You Can Get Anything You Want At Hitler's Restaurant

Imagine that you are going out for a nice sunday afternoon meal with your family at a fine restaurant, and to your horror a great portrait of Herr Hitler greets you as you enter the building. No this is not some crazy scene from a Mel Brooke's film, but reality. Yes a crazy Indian businessman has opened "The Hitler's Cross" restaurant in a Mumbai, India, (used to be called Bombay). This mad so called genius; Punit Shabalok actually said "we are not promoting Hitler", "we want to be different. This is one name that will stay in people's minds, we want to be different in the way he was different". So you want to be different like the little corporal, what a great marketing ploy. So you want to be a hateful homicidal ranting madman, with delusions of grandeur, what a way to run a restaurant. Hey wait a minute, read my blog about blind idiot gods, this guy maybe on to something. Another pearl of wisdom from the manager: Fatima Kabane: "" This place is not about wars or crimes, but where people come to relax and enjoy a meal". quite a disconnect there, fatima. Nothing says fine dining to me like the third Reich and memories of world war II, and the holocaust.

As I said before the inner decor is very striking indeed, not only is there the large picture of one of the greatest mass murders in history hanging on the wall. there is a tasteful motif of swastikas all over the walls, with a relaxing colour scheme of red, white and black, the official colors of the nazi party. The road leading to this house of mirth and relaxation is bordered with posters advertising the restaurant. One which proclaims"From small bites to mega Joy". That sounds like something from right from the nazi ministry of propaganda. These guys have all the bases covered.

I believe Mr Shabalok is crazy like a fox. I think he knows precisely what kind of response he will get by using such an infamous name, loads and loads of free publicity.. He knows that in India there is little chance of any major repercussions due to many factors. First there are only about 5,500 jews in all of india. Secondly historical awareness about the holocaust and the third Reich are not great in his country. To many of the average indians, Hitler is just another historical figure like Martim Luther King. This is not surprising, we in the west have a historical blind spot too, many people are ignorant of 20th century history, and we also have holocaust deniers in our mist. Also the swastika in india has a long ancient history. It is used in Buddhist art and is considered a good luck symbol in Hinduism. So he does not really have much to worry about from the general public or the government. I would be worried myself due to karma, I think he maybe pushing his luck cosmically. Also he may have to worry about an Israeli airstrike, you know they are not making jews like Jesus anymore, they do not turn their cheek, just ask hamas.

I was wondering what the menu would be like there, traditional german food, but I feel that this guy has a real marketing flair. So we may get entrees like swastika steak with a side of blitzkrieg potatoes, or U-Boat swordfish with deep fryed depth charges. You know something really punchy and memorable like that. Gee I wonder if they have a seperate kosher menu? The owner also said he is thinking of opening more franchises in the future. I know some great potential locations. I would open a whole lot in the middle east, I bet they would go over like the protocols of zion at an meeting of the Iran government. I would also open up some in south america to take advantage of the nazis in exile market. They are problaly a little homesick after being underground since the end of world war II, give them a little light in their twilight years. I wonder if Mel Gibson is going to buy a franchise, hey you never know stranger things have happened.

This fiasco reminds me of another what the hell were they thinking moment from hollywood. It happened in a very good film called "Out of Focus", It was a biopic about the actor Bob Krane, who had some very strange hobbies. While any ways his one claim to fame was he starred in a 60's sitcom called "Hogan"s Heroes". What was so unique about this show was it took place in a german prisoner of war camp during WW II. I believe it was the first and last time a comedy series took place in a POW camp. O the comic possibilities. While any ways according to the film I saw the producers of this series decided to have a press reception after the first season to prompt it more. This was standard practice in show business, the only problem was that all the wait staff were dressed in SS uniforms. The fact that US show business is made up of a lot of people of jewish decent, did not bode well for these producers. I do not know if there were any negative repercussions, but I imagine their junket went over like a lead zepplian. You just have to shake your head sometimes, and wonder how mankind has progresses so far. I think it is by sure dumb blind luck sometime.

I think this sorry episode shows one of the curses of mankind very well. That being that we collectively forget, as the events of the past get further and further away and as the people die off who lived throught these events they lose their significant, lessons and thier horrors in some cases. That's why I believe that history is an important and vital subject that most be taught to our young especially, so we do not forget the horrors and triumpths of the past, so we are not cursed to repeat them over and over again.