From the "What were they thinking?" files...

... comes the case of "Hitler's Cross," a new restaurant in Mumbai.

I get the publicity angle -- even if people aren't buying, even if people are rioting, your name is in the news. But this just seems so odious; there are names, surely, that are more clever and less...well, reminiscent of attempted genocide, yes?

HT carried a report on this today, and the proprietor reportedly said, "There was absolutely no intention of hurting anyone's sentiments when we named the restaurant. We only wanted to project the idea that we want to conquer the world with the taste of our food. We have no photographs of Hitler and no food items have been named after him. We do not have a Hitler Dark Chocolate, Hitler Mousse or any Nazi stuff here."

This, of course, is contradicted by the man's admission that they do have a picture of Hitler up for the inauguration, and there are rumors that a replica of one of Hitler's pistols is used to light the cafe's hookahs.

Still, this is all tertiary: there is a Jewish population in Mumbai, Hitler killed six million or so Jews less than 70 years ago, and -- addressing the proprietor's direct justification -- HITLER NEVER RULED THE WORLD. He ruled a part of Europe and caused considerable casualties, but ultimately, it took less than 10 years to stem his empirical spread.

Is it really so alien for people to try and build business on elbow grease, word of mouth, and excellent food and service, rather than ludicrous shock tactics? Gah.

Tags: Hitler's Cross, bombay, mumbai, jews, restaurant, publicity stunt, India