Value for money

Location: Barrista
Masala tea @ 35 rupees
Salient features

• Lack of customization - They give you the tea bag, the water and the sugar. So, in effect you prepare the tea for yourself.
• Lack of perks - There are no supplements, an innocous bite of chicken tikka would cost you another 50 bucks
• Lack of personalized service - I go there 20 times in a week and the guy doesn't even rememember my name
• No entertainment - If you manage to sit there for 2 hours, you would be lucky to see 12 grand mummies and 5 aunties
• Quantity - One should admit, they gave you a lot of hot water
• Chairs and sitting time - They don't mind even if you sit for hours together and the chairs are also pretty good.

Location: Nair tea stall on the roadside
Masala tea @ 3.5 rupees
Salient features

• Customization - He gives you four varieties - nair special, milk, ginger and the "royal" masala tea prepared and served readymade to you
• Perks - You buy a cup of tea and you get a marginal discount on the butter biscuit
• Personalized service - I spent 10 minutes there and now he knows what my dad likes for dinner! every time I go that way, he waves at me such vigour
• Entertainment - the shop is strategically placed in the junction where 4 roads meet. So, at about 4 in the evening, what do you know it is a treat for your taste buds AND your eyes
• Yeah ... quantity could be better. but for 3.5 rupees, you wouldn't expect a porcelain soup bowl, wouldja!
• Chairs and sitting time - I am sure he wouldn't mind if I sit with him for an entire day. But I admit, that's not a very strong argument because one, there's no chair to sit; two, there's no place to keep a chair; and three, if I indeed keep a chair in front of his shop I will be in the middle of a road.

Sukumaran nair's masala tea wins 4 to 2 (those 2 being close decisions)!! And I pay one tenth of the price for it. Value for money was just lofted for a huge six and fell outside the stadium of reason.

An extension to the blog, as a tribute to my favorite director.

Me: There's also a tea shop on the other side of the road that serves tea for 2 rupees. But I don't drink there coz it's filthy.
VV: The tea tastes good. The tea smells good. You should try it.
Me: I told you - it's filthy. They serve tea in a paper cups and anything that's thrown after being used just once is filthy.
VV: So, going by what you say do you consider a condom filthy?
ME: I aint drink my tea in no (expletive deleted) condom. However, I wouldn't go so far as calling a condom filthy. A condom saves lives, A condom's got personality.
VV: So, by your definition, if a paper cup saves lives, it ceases to be filthy.
ME: Then you should be talking about one damn good (expletive deleted) paper cup!