BENGALURU: “Give me a biryani for `10, and I’ll support it tomorrow... I don’t expect pizzas,” says stand-up comedian Sanjay Manaktala on Namma Canteens announced under the new State budget. In general, youngsters in Bengaluru welcomed the canteens.
Few like Vijay KP hopes for pizzas to be served though, and the healthy kind. “Whole wheat thin crust pizzas, fish and chips and burgers,” he says. More realistically, he adds: “The usual baths and poori.” An engineering student, Karthik Rao, says, “I would prefer the usual dosa, curd rice, kesaribath and idly”.
Romal Laisram, founder QAM(I), says, “The Namma Canteen is a blessing and I do hope it functions as well as Amma Canteens, but my real joy is in the focus on solving traffic in the city, creating better road/rail infrastructure and developing the storm water drain system.”
Megha Sharma Bhagat, 31, co-founder and chief of growth at Project DEFY, says, “I love the idea of Namma Canteens if they become non discriminatory spaces for daily-wage workers.”
Most have paid `400 to `600 for weekend movies so, like Romal, people are “overjoyed” at the capping of prices of movie tickets. “Cheaper, the better,” says Karthik, and adds laughing, “I’ll go for a movie now!”
Madan Thapa, who works in a content company, says, “I usually go out for a movie two or three times in a month with my friends. Initially, I plan to spend `300-500 for a movie, which never happens, and I end up spending in grands when in a group. The weekends are the worst... I really hoped they would put a cap on foods and drinks too”.
Few are ecstatic about cheaper booze, with cancellation of VAT. Girisha, a traffic constable who has never had a drink in his life, says, “Every day I catch 10 to 15 drunken drivers between 8 and 10 pm, now the numbers will go up... nobody cares about the fine or are scared of the police.”
But Madan says, “Any cut in its price is always welcome.” Rohini Venkatesh Malur, consultant at Campco, says, “Hurray for cheaper drinks.”