Kozhikode: Plastic sheets are wrapped partly over the signboard of the Karachi Durbar Hotel here fearing attack apparently by right-wing elements amid the Indo-Pak tension. The board in English now reads CALICUT ‘RACHI DURBAR HOTEL.’
The part-concealment was done on Friday even as a few outlets bearing the same prefix had to be covered elsewhere in the country in the last few days as both the neighbouring countries engaged in a skirmish.
The decision was taken following the suggestions made by some of the regular customers to the Pottammal branch of the Karachi Durbar Hotel, said owner Jamshi Udayas who runs, along with his brothers, two restaurants of the same name in Kozhikode city in Kerala.
Another branch is at Kozhikode Beach.
Udayas said that when the customers made the suggestion of covering up the name, ‘Karachi,’ he had not taken it seriously. However, after three days, the same people repeated the demand. He said there were no threats to the hotel at present but the decision was taken following the prevailing tension. Thus plastic sheets rose in front of the board on Friday night.
There were attacks and threats against the Karachi Bakeries in Hyderabad and Bangalore in the background of the tension prevailing on the Indo-Pak border at present.
Udayas struck upon the idea of opening a restaurant in Kozhikode with the Karachi name as he was impressed by the taste of food served at the famous Karachi Durbar Hotel chain in Dubai. He is using the same masala mixture used there at his Kozhikode outlets.
He added that various organisations in the locality had made it clear that the opposition to the name was raised only by a few individuals there.
Udayas had been a photographer earlier.
