Tiny owl brows, order and enjoy.

"Knowledge is Wisdom, being knowledge less is insane and Half Knowledge is Brutality.”

Well you may be thinking that I must be falling in the second category and I am literally insane writing anything here. No I am not. The above saying goes well with me and I actually fall in the Half Knowledge category. To prove my category I would like to narrate an incident that I went through while I was in the collage. A food fix I got myself into years ago.

It was 2010 most probably and I was an economics honors student then. I am a foodie person and I love to eat although I am not a non vegetarian.  It all started at my PG where my roomies asked for a treat for scoring very good grades in the exams. The grades I had were extraordinary and a treat to celebrate it was not a big deal at all. I agreed to the requests for the treat without any hesitation and we planned for a dinner that evening. I had heard of a restaurant from my friends that they offered best food in the town and were well known for their dishes. I was not very sure what were they serving but thought that we may find something or the other on the menu to fill up our belly with and decided to visit the restaurant for the treat.

The restaurant was a bit in the outskirt and I was unknown to this fact too although I heard my friends saying that it takes around an hour to reach the place from the center of the city. I was so sure and confidant about the restaurant as if I had been their several times. I trusted my instinct and was just playing along.      

I arranged for a ride and we five of the roomies were ready to rock the evening. The avenue was a surprise for my friends and fortunately they all were pure vegetarians like me and this fortune of ours was going to turn up side down very soon and we were not aware of it at all. We left for the restaurant around 7 in the evening and it took us almost 45 minutes to reach the destination. The first look of the restaurant did not look too promising to me but I kept reminding myself that we should not judge the book by its cover always and it was my idea to throw a lavish treat to my friends here. The expressions of their face were so loud and clear and their “what the heck” looks constantly resonated in my head. Well pushing every thought aside we went into the restaurant. The first view of the interior of the restaurant was so pleasing and it said all you can eat buffet ₹350 per person including the taxes. I was not sure about my friends but I was too exited because like I said I was a foodie person and a buffet means you can eat several dishes without paying for each of them separately. I did ask for an a la carte menu but the waiter said that all they were serving was the buffet today. My friends didn't find it an issue and I was comfortable with it too.

I paid ₹1750 for five of us and took the token and we together moved toward the buffet. We planned to start with the soup and there were two of them. The problem was that non of them were leveled and it was tough to find out which soup it was. I was about to taste the soup and suddenly I thought what if it was a non veg soup? I asked my friends and to my surprise one of them was having the soup. I went to a server standing in the corner of the room and asked him about the soup. His answer was like a molten lead in my ears. He told me that the lavish buffet that we paid for was a complete non veg buffet offering 2 non veg soups, 3 non veg and a veg starter, 5 non veg main course and rasogulla as dessert. I was startled and was guilty three of my friends were enjoying the soup and were appreciating the chefs effort to create such a marvelous delicacy. I was clueless and speechless what to say and how to break the ice. I took a deep breath, gathered all my courage and walked back to my friends. The one who was still confused where to start from asked me that where I was. I made an excuse of the washroom and asked my friends that how was the soup they were eating. They exaggerated about the taste and the blending and the consistency and I suddenly burst into a laughter. I wasn't my fault but the way they explained the soup was something I couldn't resist. I broke the ice and said out loud that they were eating a chicken hot and sour soup and they were clueless. One among them ran to the washroom and the other  two were giving me a kick you look but It wasn't my fault entirely. I said them sorry and asked them to move on with their dinner but non of us were in a mood of eating anymore. We left the place and went to a tea stall we had tea and Maggie with few bread sticks. I said them sorry again and promised a treat any where they wanted. I asked my fried that didn't they find if different having a non veg soup? They were in jolly mood now and told me that the soup felt a bit different in the mouth but it was good and later I found out that the friend who ran to the bathroom had two Manchurian balls too with the soup thinking it was a veg item. I never told her that she ate chicken Manchurian instead of veg.

It was a hell of an evening but I learned that half knowledge about anything is brutal and can harm you or others too. I wasted more than 2000 rupees that day just because I was not having proper knowledge about it.

I was a victim then but today we have some very good applications available on the Google play store that helps you and never lets you witness such a day in life and the best among the lot is Tiny Owl which has been designed to help people know about every food lounge and outlet in the town. One can get any information about any food serving outlet and the best part one can directly order food from the application. This application is available for android and iOS as well.