I was just observing the previous day in our mess, the way people from different parts of our country eating idlis. The inference can be generalized as follows:

1. The South Indian way: Squeeze the idli using the full hand, so that it mixes well with the sambhar/chutney and a thick paste is formed. What you get is the delicious idly- sambhar! Eat as much as you can, stop when you feel u cannot swallow anymore.

2. The North Indian Way: Hold the idli with your right hand, and break a piece out from it using left hand, dip it in the catouri of sambhar and eat it. After eating each piece, lick your fingers so that even the traces of idli is removed.

3. A Hybrid Way (These are followed by a third group, that cannot be regionalized.): After cutting the idli using both hands like the North Indian way/ using one hand, dip it in the sambhar using a spoon/ hand and eat it.

4. The modern way (?): Who cares about the taste, it is the table manners that matter! so eat it with spoon even if the idli is not soaked well in sambhar and the blandness remains.

The efficiency of these four methods are highly subjective and varies from the tastes of a person. If you ask my choice, I will go with the first one 🙂

A small Addendum: In one of the hostels, they recovered the dead body of a frog, who was missing for a week from its house in the mess kitchen, from the biriyani they served.
Ha.. I said to my friend.” Wow that is great. You know frog is considered to be a very tasty cuisine, and you know what?U wont get bird flu, and u are getting meat without paying anything extra for it! ”
He has vowed to kill me the next time I happen to be anywhere near his sight. Hmmm…

The best part of the frog storty is, the mess manager offered bribe of a free icecream for not leaking the story. Well… we are in college saar…