meals ticket mightstill be continuing. In Chennai,the credit system continues with provision shop, the shop owners and my wife toolike credit system. In the end of the month bill is paid in full. Advantage iseasy exchange, even small quantity of items home delivered. R.Gopalakrishnan 22-9-2022 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1094693459.1016149.1663828801653%40mail.yahoo.com.
