Bewakoof Hotel in Giridih. Picture by Shahnawaz Akhtar

Giridih, June 8: The word bewakoof (fool) has a negative connotation all over the world, but here in Giridih, there are at least five hotels which are christened so and are also doing brisk business.

The hotels mushroomed here three decades ago. There are four such hotels in the district headquarters and one in Isari Bazaar.

The hotels, which function in the town, are Bewakoof, Sri Bewakoof, Maha Bewakoof and Bewakoof No. 1. On the other hand in Isari Bazaar, there is another hotel named Bewakoof.

None of the hotels has any connection with one another. But the owners of the hotels do not have any grievances against each other.

The history of Bewakoof hotels is as old as Giridih itself. The first Bewakoof hotel was opened by one Gopi Ram in 1971, a year ahead of the formation of Giridih district.

Birbal Prasad, the nephew of Gopi Ram who runs Bewakoof hotel in the town, told The Telegraph: “When we started the hotel, we were in deep financial crisis. So in order to tide over the situation, we decided to set up the hotel. We started charging customers less. So they began to think that we were fools and so they started frequenting the hotels. Later, we christened the hotel Bewakoof. However, we never compromised on the quality of food and soon our hotel started doing good business. We used to charge 80 paise per thali and now the rate is Rs 18 per thali. We were never ashamed of the name for it brought us good fortune,” he said.