The bottled hospitality.

Beware this trap awaiting you on the hotel tables..

It’s said that the aesthetics of the dining space positively contributes to one's appetite. It’s quite common these days for hotels in Calicut to have a bottle of ‘packaged drinking water’, placed on the table. The placement is so inviting that it gives a hospitable feeling to the patron. Well, how wonderful an idea is that to have a bottle of water ready for you (ranging from the ones directly fetched from the source of the Ganges to the ones which push your adrenaline in one single sip) as you walk in thirsty and hungry.

Bearers of course used to ask if you need bottled water earlier as well. However, this query was mostly meant for patrons from abroad.  These days, they don’t even ask but leave a bottle on the table prompting you to grab it. You have to ask for plain water, if you want it so.

As a policy, I try to avoid ‘mineral water’. This means that most the time, I have to ask for plain water. Now here lies the crux of the story. The moment you ask for plain water, many hotels in Calicut get you warm water. Please don’t do the mistake of asking for chilled water. “You will have to buy the bottles for chilled water”. Sorry, the steel jugs with condensed water on its surface are extinct. (Please don’t mistake me for generalizing, but it’s a fast emerging trend).

I am angry as I write this. I wonder how much of profit a bottle of water could fetch. Does that compensate the cost on compromising the warmth of Calicut’s hospitality?

Hoteliers of Calicut, I would suggest, please don’t buy this idea of ‘Water sale”

This photograph was taken from Marina Residency in YMCA Cross Road. They of course served us cold water on demand. We tried the Seven Seas Restaurant in Marina Residency. The premium version of this restaurant in the same hotel seems to be closed. Well, sorry to state that it’s a poorly air-conditioned space. We tried Harira soup. I have no complaints, but my taste buds did not seem to be enthused by the idea of this Moroccan soup.  The ‘Prawns Pulimunchi’ was just BAD.