  Water drop impacting a superhydrophobic surface (SHS) rebounds completely
with remarkable elasticity. For such an impact, the balance between the
inertial and capillary forces ascertain the contact time. This is found to be
fairly constant for any macroscopically flat SHS and for a given drop volume.
Recently, various studies have shown that breaking the radial symmetry during
the drop impact can significantly reduce the contact time below that of a flat
SHS. One such study has been performed on a cylindrical SHS with a curvature
comparable to the drop. The reduction in contact time has been attributed to
the radially anisotropic flow imparted by the tangential component of momentum
and the elliptical footprint of the drop during the crash. Here, we perform
drop impact experiments on bathtub-like SHS and show that the radial anisotropy
can be triggered even in the absence of both the criteria mentioned above. This
is shown to be a consequence of the lamella deflection during the spreading of
the drop. The reduction in contact time is quite clearly evident in this
experimental regime.
