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Friday, May 7, 2010

MEGA MESS at IIT Madras

Subject: MEGA MESS at IITM

Who ever came up with this name "MEGA MESS" for the proposed eatery for IITM students should be garlanded and nominated for Padma Shree award. Obviously the man had a lot of foresight and is perhaps is even a bit psychic and had a premonition of what lies ahead...

Going down memory lane I yearn for the yummy cutlets or samosas or omlettes with a nice cup of tea that we could hardly afford but still indulged in at Knick Knack..Of course this does not exist anymore on campus. What exists in its place is an awful looking canteen dusty & dirty that you have to think twice about putting your lips to the cup... and have to wipe your cutlery twice before using them

Now, now, do not call me a snob or a sahib. India has come a long long way since the Knick Knack days when you look at the zillion restaurants in various cities. Restaurants with creative and attractive decor serving delicious food.. Good atmosphere is a must for a dining place making the food taste even better. I am thinking of "Thank God it is Friday" in Bangalore where I dined with few friends or even the nice buffet dinner place that alumni president Sundarrajan took me to at Residency Hotel..

This being the case why on earth should IIT have such a lousy canteen that looks like a 1960 Udipi hotel ?? I am sure one will find better places just outside Velacheri or Tharamani gate .. Why does it continue to exist ??? I suppose administrators and decision makers all live on campus and go home for nice clean home cooked meals served by their wives who cannot be bothered...The ones who eat here are mostly students perhaps day scholars..

If this is disturbing to read , there is a "Mega Mess" near the library serving as a common mess (canteen) for Surayu and Sharawathi hostel inmates.. I had the luxury of having lunch here with school children from Alamadhi village. The place is hardly six monts old I am told and is already filthy and the food pretty ordinary to be polite and it takes them for ever to serve the food. Imagine ones plight if he or she had to queue up in this place for breakfast, lunch and evening tea and dinner !!!!

If the wash basins are anything to go by I am sure no one will want to step into the kitchen or worse still the dish washing area....

The administrators are so proud of this effort that they are now constructing an even bigger Mega Mess that is going to dish out food for all the hostels, meaning over 3000 students.. I am told the building is already under construction

Why did the original architects build hostels with just 200 rooms with a common room at one end for entertainment and one eating room at the other ??? Because 200 is an optimum number for cooking meals on a daily basis.

The original hostel messes had the following to offer:
-Each hostel had its own mess secretary who could be creative in producing a menu that satisfied most members of the hostel
-Each mess had a Veg and a non veg section at opposite ends
-one could step out of the room to see if the mess was open to go down for a meal
-one could go down when the crowd had subsided to avoid queuing up.
-if one was sick, food like some toast and a cup of hot milk could be sent to the room
-one could always notify the boys in the mess and ask for meals to be put aside in case one was going to be late
-each hostel was a home away from home and the dining room no different to one at home.
-the staff recogonised students by name and vice versa making it a healthy place...
-the best advantage was that if the menu in your own hostel was not to your taste you could take a walk and be a guest of your mates in another...

Now imagine what happens if this is replaced by one mega mess serving say 3000 students. Serving 3000 breakfasts yet allow all students to reach classes on time ?? I bet half of the students will have to skip breakfast or may be queue up as early as 5.30am !!!
What about one double bulls eye George in the mornings ???

Imagine having to queue up and combat 3000 aliens as no one would know the other person as they converge from all hostels ??
Imagine having to walk each night from your hostel to the mega mess to have your dinner ???

I know it seldom rains in Chennai but what happens during the monsoons ?? Imagine having to go to the mega mess with umbrellas in the rain....

Who ever came up with this MEGA MESS idea I am sure never lived in a hostel ever and am sure has BRICKS in his or her head..

Now what about Hygiene ?? How on earth are we going to keep this mega mess clean ??? any place serving 3000 meals will never have any time left for cleaning ...
Who guarantees quality ?? Who decides the menu ??

Cholera, Jaundice and gasteroenteritis will be unavoidable.. I am sure the administrators have already appointed an MD in gaestroenteritis to live on campus close to the mega mess..

Most Riots in prisons have started over FOOD and IITM is slowly but surely being turned into an Alcatraz...

Unfortunately I believe such decisions are being made by academic men who have never entered a kitchen to make a cup of coffee and would not know how to boil an egg... my strong suggestion would be to ask the lady registrar of IITM to make a proper assessment of this mega mess proposal before everything on campus turns into a night mare.

did some one suggest that mega mess was thought off as a result of labour and union issues ? what happens if there is a strike in the mega mess ??
I am sure I will be told that this cannot happen as it will be contracted out ......
what if 3000 students refuse to eat the food ???

We may have created a mega problem on campus..
All staff members who go home to nice home cooked meals thrice a day, have a heart and consider if you would eat for four years in one mega mess ??
Would you allow your children to be fed there ?? I wouldn't

One question I would like to ask: I am 100% sure that no one is allowed to open a restaurant that will serve 3000 meals in one session. Are there no health regulations that cover the maximum number of people that food can be catered to ??

Bet my bottom dollar that this proposal violates health regulations.........

Ramboaus
IIT Global Moderator
www.IITGlobal.com

1 comment:

  1. Sir,
    I came across this article accidently. Most of the things you mentioned are right and most of your predictions have also come true. Though there are no riots or health issues as such, the food quality has gone down immensely. Menu has become unchangeable and caterers apathetic. Engineers are supposed to be practical minded, but in an institute producing some of the best engineers of the nation, one thing missing is practicality and common sense.

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