Give up, do you? Don't. Not if you're planning to eat at a joint in Dombivli or Kalyan. Eating out there is going to need skills in figuring out Marathi menu cards, which have been made compulsory by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation's (KDMC) public health committee. At a meeting on February 12, committee chief Sopanrao Nischal (Sena) told chairperson of Kalyan-Dombivli Hotel Owner's Association, Bhaskar Shetty: ``In accordance with our party's policy, you'll have to change to Marathi signboards and menu cards.''

When Shetty told him most hotels bore names in both Devanagri and the Roman script, Nischal specified thatmerely having names in Devanagri wouldn't do. ``They'll have to be in a language that those who don't know English can understand.''

After the meeting, Nischal told Express Newsline: ``Why should we not make it mandatory for everyone to know Marathi?'' He brushed off suggestions that even Maharashtrians would find it difficult to understand the language in its pure form. ``Don't you think I am doing a good thing? It will teach them to quit acting like Britishers and return to their original maiboli and traditions,'' he noted.

Shetty wondered what language had to do with citizens' the health, ``the KDMC health department makes all kinds of rules which we have to comply with.''

Civic commissioner G T Bandri said it was impossible to stop renewal of food licences just because hotels, bars and restaurants didn't have Marathi menu-cards. ``I will discuss the issue with Nischal and the food committee members and point out the impracticality of the suggestions,'' he said, adding, ``I'm sure theywill see the futility of the exercise.''

Hoteliers, who said they ``know the Sena and its ways'' are not convinced that the party will relent. ``Officially or unofficially, the Sena will get us to fall in line,'' said a hotel owner on condition of anonymity.

Khadyapadarthanchi dar suchi a.k.a. Menu