Oh,What a .... ?
Ah... 'mess'. The word conjures up visions of a dismal dungeon,
with flickering lightbulbs, tortured prisoners, and an all-pervading odour.
Relax. It's not that bad.
The best place to begin, I suppose, is the beginning. The very first time my roommmates and I set foot in the IInd Block Mess was the day of admission into NITK. It was tea-time, and we were greeted with hot plates of Maggi. We grinned at each other and went back and told our parents 'we could get used to this kind of lifestyle'. If only we had known...
with flickering lightbulbs, tortured prisoners, and an all-pervading odour.
Relax. It's not that bad.
The best place to begin, I suppose, is the beginning. The very first time my roommmates and I set foot in the IInd Block Mess was the day of admission into NITK. It was tea-time, and we were greeted with hot plates of Maggi. We grinned at each other and went back and told our parents 'we could get used to this kind of lifestyle'. If only we had known...
So here's the technical laydown. Mess timings are more or less fixed as follows:
Breakfast: 07:00 to 08:30 (on weekdays)
08:00 to 09:30 (on weekends)
Lunch : 11:30 to 13:00 (generally starts around 12:00)
Dinner : 19:30 to 20:30 pm (except on Grand Dinner days)
On Grand Dinner days, dinner is at 19:00 and usually winds up around 20:15.
The first one or two months, we had perfect attendance in the mess. After all, it was a change. But after that, we began to learn of other eateries, not to mention the Night Canteen, and our interest in / tolerance of the mess food began to wane.
Breakfast: 07:00 to 08:30 (on weekdays)
08:00 to 09:30 (on weekends)
Lunch : 11:30 to 13:00 (generally starts around 12:00)
Dinner : 19:30 to 20:30 pm (except on Grand Dinner days)
On Grand Dinner days, dinner is at 19:00 and usually winds up around 20:15.
The first one or two months, we had perfect attendance in the mess. After all, it was a change. But after that, we began to learn of other eateries, not to mention the Night Canteen, and our interest in / tolerance of the mess food began to wane.
So what food did we get, you ask? Since breakfast was the first thing I ate every morning, its weekly sequence remains freshest in my mind.
First/Second Block Breakfast Menu :
Monday : Puri bhaji/ Lemon Rice
Tuesday : Dosa
Wednesday : Idli-Vada
Thursday : Paratha
Friday : Idli Vada
Saturday : Paratha
Sunday : Masala Dosa
This menu is subject to change every semester. The rough outline remains the same though. Apart from this, bread with butter and jam is available everyday. Tea,Coffee and Milk also is kept unlimited everyday.
For lunch, there are always chapathis as well as rice and rasam or / and dal. The curry or gravy for the chapathis were much better during lunchtime than dinner (more on that coming up). Sometimes we got buttermilk, which was refreshing. But the one thing which annoyed everyone was the standard curd. According to popular belief, they didn't add a bit of water to the curd; they added a bit of curd to water! On rare occasion, the curd was nice and thick. Those days, it would vanish quicker than ice in the Sahara. Just kidding.
The highlight of lunch was ice cream ,which was given to us thrice a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), and as it was from Ideal, there wasn't anything to complain about. They would open up a carton, cut it into slabs (thick, if you're lucky), and voila! Happiness ensured.
Dinner. Oh, dinner. First of all, it was at that time of day (night?) when the NC beckons with all its temptations. Second, they managed to make it pretty unappetizing most of the time. It seemed as if the curry always involved dumping all the remaining vegetables they had into a common pot. The curd was even thinner than at lunch!
I'll wind up with the best part about the mess: grand dinners! Occurring once a month, these meals have people queueing up outside the mess doors 15 to 20 minutes in advance. Our gang, too, started doing this to ensure we got seats. The food included unlimited pooris, paneer curry, pulav, green (I want to say mint but I'm not sure) chutney, raitha, gobi manchurian, a sweet (usually peda), fruit salad, and cut cucumber, carrots, onions, etc. For dessert, a Hangyo ice cream cone: usually butterscotch, occasionally chocolate.
Like I mentioned earlier, these grand dinners were the highlight of the mess dining experience.
So that's our mess! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!
First/Second Block Breakfast Menu :
Monday : Puri bhaji/ Lemon Rice
Tuesday : Dosa
Wednesday : Idli-Vada
Thursday : Paratha
Friday : Idli Vada
Saturday : Paratha
Sunday : Masala Dosa
This menu is subject to change every semester. The rough outline remains the same though. Apart from this, bread with butter and jam is available everyday. Tea,Coffee and Milk also is kept unlimited everyday.
For lunch, there are always chapathis as well as rice and rasam or / and dal. The curry or gravy for the chapathis were much better during lunchtime than dinner (more on that coming up). Sometimes we got buttermilk, which was refreshing. But the one thing which annoyed everyone was the standard curd. According to popular belief, they didn't add a bit of water to the curd; they added a bit of curd to water! On rare occasion, the curd was nice and thick. Those days, it would vanish quicker than ice in the Sahara. Just kidding.
The highlight of lunch was ice cream ,which was given to us thrice a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), and as it was from Ideal, there wasn't anything to complain about. They would open up a carton, cut it into slabs (thick, if you're lucky), and voila! Happiness ensured.
Dinner. Oh, dinner. First of all, it was at that time of day (night?) when the NC beckons with all its temptations. Second, they managed to make it pretty unappetizing most of the time. It seemed as if the curry always involved dumping all the remaining vegetables they had into a common pot. The curd was even thinner than at lunch!
I'll wind up with the best part about the mess: grand dinners! Occurring once a month, these meals have people queueing up outside the mess doors 15 to 20 minutes in advance. Our gang, too, started doing this to ensure we got seats. The food included unlimited pooris, paneer curry, pulav, green (I want to say mint but I'm not sure) chutney, raitha, gobi manchurian, a sweet (usually peda), fruit salad, and cut cucumber, carrots, onions, etc. For dessert, a Hangyo ice cream cone: usually butterscotch, occasionally chocolate.
Like I mentioned earlier, these grand dinners were the highlight of the mess dining experience.
So that's our mess! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!