Idlis : Not so Idyllic everywhere.

I’ve been on “the move” across the state for exactly one week now. I visited Madurai,Tanjore,Kumbakonam and am writing this after having spent 2 days in Trichy.I have been missing a lot of things for the last week- the things I had got used to over the last year and which I had assumed to be a part of my life. But apart from all other academic learnings, this rude shock was a real eye opener.

Before the readers come to a conclusion that the following write up will be an emotional outburst, let me make it very clear that I do not have any intention to do that. In fact, it is about one of the things I had never imagined I’d ever miss in life. Yes, it is “Tifany’s”.Every IIT-Madras student has a love – hate relationship with Tifany’s i.e. everyone loves to hate it. For its catering service from dawn to past midnight, it should have been accorded the status of a “historically important site”. But thanks to his management (or the lack of it), the management students learn important lessons on “what not to do in a business”. I mean, to see the customers as a “necessary inconvenience” is a crime in service industry. Well, this is what our wise teachers emphasise upon, all Marketing Gurus would vouch for and common logic supports. But somehow, this eating joint has been thriving defying all these fundae. I recall a famous quote on this context : “ Either someone has goofed up or someone is corrupt”. Chances of goofing up time and again can be safely ruled out, so that leaves us with the second option.

But, Tifany bashing is my favourite time pass in campus. This is not the reason I am troubling my fingers on the keyboard now.Over the last week, I realised that Tifany makes “idlis”

better than many established food chains in the cities I visited. In fact, I’ve seen so many versions ( the bad ones) of the idlis that I wonder if this is the staple “tiffin” in TN. Many of them had strange shapes; I have seen as many shapes of “idlis” as the different shapes of “Shivalingas” in different temples. Some of them appeared like balls of steam boiled fermented dough.And mind you, this was not a one off incident I am exaggerating about. I was being served such idlis at breakfast day after day till I decided to order some other riskier breakfast options.

Tifany’s despite all its management issues, still serve good idlis at Rs.7 per plate with 3 varieties of chutneys and a bowl full of sambar.Next time I eat them in Tifany’s, I’ll be “thankful” for a change.



PS: I had one of the best idlis the very next morning I wrote this. I do not mind acknowledging this but I still do not want to “eat my earlier words” because they are as much a reality as these “soft as cotton balls” idlis.