Fine dining turning sour

I was in Palakkad last Saturday, spending the weekend with my sister, uncle, aunt and cousin bro. Terms like dining out, window shopping, ambulating through a mall, even mall are alien words in this town, which is still stuck sometime between the day we got independence and the next millennium. At least that is what I thought after having been a part of Palakkad for 25 years.

I got my first jolt when we decided to go out for dinner and was taken to the brand new mall in the city. It was quite big and I was surprised I should say. Further to the same, we went straight to the Food Court and found the place filled with diners. I was half expecting to see the place deserted as it was Palakkad, the place where I grew up and I swear I have not seen even a fine dining restaurant half filled.

So I was sitting with my family and enjoying the dinner, and we had about 3sear left in the table. A family walked into the diner, looked around for seats, and in a rather nonchalant manner ambulated towards us and sat on our table. I should say I was flabbergasted, having been used to the privacy while dining in Bangalore, and having been spoilt by the way I lived life, now I was in an unchartered territory.

I did not know whether I should tell the family that they were encroaching our dinner time without being rude or should I hide myself being the table. I finally decided that t would be best to act as if we were still alone, and be happy at the fact that people in my hometown are at-least open to dining out these days.

Rgds
Rahul