There is something about food which connects you to a place, and being so far from home I find myself instantly craving my normal foods. While I do like most Indian food, after a few days I find myself wanting something familiar.
So, yesterday we decided to head out to Bangalore's newest mall- Orion. I gotta hand it to them, it's gorgeous. 4 or 5 floors- very modern stores you would see almost anywhere in the world. Marble, clean, very nice. We entered the food court and to our shock- a Chili's! We made a beeline and asked for the menu to make sure it wasn't too Indian-ized, and we found an almost duplicate menu (minus the steaks which are replaced with buffalo meat)
As we sat eating, we saw and endless stream of people coming in to check the menu and leave. I can bet they were not checking for American staples as we were, but surely trying to understand what they have. I suppose finding out a margarita costs Rs. 450 was a little too much to take (almost 10 bucks) for the average Indian. Roy says people come here when they want to show off, and while this might be true, that would mean there were lots of show offs around because the place was packed. We learned from the manager they had just opened the previous evening at 6pm, so I think it was pretty well running for such a new concept here.
After leaving, we did a little shopping and ran across the cutest little boys in a Wal-mart type store. They were racing kid sized shopping carts all over the store and I was egging them on. They soon found an attraction in us and followed us everywhere. They were so sweet asking us questions and trying to impress us with their cart pushing skills. At one point one of them ran into a lady walking by in which she screamed something in the local language I didn't understand and Roy didn't choose to interpret. They followed us out into the mall and I took a few pics. Roy asked them where their parents were and apparently one of their uncles owns an auto rickshaw and just dropped them off by themselves to run around all day. They were only about 7 or 8, so not something I would ever allow. 2 of them didn't even have shoes on. I gave them some loose change to buy candy and they were thrilled.
While leaving, I was going to make a quick trip to the ladies room but left frustrated and still in need of going. Indians have this bad habit of being completely unable to wait in any kind of a line. It is both annoying and frustrating. I think its a clear reflection of the individualized feelings which leave this country unable to come together solving any problems. As I stood there, ladies would walk in and immediately go ahead of me and anyone else standing there. I tried to push ahead of get them to get back behind, but soon realized I was in a losing battle for the 2 available stalls.
At this point, we were exhausted and headed back home. Roy wasn't feeling well- he had a fever and cough so he went to bed and Kaila and I soon did the same.
Today is the day we are leaving. I luckily logged into Roy's email yesterday to find that the flight was moved up an hour- 8:30pm and then we have to make a 4 hr stop in Mumbai before heading to Paris. We will be home Wednesday by noon and then the 3 something hr drive from Chicago and guaranteed we will be dead dogs, but happy dead dogs to be back home finally!
I do love India, but forget how exhausting it is. I frequently refer to coming here as a step above camping. Its hot, buggy, dusty. You never quite get a good nights sleep and wake up to the smell of campfires and bright sunshine. The food isn't quite what you're used to, but fun for awhile. Your hair never looks very good and you never care much. You take showers in fear of bugs jumping around and walk around with a less than cleanly feeling most of the time- either from sweat or dust. The only thing is when you pay for a camping spot with electricity, it doesn't go out multiple times a day as it does here!
Oh well, India is what is it is and this is where my extended family is so it will always be my 2nd home- killer mosquitoes and all.
Next stop- ORD. See you soon people.
So, yesterday we decided to head out to Bangalore's newest mall- Orion. I gotta hand it to them, it's gorgeous. 4 or 5 floors- very modern stores you would see almost anywhere in the world. Marble, clean, very nice. We entered the food court and to our shock- a Chili's! We made a beeline and asked for the menu to make sure it wasn't too Indian-ized, and we found an almost duplicate menu (minus the steaks which are replaced with buffalo meat)
As we sat eating, we saw and endless stream of people coming in to check the menu and leave. I can bet they were not checking for American staples as we were, but surely trying to understand what they have. I suppose finding out a margarita costs Rs. 450 was a little too much to take (almost 10 bucks) for the average Indian. Roy says people come here when they want to show off, and while this might be true, that would mean there were lots of show offs around because the place was packed. We learned from the manager they had just opened the previous evening at 6pm, so I think it was pretty well running for such a new concept here.
After leaving, we did a little shopping and ran across the cutest little boys in a Wal-mart type store. They were racing kid sized shopping carts all over the store and I was egging them on. They soon found an attraction in us and followed us everywhere. They were so sweet asking us questions and trying to impress us with their cart pushing skills. At one point one of them ran into a lady walking by in which she screamed something in the local language I didn't understand and Roy didn't choose to interpret. They followed us out into the mall and I took a few pics. Roy asked them where their parents were and apparently one of their uncles owns an auto rickshaw and just dropped them off by themselves to run around all day. They were only about 7 or 8, so not something I would ever allow. 2 of them didn't even have shoes on. I gave them some loose change to buy candy and they were thrilled.
While leaving, I was going to make a quick trip to the ladies room but left frustrated and still in need of going. Indians have this bad habit of being completely unable to wait in any kind of a line. It is both annoying and frustrating. I think its a clear reflection of the individualized feelings which leave this country unable to come together solving any problems. As I stood there, ladies would walk in and immediately go ahead of me and anyone else standing there. I tried to push ahead of get them to get back behind, but soon realized I was in a losing battle for the 2 available stalls.
At this point, we were exhausted and headed back home. Roy wasn't feeling well- he had a fever and cough so he went to bed and Kaila and I soon did the same.
Today is the day we are leaving. I luckily logged into Roy's email yesterday to find that the flight was moved up an hour- 8:30pm and then we have to make a 4 hr stop in Mumbai before heading to Paris. We will be home Wednesday by noon and then the 3 something hr drive from Chicago and guaranteed we will be dead dogs, but happy dead dogs to be back home finally!
I do love India, but forget how exhausting it is. I frequently refer to coming here as a step above camping. Its hot, buggy, dusty. You never quite get a good nights sleep and wake up to the smell of campfires and bright sunshine. The food isn't quite what you're used to, but fun for awhile. Your hair never looks very good and you never care much. You take showers in fear of bugs jumping around and walk around with a less than cleanly feeling most of the time- either from sweat or dust. The only thing is when you pay for a camping spot with electricity, it doesn't go out multiple times a day as it does here!
Oh well, India is what is it is and this is where my extended family is so it will always be my 2nd home- killer mosquitoes and all.
Next stop- ORD. See you soon people.
Hubby and I go to Chili's every time we're in Delhi. There's also a TGIFriday's there. They are more expensive than they are back home in the states but they do provide comfort regardless. I did laugh once, I went into TGIFriday's and ordered the potato skins and the waiter asked me if I knew there was pork on them lol. I had forgotten most Indians don't eat pork (because I hadn't been exposed to it my entire time there) until that moment.
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