Good old hotels

Few months back, i had to visit Madhur temple, which is in kasaragod district of Kerala state for some reasons. We 4 friends from Mangalore started early morning.
So it was around 9 am, when we started feeling hunger, obviously all of us were in search of one hotel, which is cheap and best. There were number of hotels in kasargod, but suddenly a hotel(GOKULA) in kumbla(comes in between mangalore and kasargod) came in to my mind, which i used to visit in my childhood days. We just turned our bikes towards Gokula.
The hotel was calm, and without any enquiry the bearer supplied cups of hot water and offered the menu orally. Neeru dose....moode....goli baje....and many more names, which are almost on the verge of extinct in cities.
Each one of us had stomachful of tasty neeru dose (prepared out of thin rice floor).
I like those old but nice hotels, which feels like home. Most of the time, i've seen the most well-liked hotels, the five-stars. But they usually give us all spicy and unhomely food, which i find difficult to digest!
So whenever possible i keep visiting some selected and homely hotels, which are a lot cheaper, simple, warm and intimate. In mangalore, we find Mohini Vilasa, Krishna Bhavana, Taj mahal, Indra Bhavana to name a few.
In countryside, we see some raw hotels and my friend calls them 'thatti bhavana' (thatti in kannda means the a sheet made using woven palm/coconut leaves and bhavana is home). Sometimes i feel should we pay more to get unhealthy stuff?(In some modish hotels).
Well the concern is slowly even in south kanara, the good old hotels are on the verge of closure and their place is either occupied by apartments or modern restaurants. The traditional food habbit is slowly taken over by chinese and european food. But still the major average mangalorean likes idlis and dosas, thats something unique!

3 comments:

ayaniv said...

Very true Venu,
May be that is the price of modernism, which we are paying. If you ever get a chance try out some of the "that-kadas" of Kottayam, Kerala...or for that matter the roadside "dhabas" in the north...the food is not only affordable but will never hit your pocket hard....and it is not like the Taj or big hotels where, they keep the food in cold storage...but in these small eatries food is prepared right in front of your eyes....adding to your apetite....it is always a foodie's delight

shashank said...

Madhoor kajjayanoo chennagirutte...

Ashley said...

I wish I could find someone in Texas to make me one of those idlis that has the spices and kaju. I am not sure what they are named, but they are my favorite! I had one at MTR in Bangalore when I visited in 2004.