Batch 2 has been my goto batch during my initial days of Sadhanapada. Primarily because batch 1 has a lot of rush. Once I entered Bhiksha Hall after 5 min of gate opening & could not find a place to sit, decided to leave & come for batch 2.

I avoided open batch as someone from my room told me that food finishes in open batch. Or you may not get enough. So batch 2 seemed like the best choice.

Only after a month, I figured this little secret which made me switch to open batch. So batch 1 gets all the items. But people tend to (over)eat items like fruit (maybe) & there is little left, which Bhiksha hall folks think wont suffice people in batch 2. So fruit is most of the time NOT served to batch 2 people. Fair enough. But the irony is - there is always surplus fruit supply in open batch, to the point that people have option to pick from 2 fruits some times :).

Timingwise, open batch in the morning may be too late for the seva. But open batch in evening fits the schedule well, if your seva extends & you need time to finish off the sadhana.