I walked into a restaurant craving for a decent North Indian meal.
The scene was not very welcoming. There was an assembly of loud people. My entry went unnoticed.
However, I was focused on the roti and sabzi. So I took a seat and gave it a wait. Gradually, the cause of the commotion became clear. The 4 guys speaking in Kannada were officials from BBMP and maybe some other State department. And the others, speaking in Hindi, English and spurts of learnt Kannada, were representing the restaurant.
Post inspection of the restaurant, the green brigade had found carry bags (used for food delivery) made of a banned substance. They were demanding a fine of Rs 25K. The proprietor (a multi-lingual woman in her early 30s) of the restaurant seemed least flustered and assertively refused to pay up. The officials kept reiterating the need to cough up 25K as fine and the restaurant lady kept refusing. She claimed that she had purchased those bags as the vendor had labeled them as cloth bags.
In a brusque manner, she brushed aside their threats of non-renewal of licence etc. Time and again, she made it very clear to them that there was no way they could make her pay 25,000.
Then, she changed her tone a bit, and offered a deal. She was now willing to pay an amount, but definitely not 25k. After few more minutes of no-nos and head-shakes, the officials agreed to a sum of 10k. And the restaurant lady brought it further down to 7k.
She also threw in free lunch as offer. The 4 officials graciously declined the food, and gulped down the 7k.
Before leaving, they suddenly realized that the youngest of the officials (in his early 20s) needed to have his lunch on time and left him behind at the restaurant. Instead of a share from the heist, they decided to placate the novice with a plate of biriyani.
I got my long-awaited roti sabzi and he his ill-gotten biriyani!