Dining etiquette workshop

We shifted to our flat on the 4th this month. I've moved my stuff to one of the bedrooms, Pavan's are in the other. The hall is an empty room except for a stack of newspapers on the left side. Most of the things that we've bought after shifting were for our laboratory: the kitchen! Stove, cooker, non-stick pan, utensils, spoon and many more things. You can expect new additions into the hotel menus soon. :P

Two sundays back, there was an ad on The Pune Mirror regarding a workshop on continental dining etiquette. I, often confused when given the flatware, decided to go for it. So I registered for the workshop and paid them the advance. It was gonna be on sunday, the 12th of july.

When I reached the place, Mrs. Nirmala Lalvani was there to welcome me into her house. There were 3 more guys inside for the workshop; Tanpreet, who works for Bajaj Auto Ltd and two boys doing their second year at graduation, Jaiveer and Shashwath. Mrs. Lalvani is an etiquette trainer and has held classes for employees at different companies. She was now conduting these workshops to collect money for the two girls whose education she was sponsoring.

She first showed us how to hold the cocktail glass, a small plate and a napkin on the left hand, leaving your right hand free for shaking hands. Now that needs some practice, without which you will drop them for sure while walking. Then we learnt to set the table; and then to read the menu, looking at the table setting. She taught us to make the fork and knife look like appendages. We learnt small details to be taken care of while drinking soup, we learnt to eat on the back of the fork, to signal some things to the waiter without speaking to him and few other things. She had prepared a delicious 4-course meal for us and we did take sometime to finish having our lunch keeping everything she taught in mind.

Before leaving I learnt that her daughter-in-law conducted workshops on eating using the chopsticks!:D I have already spoken to her, but she will be out of station for sometime. So thats the plan for another weekend.

PS: Does anyone know how chopsticks got the name?You cant chop anything with it, can you?! I guess it is because it is from the land of martial arts!