Check out the door to the men's loo at the Trivandrum Airport which is supposed to be the Gateway to God's Own Country (at least according to Wikipedia)...I was not too sure about clicking the pic of the "Madama" on the door of the women's loo though!

• You work in Technopark and you eat at one of the several food joints in the campus every now and then, if not every other day.
• You pay more for a grilled chicken here than you would pay for, at the Forum Mall in Bangalore.
• You are told it is international cuisine but you get chapattis for Mexican Tortillas.
• You pay nearly 100 bucks for a Biriyani that has a Chicken Neck very well disguised as a Chicken Thigh, you still eat it because you do not have many a choice.
  All good. No complaints.
  What about basic hygiene?
  Coming from where most of us come from, the least we expect is HYGIENE. Hygiene as in food cooked in hygienic conditions. Hygiene as in plates washed in hygienic conditions.
  
  Believe me, this is nothing new. I mean the over-priced food or the un-hygienic conditions.
  Every now and then, you see photos and emails complaining about worms, roaches, stapler clips and the like.
  And you find concerned replies from 'even-more-concerned' administrators. Nothing changes though.
  A few months back, we had sent an official mail from work complaining about the wash area. They said we will look into it and they did. It is back to square one though.
  Having been to several food courts across the country, this surely gets the prize for the best-defended food court.
  Several of us workmates eat there at least once a week, I mean we are forced to. So is everyone else.
  We do have options out on the road but nobody is gonna remove their cars from the limited parking space available in the campus and come back to find nowhere to park.
  
  So, we all end up eating there. Not everything is so bad. I would still eat at Domino's for the brand but not for the cheese of course. I would still have eaten at Cafe Mojo for the good food they served.
  What happens behind the curtains is never talked about. But and finally, once again, someone has dared to expose it. Yes, you need to be daring to expose such things in this part of the world! Well, that is another story, for later!

Read this:http://keralaitnews.com/it-parks/technopark/3277-technopark-trivandrum-food-audit-health-hazard 


Technopark Techies face health hazard, 18 out of 19 food joints fail audit

THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2011 10:21 KERALA IT NEWS

Tvm: Working in Technopark Trivandrum? It’s ok as long as you are not eating anything from the various restaurants, food joints and the outlets of leading food chains there. Food from 18 out of 19 outlets / restaurants / food joints in the Technopark campus, which was audited by a leading IT company there, failed to achieve the minimum standards set for safe consumption. There are 21 such places in the campus and while one is closed for renovation, the outlet of a leading pizza chain refused to let their premises to be inspected.

Concerned with the health of its employees, the company, which is one of the largest employers in Technopark, recently audited these outlets / restaurants / food joints keeping a set of well defined parameters. The team will be submitting a copy of the report to Technopark authorities. The sorry state of affairs of these places is a reflection of the innumerable complaints about the quality of food being served; leave apart the pricing, which is another bone of contention.

Some of the key findings of the report are:
1. Excessive use of artificial colouring / flavouring agents in most food joints. There are specific references to Rangoli, which runs three restaurants (Bhawani, Nila & near Park Centre)
2. Use of milk after expiry date in milk shakes / desserts, with specific reference to Passion Fruit which has two outlets (Nila & Thejaswani)
3. Cockroaches / insects in raw food packets, specifically noodle packets in restaurants serving Chinese food
4. Serving plates are not washed properly, serious issue at Thejaswani Food Court as it has centralised washing system and a common washing area
5. Cleanliness inside kitchen of most outlets is an issue, no or minimum usage of disinfectants
6. Repeated usage of heated oil for frying
7. Use of food items after the ‘Best Before’ dates

The audit report comes at a time when Vital Links, the company which runs the food court at Thejaswani has been issued a Termination Notice of its contact by Technopark and new contracts to run the outlets at Bhawani are being finalised or issued. The opening of the food court in Thejaswani in 2008 gave some relief to the techies but it was short lived as several outlets like Mothers Kitchen, Paapa Pancho & the Chinese food joint shut shop following allegations of mismanagement and poor quality food.

