bangalore most people might not miss the bus that often but they often wish they could miss the journey for all the promise of the sleek roadcat that is now the interstate bus the facilities en route leave much to be desired the halts are frequent but the spartan hotels with their quickfix meals and barely existent toilet facilities can make any journey miserable add to it the lack of water the dirty tables the nottooclean cutlery and the cup of woes of any traveller can run over to combat these problems and to offer greater value for money spent the kamat group of hotels has launched wayside facilities to ease any journey these refreshment centres are vegetarian but offer clean fare immaculate toilets covered garages vast dormitories and even facilities for washing clothes four of them are already fully functional along the highway along the road to tirupati tumkur sira and hassan these centres were created by oil companies like indian oil corporation and bharat petroleum says a s kamat managing director of the hotel chain we operate the centres for them today many private and government buses are patronising these places these highway facilities unlike the yatri nivas hotels in cities are called kamat upchar which means hospitality in sanskrit but they are not designed as wayside restaurants that offer good food they are being developed as centres with landscaped gardens full of lush foliage and rooms that are full of light and air the menus of the restaurants are also planned keeping the local flavour in mind for example in certain parts of karnataka the restaurant offers special jowar bhakri meals ragi mudde meals karavali meals and much more we are also very particular that we use pure ghee and butter and no vegetable oils like dalda kamat says and to suit the palate of lorry drivers there will also be special north indian meals available the refreshment centres will soon be extending to tamil nadu and andhra pradesh with food to match we are also trying to encourage local farmers adds kamat we will buy local produce like fruit vegetables milk and give better prices for them besides using local labour whenever we can the ksrtc has already given them a list indicating the buses that are likely to stopover we dont serve liquor because we believe that the journey should be safe he explains and despite the rumours of dacoity in the areas we operate from we believe that these centres are very safe clean rooms are available for individuals and dormitories where large groups can stay on a stopover journey for most jaded travellers this kind of hospitality could be just what theyve been waiting for in many ways these centres could evolve into a home away from home even if it is for a short spell in between a long journey