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Canteens can sometimes prove to be much more than just a place where one goes to eat. Especially in colleges and institutes of education, this place is an open arena for debate, budding of new love stories, cracking jokes, discussing the new ‘talk of the town’, in-between as gap fillers. It is the force of double 'f' that drives one to the canteen as often as one can. Food and friends- both initiate with the letter 'f' and canteen always seems to be the union zone for the two. College canteens build up an ambience of rendezvous, where one can forget all the hassles of one’s mundane living.

Such is the canteen of SSCBS. You get a mix of everything! Starting from the morning ‘chai’ at nine till the evening tea at four, the college canteen is buzzing with rich conversations amidst delicious food. In-between lectures, from lunch to evening, one can enjoy snacks, chips, and soft drinks to begin with and then it can be sizzlers, potato fingers, fish rolls, samosa, bread-pakora, chole-bhature, with countless cups of tea and coffee. The canteen serves both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, including yummy rajma-rice, soya champ, delicious dosa, idli-sambhar and chicken curry. The canteen is also famous for its paneer, veg, and non-veg rolls. Sharing & Caring tends to play an important part in friendships. Funds for food come through sharing. It’s generally a collective fund raised for tea and snacks where each one has a weekly or monthly contribution. Canteen is that one place where one can let go off all the frustrations because it's a land of charm, rejoice and is always in motion. The drabbest may sound the brightest in its premises. One can see laughter, joy, chasing, teasing, tears, all under one roof.

Being off-campus, CBSites may miss out on the ‘campus fun’, but the hangout spots seem to nullify the effect to some extent. Apart from the college canteen, other hangouts include a Chinese stall named ‘Mathela’ which is an all time favourite amongst the students. Undoubtedly, it serves great food which is also easy on the pocket. Other spots are Cross River Mall, which in turn has various joints like Haldiram and CCD. Another hangout is ‘SP’, which again is popular for its various types of maggi such as Cheese Maggi, Masala Maggi as well as for its Coffee, Lemonade etc. One can find at least one CBS-group here at any time of the day. One may not realize but college canteens and nearby hangouts can really make and shape your college life. Thoughts are raised and you too are provoked to think about them. In a nutshell, your college canteen is much more than a simple hangout spot which can add different flavours to your life.

 
A college canteen serves more functions than just providing food. Any college student must by now know that it is the most obvious place to laze around if a class is bunked. Students in the north and south campuses are luckier still as they have more options. But off-campus colleges, like DCAC, where you have to take an auto to reach a decent place to hang out, and canteens are life-cum-boredom saver. 
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Managed by Mrs.  & Mr. Nagpal, the college canteen of DCAC is spacious, airy and well-lit. Adjacent to the ground, students prefer to ‘take-away’ eatable to an even more comfortable zone (read classrooms). Though it cannot compete with Campus colleges’ in terms of variety and price, it sure doesn’t disappoint. The affordable rates have actually helped source lunches for many students who live nearby. Famous throughout the campus for its graffiti, there are options galore whether you want a quick-bite, a proper meal or quench your thirst. Almost all brands of soft-drinks and chocolates are readily available over the counter and they always stay in demand. The Ever-smiling, Mrs. Nagpal (the ‘universal aunty’) calmly operates the billing and finances whereas ‘uncle’ ensures timely service. Aunty knows the name of almost every regular student and never fails to strike a conversation if time permits. Uncle is a bit sterner and you’ll never find him at rest for a moment. Even though the canteen can accommodate the thin rush in between the lectures, the situation spirals out of control in the recess. Those 20-25 minutes are the most stressful for the service staff as the orders keep piling up.  Frequently, new items are added & their sales tested. Recently, Bread-pakoras and Thalis were given a shot, but have been missing in the new semester.

However, the local 'Maggie-point' comes to the rescue by providing tea-coffee-samaosa-maggie-momos-sandwiches24*7. Keeping in mind the chilly winters, the Maggi-wala too updated his 'menu' & added items like chilly potato, spring rolls etc. Still the fact that one has to walk to it & stand in the open proves a dampener. Loyalists stick to the canteen.

