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JNU foodies hail the reopening of canteens on campus!
Canteens have recently restarted functioning in the phased reopening of JNU campus, and students are flocking their favourite food joints after almost a year.
Known for its big beautiful campus, Jawaharlal Nehru University’s vibrant ideological debates are often carried out at the many hip canteens and dhabas that it has within the campus. And students who identify themselves as the foodies of JNU, can’t keep calm since these eating joints have recently reopened!
“The canteens are the spring of JNU, without them JNU doesn’t have a season and looks desolated. A few canteens on campus have become functional and students are visiting them like the canteens at School Of International Studies one and two (SIS-I, SIS-II), the library canteen, Godavari and Aravali. Babu Bhaiya in SIS-I is my favourite person! His laddoos keep my anger in check, and prevents me from getting hangry,” jokes Peerzada Haroon, an MPhil student of JNU, who recently visited the campus to check out the reopened canteens.
Talking about how buzzy the food scene was on #Day1, Haroon adds, “I went to Aravali, a lot students were there. I went to library canteen and a lot students were there, too. Godavari again seemed full of chitter chatter. SIS-I and SIS-II are struggling to attract people perhaps because laddoos are yet to be made!”
Every foodie has his own favourite food joint, and so is the case with the JNU students. “I miss the food of Mughal Darbaar Dhaba because it’s the only place on campus that offers good non-veg! It has been almost a year now that it’s not functional and I hope the administration reopens it soon,” says Bhanu, a PhD student at JNU, adding, “There was a notification last week that said that the other canteens will reopen in a phased manner, and will restart functioning soon, but no word on the Mughal Darbaar. I don’t know why they specifically left that one... The food inside campus is relatively cheaper as compared to the food outside the campus, and that’s why it’s great to have the canteens reopen finally.”
It doesn’t come as a surprise that even a die hard foodie is sure to check how the sanitisation facilities have been put in place, since the pandemic had forced the campus and the canteen to remain shut for a long time. “I visited the library canteen today after many months; it felt nice to be back on campus although it was a bit odd to not be around all my friends. The canteens were sanitised. Everyone was wearing a mask. There were sanitiser bottles kept in the campus, and the food was tasty and clean as always,” says Arshid Hussain, an MPhil student at the university.
What’s certainly back is the bonding over chai samosa! “I ate kadhi pakora, the dish that is much loved in the mess by students. Visiting the campus after a long time also gave me a chance to catch up with my campus friends who are living outside the campus for now and we flocked to Choudhary Ji to enjoy chai samosa, and talk about old times,” says Priya Kumari, an MPhil student, adding, “Stepping back into the JNU Campus after one year is giving me a sense of getting back to studies or work. Opening up of mess and canteens has also sorted my daily routine as now I don’t have to worry about cooking food and staying in an accommodation outside, which used to consume lot of time and energy.”
Author tweets @FizzyBuddha
