The breezy rush into an Irani café to sit down and order a chai and Osmania biscuits is set to change as café owners test the Standard Operating Procedures being laid out by the Centre. The jingle of coins, the clang of cutlery, the shouts of bearers and the noisy hubbub at the cafes is set to become history.
Near Charminar, the new protocol can be seen at the Nimrah Café where squares are marked out on the pavement to ensure physical distancing. There is a hand sanitiser and an employee checks the temperature of the customers with a thermal scanner. “We have started using disposable cups and have stopped using our ceramic cups. Only a few people are allowed inside at a time. The new SOP do not affect us very much as most of our customers like to drink tea and go,” says Saleem, owner of the café.
For many visitors, a visit to Charminar was incomplete without a photograph of the cup, saucer and the brownish liquid at the café. With paper cups, that will no longer be possible.
The price has also gone up from ₹14 to ₹15 to compensate for the cost of the disposable cups.
But the real challenge for implementing the SOPs will be at the restaurants that serve biryani. “We have a 500-seater restaurant at Gachibowli but we are going to open only one floor and begin with 50 people. We are going to use disposable plates but if the customer wants a regular plate we will serve it in that,” says Mohammad Rabbani of Shah Ghouse Café. Restaurants that serve biryani see diners waiting to tuck in at all times of the day. But will the diners step into the restaurants?
“Hau (yes), most definitely! I miss eating biryani at a restaurant. One of the aspects of the Hyderabadi biryani experience is to have it hot, freshly drawn from the bagona, with the remnant dum still escaping the meat pieces… It is that experience I am craving for. Parcel biryani is almost always bad when compared to dining in,” says Moses Tulasi, a film-maker from the city. “Safety is an issue. I will go once and then decide whether to continue going or not,” says Mr. Tulasi.
As the restaurants are free to open on Sunday after nearly 70 days, it remains to be seen whether Hyderabad gets back to its old Irani chai, biryani, Osmania biscuits experience or people play safe.