Even though the canteen is probably the most frequently visited place in the whole college premises, a majority of students feel that there is a major room for development. Vaibhav, the president of Clicks, the photography society says that (relatively) the prices are higher than other colleges and the portions smaller. He adds that cleanliness and hygiene standards are not up to the mark & the utensils and cutlery are often not properly washed. A lot others believe that the long time taken to deliver the order and the chaos that follows can be avoided if the man-force is increased at the counter. A student of 1st year says that dogs and puppies cuddle and sit under the tables and are on a constant lookout for left-overs.  Another point of discontentment was that the tables are fixed to the ground & are immovable unlike the chairs. Hence, re-arrangement of seats is not possible and the larger groups have to split up. Nonetheless, every student whenever free turns up to the canteen and if eat nothing, just chat away. In a nutshell, Mr. Prem Ji Nagpal does a great and efficient job but with a little more effort and management can change the face of DCAC canteen.

 
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Sri venkateswara college (DU) is situated at Dhaula Kuan New Delhi opposite to the satya niketan market and is one of the most prestigious college in DU, usually known for its amazing faculty and excellent academic standards .It is said that Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body , so students need to use the canteen to recharge their batteries and therefore the canteen of a college plays a very important role  in the college though people often underestimate its importance.

If you go to Sri Venkateswara’s college canteen your first impression is quite impressive .You need not worry about getting a seat as there is abundant space which makes you quite relaxed and you can enjoy your dish .If you wish to sit outside, the view is quite relaxing and if you decide to sit inside, the tables and chairs are quite clean and up to a restaurant standard but the counter belongs to the stone age as you need to exchange money for money coupons which gives a bad impression as we are living in the twenty first century (where is  the cash register??????????) and you can view the kitchen which seems to be a makeshift kitchen which quite kills your appetite but the service is good as compared to other colleges .There is no door to the kitchen which tells the customer to remain off-limits so if you want to take a closer view as a health inspector there is absolutely no obstacle for you in your way.

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There is a lot of variety available but the standout dishes are masala dosa, chowmein .Other dishes which are available are samosas etc which are not up to the mark .The biggest let down is that there are no momos (can you believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!) The beverages doesn’t include a variety as they will only have mountain dew or fanta which quite limits your options and I think the refrigerator is a show off piece as the beverages are always at room temperature and not chilled as expected .The usual coffee is always available to get your mind working if you have a hangover from a previous nightout. The menu seems to be of a typical south Indian restaurant which has decided to include some other dishes like noodles etc

SIGNATURE DISH – MASALA DOSA

Visually the masala dosa at Sri Venkateswara college canteen is small in size as compared to the dosa served in other DU colleges but once you start to eat, it shows that power does come in small size. The masala dosa is full of flavors and doesn’t lack anything as compared to a traditional dosa .The sambar has a good consistency and the some healthy vegetables can be found in the sambar which is good news for the healthy eaters .The coconut chutney is in a class of its own as it has just about the right flavor and its not to liquid as it is the case in many canteens of other colleges but the canteen has a problem in turning out a good dosa every time you place a order for it .So if you are lucky you may get an amazing dosa otherwise you may get a dosa which lacks flavor and there is no conviction in it. But if you do the probability you have a good chance of getting a good standard dosa.The price is only Rs20 which according to me makes it a bargain especially when everyone is complaining about inflation. 

OTHER DISHES

To my absolute amazement the chowmein is quite good, both visually and in flavors .It looks quite appetizing and you may want to indulge for another plate and the biggest plus point is that if you are very health conscience then it’s a perfect dish as it is not oily and greasy .It also has vegetables like capsicum which makes it a delight among the healthy eaters. I couldn’t find any fault in it but still lacks a factor which makes it a must eat every time.

OVERALL

If you are passing by Sri Venkateswara College my advice is to go to its canteen and check out the masala dosa and hope you are lucky enough to get a good standard dosa and the chowmein is a must have And my advice is that if you want chilled beverages please get them from outside the college .But its still a good experience to eat at Sri Venkateswara’s canteen .So the fresher’s and the students now know what to check out from Sri Venkateswara’s canteen.