01 April 2011, Friday
Finally, my work's done here. It was kinda sad actually. I mean, I know I met my clients only for a short time - two days, but still, parting is never a happy occasion. They're really really nice people. They took me out to lunch and ehm... it was an adventure in itself. At least it was for me.
Well, we finish our first session for today at 2 o'clock and we headed out for lunch. Oh gosh, how I wished they took me to some restaurants upstairs (because earlier they mentioned they got restaurants upstairs). But instead, we're going out. Luckily, I was mentally prepared. Oh boy, outside was a mess, the road is small so we had to walk alongside and between the cars, motorbike, rickshaws and people! It was hot and windy which was a bad news, coz it only means more dust, more flying sands and smoke got blown by the wind. Anyway, I survived and we were in a first restaurant. There was a very long queue and we decided to try our luck at another place.
You know, walking in Mumbai is overwhelming. There were attacks to my nose. One moment, I could smell cow's poop; the next time, an incense burning smell followed by smell of spices and God knows what else. So here I was, walking while trying to avoid motorbikes and rickshaws only inches from me. I saw a car moving in a midst of pedestrians! Bottomline, I was beyond relieved when we reached the second restaurant. This restaurant called Mahesh and is specialized in seafood. We were asked to wait outside. I was like, what?! You freakin' got to be kidding me! But I guess I had no choice. We were sitting on a pedestrian walk (really, pedestrian walk and a road, I cannot tell the difference, there's no clear line here), cars honking nonstop, and finally we had a table ready for us.
The first dish was, I think, a deep fried tofu skin with a chopped shallots. I'm a no-onion eater but I gave it a try. Hmm... quite tasty but I still couldn't get rid of the fact that it was shallots that I was eating. What next, happened quite fast. They served fried fish (I still could manage that), followed by dossa (thick rice paper) and some curry dippings. The waiter serve the dipping directly to our plate. He gave us each 2 type of dippings; more fish and chicken curry. I finished my third dossa and I felt like I couldn't swallow anymore. The spices were too strong and everything tasted strong it overwhelmed me. Then the waiter came with a rice. They said I, at least, gave it a try. Well, they were being so nice and I couldn't let them down. it would be rude. So I helped myself to one small spoon of rice and forced myself to swallow it. Then, one of my clients asked me to eat the black, deep fried vegetables. He said it was good for health. I just nodded and geez... how I wanted to correct him and said "Dude, you know anything deep fried ain't healty, don't ya?" The deep fried vegetables were coated in oil. They're shiny!!
After that, I just didn't bother anymore, I said no to everything they offered me. And how glad I did. Well, they asked whether I wanted to try butter milk, I immediately said no, so they ordered for themselves. Came the butter milk, and it was the colour of strawberry juice. They forced me again to take one gulp, and... oooh... I couldn't describe how awful and strange it tasted. It was salty but bitter, with a pang of sourness. They said one of ingredients is Tangerine. It explains. I.Don't.Like.It. And look at how they drank it. They finished it in one shot! It's good for digestion they said. Hmm... no wonder. I drink that and I'm sure my stomach cannot handle it.
But one thing that strikes me as funny, and the highlight of the day for me. It was hilarious. It's the way one of my clients moved his head. It happened after the waiter came with a drink. My client shook his head, the waiter took his diet coke can and opened it. Another head movement from him and the waiter poured the drink into the glass, one final move from his head, and the waiter stopped pouring the drink.No words spoken. Amazing. I was watching them in awe.
Overall, it was a unique experience, like, I'd never been surrounded by so many Indians before haha. They're generally very nice crowd.
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