May 22, 2007 10:42 AM
5262 Views
This is a bit personal and a little less talk about the actual product... bear with me...There was a phase in life where 14 hours of work a day was the name of the game. The fact that its gone up to 18 hours a day now is irrelevant. Then, someone else reaped the fruit of my labour. Now, I reap what I sow.
During that phase, sustenance was secondary... survival was primary. Cooking was not an option due to crazy work schedules. Fast food was the only way to go and joints like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Fuddruckers etc. became frequent haunts. Pizza Hut brings back some fond (and UNfond... if that counts as a word) memories. Let me share a few.
Note that all of these happened in other countriesThe Salad Bar IncidentA handful of dudes and I went for a quick bite at the nearest Pizza Hut. Apart from the great line up of hand tossed pizzas, they had an incredible salad bar and all the coke you can drink. The Salad bar works cos I'm a vegetarian.
Now, you pay and get a plate (small or medium) and you head for the salad bar... and you stack it ONCE... as much as the plate can hold. I stacked mine with how much my stomach and the plate could take. Enter this mallu bloke... he's 6'1" tall and weighs in at 45 kilos. He heads for the salad bar with a small plate... increases the dimension of the plate to 500% more than its size using stacks of lettuce leaves, placed with precision that would have made an engineer proud... and stacked a huge pile of salad on it... needless to say... there wasn't much left in the salad bar after he was through...
When he plonked his plate in front of us.... we couldn't see each other across the table. That... was taking VALUE FOR MONEY to all new heights.
The mallu dude gained 10 pounds and the salad bar lost 50.
The lipstick incident
Years ago... I went on a date with an Arab girl I knew (Hey...stop looking at me like that! It was very platonic). Pizza Hut was the venue (yay!). After ordering the meal, I sat and listened to her talk (which was a mistake as she really could talk...).
Suddenly, she opened her purse and tossed out 15 tubes of lipstick (my jaw dropped). As I pondered in fear of events to follow... she opened one.. and asked me to stretch my arm. I said to myself "this is some weird fetish. why me god? why me??". She slapped some of the lipstick on my arm and said "ooh... looks nice... am just checking how this colour would suit your skin tone". GROAN!!!!
15 tubes later, my hand looked like it had been in a Picasso painting...
That was the last time I shared the same space with her.
WaterLOO
I did a stint teaching Arab teenagers. They were very sweet and the respect they gave was just incredible. So at the end of the term, they took me out for a treat at Pizza Hut. Now the equation was a bit off cos there were 18 girls and 3 boys in that class.
We plonked ourselves around a huge table and ordered. While we were waiting... three girls got up and went to the bathroom. Ok... maybe they were pretty close to each other. Two minutes later, 4 more got up and went to the bathroom. I glanced at the boys who had a puzzled look on their face as well. Maybe they went to discuss how cute the boys looked or powder their nose or something. A minute later... 7 of them got up and went to the loo!!! Please note that it was one of those bathrooms that could hold like 3 people tops and the ones who went in hadn't come out!
Ten minutes had passed since we ordered the pizza and now... three boys and one teacher were left speechless on the table. The pizza arriveth and the girls come back giggling. Did we miss something here???
Now... the Pizza Hut at M.G. Road BangalorePizza Hut's have given me a lot of memories and has been a source of sustenance for a long time. Which is why, the first time I stepped into a Pizza Hut in Bangalore, I had great expectations. Needless to say, it was one of those shattered dreams.
The service wasn't up to it... neither was the food. As for the ambience, it was as inspiring as an empty roll of toilet paper. Even the crowds were a let down. Maybe it was just me... maybe I expected too much.Anyway, memories are memories and can seldom be replicated. Till the inspiration to give Pizza Hut another shot comes along, I will just stick to door delivery and the local Hummus and Falafel joint.
As for the Pizza that they make... its pretty decent. They do have some good promos from time to time. The Javed Jaffrey ads were cool. And door delivery is the best option :)Nothing more to write. I did digress on this review... but the good news is... I don't have lipstick on my arm any more.
Peace
~finis~
