For quick to cash in on the current Tehelka fad has been a Bangalore hotel - St Mark's Hotel - which has introduced an entire range of cocktails after the Tehelka misdoers. Even the `infamous' names of those who `succumbed to bribes' now figure in the tentcard of this hotel.

The cocktail menu card - titled Current Affairs - that is placed on every table at the hotel's bar and restaurant describes `Arms Gate Special' as a lucrative but ludicrous "mix of vodka and peach schnapps to increase one's capital"!

Says JP Menon, general manager, St Mark's Hotel, "The idea is to keep abreast with the times and offer what is a rage." Besides, the hotel also intends to portray itself as being well-informed. But it is also cautious about not getting itself embroiled in any legal battle. So words like Bangaru (which incidentally stands for `gold' in Kannada) have been cleverly mixed to form a cocktail of dark rum, coke and lime called `Bang-Aru Bungling'! "I can't be too direct, but this way I am in safe waters," explains Mr Menon even as the bottomline of the tentcard reads: `Taxes as applicable unlike the law'.

The move is also aimed at improving the sale of cocktails. The hotel doubled its cocktail sales when its tentcard delved on the US elections. So `AM-Bushed' and `Hillari-Ous Drama' were unique blends of whiskey and Cinzano red, and vodka and coconut water, respectively! It also did not spare the Lewinsky-Clinton affair to liven up its beverages.

The Tehelka-menu is likely to last for 10 days, after which St Marks Hotel will be on the lookout once again for a new theme. Cheers!