Indian BBQ

Last night my 2 wonderful co-workers, Ram and Sudipro, took us to this BBQ place. We sat on the terrace, which was the top floor, and more open air. It was great, nice cool weather, but not cold. I have noticed several restaurants take advantage of the nice weather here and have open air. Everyone eats on the later side here (9-10pm), so we went later as well. It was packed when we got there, but we didn't have to wait long. When we sat down the waiters brought these BBQ pits and set them in two holes in the middle of our table. The pits had burning coals in them and were covered with a typical BBQ grate. They started with the "starters", which turned out to be the best part of the meal. It was long skewers of yummy stuff they put on the grill. So, chicken, fish, shrimp, veggies, pineapple, and potatoes. They also brought grilled crab, tandori chicken and this most wonderful potato dish. There were different sauces and marinades as well. All of it was so good. We pretty much all stuffed ourselves on the startes, so we only had a tiny bit of the main course, which was mostly tradiational Indian food. I found that the rice curd was actually pretty good. Then they had a dessert table, and there were some pretty good little treats there as well.

After dinner Ram and Sudipro drove us all back to the hotel. It was very handy to have them navigate and drive for us. Sudipro is from Kolkata, he grew up there, went to school there, and then got his masters degree in Delhi. So, he was able to tell us more about some of the other Indian cities. Also, we learned about some of the more popular Cricket teams and their favorites. We all agreed that our favorite team would be the Delhi Nightriders (Ram, correct me if I have the name wrong), the primary reason is because we love the name the Nightriders! (think the car).

We also learned that the majority of my co-workers and their friends have cooks and maids. And most of the cooks and maids come every single day. WOW. And the cost for a cook every day for the month.....$20. And the maid, $20 per month as well. Sandra is strongly considering moving here just for that perk. :) It just goes to show you how much human labor is avaliable here.

Car prices seem more inline. If people own a personal car it is likely to be a very small, manual transmition, economical vehicle. Real Estate is significantly cheaper in Bangalore then in the US, however their home loan rates are so high. The standard would be ~12%.

One thing about the food. Anything with a sauce is called "gravy". Also, gravy=curry. Spicy would be if something is flavored with many spices and very flavorful (I like spicy). Hot is like chili pepper, your mouth is buring up on fire hot. I have to have very mild here. :)

Last nigth when we returned to the hotel we walked right in to observe many hotel workers waiting and ready for something. It seemed like something interesting was going to happen, so Sandra and I sat in the lobby to watch. In a few minutes all these VIP people arrived. They gave them flowers, leis, put a mark on their forehead, took pictures, etc. You could tell they got a much nicer welcome then we did! There were also noticable Secret Service type people (non-Indian). We never figured out who they were, but we did find out they were all Canadian. Maybe we'll find out today.

Now I am off to the office. I'm still having major computer connection problems in the office (I literly cannot connect to anything) which is starting to be a huge pain. I will likely spend some quality time on the phone with the US help desk today. In the afternoon my female co-workers are going to take me shopping! That will be fun, and they know the best places. Matt, Sandra and Alex are going to a zoo/safari place today. It sounds really cool. You ride in a covered van type vehicle and drive in the National Park. You can see lions, elephants, etc. I am looking forward to hearing about it.

Also, I think my blog link is being sent to people to read. That's fun. :) Feel free to post comments.