The report is not surprising looking at the comments and discussions going on in websites like My Technopark and Technopark Today. The quality and pricing of food has been a major issue for the last several years. Going by the comments, Rangoli seems have mastered the art of serving cooked worms and roasted cockroaches on a regular basis to the techies. There are also reports of techies getting rotten (stale) chicken from Chick King; stapler pin in elayappam from Rangoli; ice cold masala dosa and uppuma which taste like fevicol from Spice Malabar.

The very fact that Dominos refused permission for audit shows that they have got something to hide and feared being exposed. While smoking is banned inside the campus, there is open sale of cigarettes in Food Court (Thejaswani). Food items in Technopark are exorbitantly priced. Most places do not give back the change especially if paid by food coupons. The techies also have to face humiliation and arrogant behaviour from the people who manage these places.

Note: We contacted the Technopark CEO regarding this report. We are waiting for his response and will update the story as we get the same. We hope this audit report will be an eye opener as there are about 30,000 employees in the campus. We also hope that there will be serious action against the offenders.

Anil Philip
Kerala IT News

The report published in a website says that 18 out of 19 hotels in Technopark have failed the audit. Use of artificial ingredients and unhygienic surroundings are some of the issues that have reportedly come up in the audit.
However, CEO of Technopark Mervin Alexander said that the audit was part of a routine check.  “Every year, the authorities carry out such audits. This time, it was done by Infosys. But no serious issues were raised in the audit report. People are circulating false reports on the working of food outlets in Technopark,” he said.
“Only a case of using food after the expiry of ‘best before’ date was mentioned in the report. We will serve notices on such food outlets,” Mervin said.

But the Internet is already abuzz with techies’ protests. “I had a bad experience with Mother’s Kitchen as the food that was served to me (curry) had worms in it. I returned the food and collected my money back,” Ram, working in Technopark, commented.

Another techie Venkitesh wrote, “It’s high time that we techies in Technopark show our unity. No one should have food from any of the hotels for at least one week or two. Only then would these people learn.”

The Technopark-based websites have published some photos which show the pathetic condition of the food on the campus. The photos feature food containing worms, plastics etc.

Back in 2008, a special squad of the City Corporation had raided hotels and canteens on the Technopark campus and seized a large quantity of stale food. Stocks of reused oil were also found. The squad had served notices on these hotels. According to a techie, the Technopark authorities have, however, not taken any action against these hotels.

Again, pricing is another issue that is troubling the techies. The high price and poor quality of food are forcing the techies to opt for hotels outside the Technopark campus.

The New Indian Express yesterday, published an article, which pretty much exposes how your average politician says No to something when they have to and Yes to the same thing later on and vice versa.

http://expressbuzz.com/topic/endosulfan-tormentor-now-in-saviour’s-clothing/269553.html

Endosulfan: Tormentor now in saviour’s clothing

Kalathil Ramakrishnan First Published : 28 Apr 2011 02:02:59 AM IST Last Updated : 28 Apr 2011 09:55:03 AM IST

KASARGOD: It's an irony of sorts. The LDF and the CPM, now pushing for a ban on endosulfan with agitations, a hunger stir and a hartal, had over 11 years back crushed with brute force a stir against the use of the pesticide in the farflung villages of the district. The state was then ruled by the LDF with E K Nayanar as the Chief Minister.

On December 22, 1999, CPM men attacked a group of youngsters in Bovikkanam who were taking out a peaceful march to the office of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in protest against the aerial spraying of endosulfan. They beat up the youths telling them that if endosulfan was not sprayed on the PCK plantations, cashew crops would dry up and, consequently, the workers, most of whom belong to the CITU, would be thrown out of jobs. The incident had hogged media headlines then.
.....
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Source: The New Indian Express dated 28-April-2011 Trivandrum Edition

Our student unions will go on strike too if the school-kids they supposedly protect are not allowed aerobridge-like access to their school buses ...

You and I have been doing the "GO SLOW" for years now! Ideally, these boards should be made permanent structures with a garden around them ... The good news though is that a concerned minister has randomly announced that all roads in the state will be tarred within a short period ... wish the efforts are here to stay ...

Update: The Roads are NOT here to stay! Ok! Tell us something new, ha?

READ MORE

I thought they would stop comin' by, But I see this blog still has curious visitors from Bangalore, Brisbane, Dublin, Balaramapuram, Kumarapuram, Nedumangad etc. Considering that some of these places still do not have proper Internet connectivity and they still keep comin' back, I must not disappoint!