Sickle and coconuts in hand, Palani goes five-star

By Venkatachari Jagannathan, Chennai, July 5: People who walk into Paprika restaurant at the five-star Courtyard Marriott here are surprised to see bang at the entrance a cart loaded with tender coconuts - the kind one sees on Indian streets. Cart man R. Palani is smartly turned out though in chef's attire and shoes.

Foreigners who dine there are fascinated by the way Palani holds a huge nut in one hand and slices the unwanted portions fast with an aruval, or sharp sickle.

He otherwise toils for eight hours under a hot sun wearing a lungi and shirt to sell 150 nuts daily on the pavement near the towering hotel. So the coated and booted stint in an airconditioned environment while serving well heeled guests has turned out to be a pleasant experience.

"On the roads one has to brave local rowdies and the police. I am poorer by nearly Rs.150 (the cost of 10 coconuts) by paying off rowdies. But here I don't have to part with my earnings for anybody," Palani told IANS.

After selling tender coconuts on the street for nearly 20 years, his two-week-old stint at the restaurant has been a welcome change.

Under the deal with Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Palani has to bring around 200 tender coconuts every Sunday. "Instead of offering just the chilled version, we thought of offering freshly cut tender coconut water as sold on Indian streets," Prakash Jayadevan, director of food and beverages at the hotel, told IANS.

According to Jayadevan, guests prefer the freshly cut tender coconut water from the cart along with their meal.

Overawed by the hotel building, Palani, who has studied up to Class 8, was initially hesitant to take up the assignment. Tense on the first day, he even said he wouldn't come again, said Jayadevan. But he did.

"We pay him Rs.13 per nut and buy the balance unserved stock of nuts. We do not charge our guests as it forms part of the brunch offering. The other two important conditions are that he has to shave his beard clean and trim his moustache," added Jayadevan.

Given the advantages - an assured sale of 200 nuts inside an airconditioned restaurant, serving guests who are courteous, photo sessions with foreigners and not having to share his earnings with anybody else - Palani eventually turned up the next Sunday too.

"The nuts I sell are from Puducherry. I also source from Pollachi near Coimbatore. After the hotel assignment I carefully select the nuts delivered by the lorry man," Palani said.

Initially constrained by the counter space, Palani soon adjusted to the situation by controlling his slicing speed so that the pieces only fell on the cart and not on other food counters.

"Slicing the nut with a sickle needs special skill. We decided to have a live counter," Jayadevan said. "This is our second attempt to offer a local flavour to our guests."

Courtyard Marriott had turned innovative earlier by having the ubiquitous Nair tea stall - a roadside feature of Tamil Nadu - at Paprika. The idea was a big hit with guests staying at the hotel and those who came to the restaurant and made a splash in the media.

This time around Paprika officials decided to have a real roadside tender coconut vendor to man the cart besides giving the counters a traditional look.

Comparing his stint at a five-star hotel with that on the pavement, he said: "Here people are courteous. I also greet them and thank the guests. The roadside customers are of a different breed and I have to respond accordingly!"

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)