Apropos of nothing...
September 29, 2006
…
We were discussing the custom of putting initials on steel vessels before givng them as gifts to a daughter, and I was reminded of a “hotel” (eatery) in Chengalpattu which had the tumblers and damaras all marked, “Shanmuga Vilasil irunthu thirudiyathu” ( “Stolen from Shanmuga Vilas”)….Someone obviously thought they had come up with a surefire plan to make their glasses pilfer-proof! It was my theory that the properietor, after having stolen all the glasses en masse from the actual Shanmuga Vilas, started another eatery under the same name elsewhere… I must say, I was very tempted to take one and keep it as a souvenir!