Seventy Five

I hate that name. Chandraneel is a hotel close to the place I stay at in Pune. The name is sad but the food they serve over there is okay. Three chapatis, a bowl of rice, one dry sabji, one wet sabji, dal, papad and curds in a dinner thali. There are a few places around that serve similar food, but they are always full and have bad SLAs when it comes to serving time. On the other hand, I always manage to get a table at Chandraneel and I am served within 10 minutes of ordering stuff, provided ofcourse I order the standard thali. So usually two dinners of the four in a week that I am forced to have outside home, I have food here. The waiters, dressed in dark green uniforms with ChandraNeel embroidered, are always polite and smiling when they take orders and serve. And this guy who serves at the wash basin end is the most smiling person at Chandraneel. That day, after i had finished my dinner, he came to me, to take cash. "Kitna Hua(How much?)", I asked, just for the sake of asking, being fully aware that the meal cost me twenty five bucks."Seventy Five", he replied with a smile. Surprised, I asked him the same question again only to be given the same answer. It was sometime before I realised that he was not well versed with English and thought "Seventy five = 25". The next time, I will correct him.