In our concrete cities, everything is readymade; luckily in
the wide expanses of Konkan, things are still natural, human. Take for
instance, right here, in our cities; we walk into a restaurant and are sure of
getting served on time. But when you are in Konkan or anywhere else, which is
considered to be ‘the’ countryside, erase all your expectations, once and for
all.
Therefore, taking ahead from where I had left last time - The
destination ahead was already beautiful in the mind; I wish to now proceed a
little further (and not at all faster).
Once we alighted at Kudal, our bellies were reeling through
first & fresh pangs of hunger. Since we had hired a van, we could feel the
urgency of our hunger. Similarly, our driver too knew, how to settle us down.
So once we had huddled inside the van, he drove a little faster and stopped
only when he knew, he had the right restaurant on his mind to host us.
Remember, when we are traveling out of our cities, the rules
of eating out changes! Restaurants stop being flashy but, the food starts
getting tasty. Restaurants grow a little clumsier but, the hospitality starts
growing warmer. We had a similar experience. Not too far from Kudal station, we
walked into a restaurant, which moderately advertised itself as Hotel Pankaj
and had it written loud within a bracket – Only during afternoons. This meant,
we shouldn’t expect the place to be open during other hours or the food to be readily
available at any given point.
Hotel Pankaj was thin on manpower but high on taste. The place
was packed. Families, lovers, friends, groups, locals, runaways; everyone
seemed to be thronging that place. We were politely told that we might be made
to sit separately (this also meant, we could be brushing shoulders with
strangers…complete strangers). We were also told that the food will take long
to come to us. But finally when the food arrived, we were left overjoyed. The
fish thalis, the chicken thalis, the veg thalis, the fried Surmais, the fried
Pomfrets; all of it tasted so divine that we were no more left hungry. But we
were left feeling greedy. For a moment, I thought we could have been blessed
with a better appetite to consume more.
We were done with the lunch. We were done with the chewing
of a sweet delicacy too. By the time, we stepped out of Hotel Pankaj, other groups
rushed in. Their hunger pangs seemed far higher than us. As we geared up to
board our van again, we could hear a flurry of burps go up in the air. To
conclude, all that is cooked well ends up being eaten well in Konkan.
To be continued....
-Virtuous Vociferous | December 10 | December Blog-2A | 2017
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| Hotel Pankaj, Kudal |
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| The 'Only Afternoon' rule, the warm little hotel follows |
