Roadside eateries a new fad

Roadside eating points are now get-together hubs for youngsters and couples to relax and spend quality time together. While the affluent have elite clubs and restaurants to visit to sip on their favourite brands, roadside eating points have middle class visitors who come to have coffee or soft drinks or have their favorites such as noodles, hot chat, roti or hot snacks.

As the orders are placed, these eating points turn into platforms to discuss and exchange views on developments of the day on subjects ranging from politics, films, sports or crimes.

As the evening dawns, Guntur witnesses a host of makeshift eating points that appear and disappear in hours. Most of these eateries are pushcarts, mobile outlets and canvas makeshift arrangements. They bring chairs, have temporary lighting arrangements and within no time illuminate the area. It is like a circus company that appears and soon disappears.

These eating points provide a platform for youth to talk, exchange ideas and enjoy the evening. These joints are like stars that dot the city junctions, lanes and by-lanes and street-ends and give the evening an air of haste.

Prashanti, a college girl who regularly visits an eating point at Navabharatnagar, says, “We can hang out here and move away from the mundane life after spending a busy day in college and tuitions, etc.

Kamal, a software engineer, says that eateries are places where he can relax with his friends.

As English poet WH Davies rightly pointed out in his poem, "What is life if, full of care / We have no time to stand and stare?” And in this era when people hardly have anytime, eateries are proving as a panacea.