MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS

BOARDING AND LODGING.

Boarding houses are few as compared with hotels and restaurants, but boarding and lodging houses are still fewer in the district Whereas the former are located at almost all places with a fairly good traffic-passenger or goods, the latter hover round the taluka quarters of the district. Boarding houses, where exists a provision for meals without lodging, assume different forms in the district. Thus, there are a number of restaurants serving partly as boards. For, besides serving snacks and beverages, they provide for meals on rice plate or full meal basis. A few khanavalis in a number ranging from unity at some places to half a dozen and even more at others, serve as real boards by providing for meals twice a day on membership or non-membership system. But very few places in the district arc equipped with boarding and lodging facilities, and even where the latter exist, their state of maintenance is not satisfactory.

Accessories.

Accessories consist of food-grains, condiments and spices, ground-nut oil and ghee-more commonly the vanaspati and vegetables in a vegetarian, and in addition to these, fish, mutton and eggs in a non-vegetarian boarding. The extent of consumption of raw materials depends upon turnover of the establishment. Our sample survey based on a few establishments at Pen, Panvel, Alibag, Mahad and Roha put the value of raw materials consumed at from Rs. 150 to Rs. 300 per month.

Tools and Equipment.

Chairs, small dining tables and pats (low stools) are used for dining purpose. A few benches to provide seats to visitors are placed in an outer apartment which usually opens up to the dining hall. In a normal boarding, chairs and dining tables are substituted by a few benches, and in a small type, pats (low stools) are used for dining and a boarding gives more or less an appearance of a village house with a provision of a fairly good number of members to dine in it. In fact, the use of furniture in regard to its nature, extent, etc., is found to vary greatly from one establishment to another in response to the volume of business done by it. Dishes, bowls and pots enough for cooking and storage are among the common utensils whose stock depends on the size of an establishment. A lodging house in the district is equipped with a small number of cots-iron and wooden, a few mattresses, pillows and bed-sheets together with the requirements of a boarding as stated earlier, for every lodging house has invariably a boarding branch attached to it. The amount spent on tools and equipment varies more or less with the size of an establishment. Thus, it was from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,300 in a boarding and from Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 4,000 in a boarding and lodging.

Capital.

The fixed capital of both a boarding and boarding and lodging house is determined by the nature and extent of furniture and utensils they may keep in the course of business. It requires to be renewed at short intervals, as cooking utensils, dishes and bowls, etc., have to be replaced as soon as they become worn out and cannot be used any longer. Furthermore, where a boarding also provides for lodging, a few more items such as mattresses, pillows, bed-sheets, mirrors, etc., enter for replacement. The working capital is absorbed, in a large measure, in the purchase of raw materials, but a part of it is often secured by obtaining cash advances from customers on a coupon or membership system. In a lodging business, addition to working capital is only meagre, because a larger initial investment by way of fixed capital for equipping the tenements with modest furniture, is enough to sustain its business for a good number of years. As revealed by the sample survey, capital was brought in by the proprietor through his personal resources and, where the amounts were borrowed, the scale of borrowings was small, running only in a few hundreds. Friends and relatives made a composite source of borrowing and the rate of interest that obtained thereon appeared to be almost negligible. The following figures give the amount invested as both fixed and working capital by establishments covered by the survey:−

Labour.

The establishments engage a greater number of persons than hotels and restaurants in the district, although, within the scope of the former, the demand for labour varies in response to their capacity to absorb it. Broadly speaking, labour in this occupation consists of a small ladder extending from a cook to a band of attendants. Thus, a fairly big unit has in its employ more than a dozen persons representing different ranks-from a cook to a sweeping boy. The medium unit is often found to employ per-sons numbering half a dozen and more. A' small unit works with from three to five employees; but in its smallest type, the proprietor conducts his small business with the assistance of family members. No difficulty is usually experienced in securing labour, and in many cases, a proprietor is found to recruit, besides a few persons which he takes locally, from among the paraphernalia consisting of the members of his family, near or distant relatives and acquaintances. Generally, each person is entrusted with a specific job to render performance of the entire work in a smooth and compact manner. Wages are not uniform through-out the district but obtain in variation from one place to another, as can be seen from the following figures:-

In addition to the emoluments mentioned above, every employee is provided with meals, snacks and tea twice a day. Although each employee is expected to do net eight hours of work per day, in actual practice, however, except a few hours, he is busy throughout the day in a boarding; whereas, in a lodging business, he may have to attend to the visitors likely to knock in at any odd hours at night. Thus, considering the nature and extent of work, it is evident that the terms of payment offered to labour are far from satisfactory and, more often than not, this is reflected in the migration of labour to a similar or any other more prospective occupation.

Turnover.

Boardings or khanavalis prepare food daily twice, once in the morning and then in the evening. Food may be vegetarian or otherwise. It is sold on rice-plate or full meal basis, membership or non-membership system. Generally, a rice-plate is available at from six to ten annas, additional items, if served, being charged extra. The rate per full meal varies from twelve annas to a rupee, depending usually on the standard of food assured by the establishments. Both boardings and restaurants serving as boards stipulate prescribed timings as to when their customers are expected to receive food. Usually, the hours extend from 9-30 a.m. to 12-30 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9-30 p.m. in the former, and from 10-30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 10-30 p.m. in the latter. Thus, restaurants prove to be complementary to board-ings in serving local customers and more particularly visitors landing at a time when boardings may be closed to them. Restaurants can serve a part of the food out of a few items of snacks. Probably, this keeps restaurants at an advantage over boardings in providing food to customers for longer hours. A lodging house has to look after the lodging arrangement of the lodger by providing him a cot, a mattress, a pillow and a bed-sheet but not a chaddar, arranging for a bath and by giving lea once in the morning. Charges for the same vary from eight annas to a rupee per cot for a day's or overnight stay and have usually to be paid out in cash. In general, business of the boardings in the district is dull except in a few establishments situated at Mahad and Panvel, the nerve-centres of trade and in other towns such as Pen, Alibag and Roha among others of a fairly good traffic. Our sample survey gives the daily turnover of a few boardings in the district as under:−

Where a provision for a lodging arrangement exists in a boarding, the turnover steps up by an amount ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 15 per day.

These establishments earn a net income of roundabout twenty per cent of the total expenditure incurred on raw materials. Our sample survey disclosed that the net profit varied from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1,100 per month. It appeared that the profit-earning capacity of these establishments was less than that of hotels and restaurants and that, within a limited capital, vegetarian hoards could be run more profitably than non-vegetarian boards. The latter perhaps showed an increase in the turnover but without a collateral rise in net returns there from. Non-vegetarian boards number less than vegetarian boards.

Of the total disbursements, more than half are allocated to raw materials. Wages and rent stand next in importance in the expenditure pattern of the establishments. Most of these are to be found in rented premises, the amount of rent varying from Rs. 20 to Rs. 200 per month. The sample survey revealed that the total outlay on wages varied from Rs. 70 to Rs. 300 per month.

Boardings in the district are by and large found to serve local customers; but where these are situated at ports, motor-stands or at any other nerve-centres of traffic, their clientele is composed of persons whose halt at these places is bound to be short. Lodges are generally occupied a little longer, the tenure extending from a few hours to a day or two. Sales representatives and advertisers, small traders in agricultural produce and stray visitors constitute their clientele. Although the movement of traffic has been on the increase during the past few years, the district has failed to improve boarding and lodging arrangements in it. Usually, customers rush in during the full season extending from November to the end of May. But this does not speak of a happy state of maintenance of these establishments and, instead, explain the meagre boarding and lodging facilities that obtain in the district.

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