Mysore, April 28: It Seems politics is interfering in what patrons can or cannot do inside a restaurant over their favourite cup of filter coffee or tea. A famous Chennai based restaurant- Adyar Ananda Bhavan, has ordered its Mysore branch of the restaurant, to advise it's customers against holding political discussions and real estate business transactions. This bizarre directive may be the restaurants' way of ensuring that customers do not turn their table into "a political roundtable conference" as its the season of political discourse considering the Karnataka Assembly Elections are a fortnight away.

But the reason this order looks rude and meaningless is that in India, restaurants, dining spots and other food corners such as tea stalls also known as Adda or tapri in Mumbai, have long served as places of debate and discourse often about politics and issues of the day. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used the idea as a hugely successful marketing tool called Chai Pe Charcha after he was declared the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party before 2014 General Elections.

Whatever be the restaurant's motive, it's hard to stop people from talking about politics especially before such an important state election. The other exciting mention on the  "dos and don't" list of the restaurant is real estate deals. The restaurant seems hell-bent on only allowing its own business to flourish and certainly wants to discourage anything to do with politics and real estate, the two fields that arouse passion and dialogue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 28, 2018 06:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).