South Indian restaurants in Bangalore can be amusing to the onlooker who actually takes the time to notices these signs. For most of us they’re blind spots.

“Kindly pay cash to cashier only.” Who else would you pay cash to?

Typically, most South Indian restaurants – the smaller ones – have a cash counter at the entrance. So you decide what you want to order and pay up in advance. What the restaurant owner doesn’t want you to do is pay the chap at the food counter by mistake. That’s when you might get what you want, but the owner doesn’t get the money.

Another sign I’ve seen at a restaurant – which I must shoot one of these days – is a sign near the wash basin, just under the mirror. It says,  “Please don’t comb your hair here.”

There’s possibly good reason why that sign’s out there. I have seen teenagers take a good 10 minutes getting their locks in place, while other people are patiently waiting to wash their hands, after a good masala dosa.

But how do you know where the wash basin is, if you’re new to the restaurant? Just look for the sign that says “HAND WASH”  with an arrow pointing you in the right direction.