Staff at Sastha Catering who manage the canteen at The Music Academy went into a tizzy when guests and artistes at the opening evening of the Academy’s December Season festival spilled out  of the auditorium to snack or have a cup of hot coffee. Day One is always chaotic at sabha canteens!

Guests were asked to sit at tables and order: the previous pattern of buying tokens for the food you wanted and getting it served at the table was dropped this time.

This caused some confusion. “Token aa table service aa?”, people kept asking.

The queue at the coffee counter was long and the milk ran out fast.

The newbies recruited for the service took time to assess the calls, requests and deliveries at the tables.

Prices of snacks are not over the top.

But the noontime special elai sappadu (new menu every day) costs quite a bit – most canteens cater to people who head here from all parts of the city for the special sappadu, not for the concerts; they are willing to pay Rs.400/Rs.500 for the sappadu.