The exposure of the appalling or even almost non - existent standards of hygiene in the kitchens of one of the biggest and most prestigious hotels of our city makes very disgusting and also disturbing reading. It is nothing short of a crime against society when posh hotels which many of us patronise at great expense, only to avoid falling sick, become the sources of all the infections from which we try to escape.

People can only disbelieve for a moment before believing that this is the state of affairs at the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel. This hotel was once one of the most beautiful guest houses of our Maharajas and has in the past accommodated all their State guests comprising royalty and heads of State. It is now being run as a premium five star hotel by one of the country’s largest and most celebrated hospitality groups.

Today it is a domain where most common people can only dream of setting foot, let alone of dining at least once in a lifetime. It is therefore a shame that it has set such poor standards for itself and has allowed itself to become the target of ridicule and condemnation when in fact it should have stood out proudly as the best example of the high standards of excellence that are naturally expected by anyone who pays for the luxury of five star tourism.

It is also ironical that news about the embarrassment it has put itself into, appeared in Star of Mysore yesterday just alongside the announcement of its forthcoming festival of Awadhi cuisine which would have become a very memorable event both for its promoters and patrons too considering the reputation of the erstwhile Nawabs of Oudh as the founders of fine dining. Awadhi cuisine has some of the most well - known “signature dishes” that are now cherished all over the world.

This present indictment of its standards of hygiene will naturally not only turn away many of the hotel’s prospective customers and “old faithfuls” but will also point a finger of suspicion at all the other franchisees of its group across the country, many of which also happen to be the former Palaces of our plethora of former Maharajas.

In many western countries, posh hotels are so proud of their standards of cleanliness that their managements consider it the right and privilege of their guests to ask for a guided tour of their innards. This sense of pride is also perhaps responsible for the growing trend of many hotel chains to now have open kitchens with the cooking areas visible from the dining area across a glass partition.

Considering what we have seen, I am now forced to view all grand hotels, including my favorite ones, with suspicion and fear. The fact that most good hotels have deep freezers, makes it easy for them to store food supplies for inordinately long and perhaps unsafe periods. Many people in the hotel industry, whom I know, have told me that since seafood prices fluctuate very widely, they buy their requirements during periods when the prices are at the lowest and store them for up to six months or even more. Where cold storage facilities exist for food supplies, nothing prevents hotels from storing left over food too, especially after large banquets and parties, for future use.

In connivance with the omnipresent microwave oven, this has only made things easier for any penny - pinching hotelier to serve yesterday’s or even last week’s food like it was just prepared for the waiting customer, with the dictum that; “older the food, longer the wait”, to lessen any suspicion about its freshness! And, to think of it, all these years I used to wonder why in posh hotels you always have to wait endlessly for the food to arrive while trying to hide your hunger pangs and matching facial expressions behind the pretence of admiring their décor with great awe.

I cannot help coming to the inevitable conclusion that in contrast with what you can end up getting at exclusive posh hotels, the food served at the numerous roadside make - shift shacks may be cleaner and fresher than the perhaps stale but elaborately decorated and garnished fare served to us. While all those humble folk we see standing there, may certainly be eyeing our swanky cars and our palatial destinations with envy they may actually be eating food that may be many times healthier and safer than what we are destined to eat a few moments later.