Sunday Brunch in Bangalore

Well, since it’s been an exhausting week for both of us we just slept late this morning. My parents evidently read the blog yesterday because they used the RelianceIndia number to call and say hello, and it was great to talk to them, although come to think of it, we did spend an inordinate amount of time discussing their various Windows-related PC problems! Parents and Windows PCs - wish I'd never let my dad switch from his old Apple //e to Bill's nightmare OS.

Babu arrived around 11AM, and Mehnoush took us to the Leela Palace - the same place we had high tea on my first day in town - for brunch. All I can say is “my God” - this buffet was one of the biggest and most diverse I’ve ever seen - from the row of Indian curries and subgees to the fresh omelette stand, to the salads and breads, cheeses (most of which I’d never even heard of - and were really yummy and smelly both!), even a western entree section surprisingly including some beef dishes. And that’s not even approaching the monster dessert buffet! We had a bunch of salads, since usually we avoid uncooked veggies here in India- but this place had to have cleaned them properly so we indulged. Each of us had a selection of desserts and shared them all: a tiny lemon tart was one of my favorites, but Mehnoush actually preferred a blueberry cream thing. They had a flourless chocolate mousse-thing that was also really good - very bittersweet chocolate was used so it wasn’t too sweet. A selection of Indian desserts were there as well, but no gulab jamoon or rasghalla (one of my favorites that I haven’t found here yet, it’s solid milk and cardamom sweetened with sugar syrup).

Our next stops were some of the designer shops on Lavelle (pronounce it “Lava-lee”) Road: most of these were closed, but one was open (Ffroofee or something like that - I just remember it had two “F”s). The clothes in here were amazing, and had price tags to match - brilliant colors and patterns, these shops would be the sort of place to buy high-society party or wedding clothes. I tried to take a photo of Mehnoush browsing with some of them, but was prevented from doing do by the gallery owner - I guess he really doesn’t want the designs to be stolen or something! Anyway, we escaped without buying anything!

From here, we went back to Commercial Street pandemonium to see if my pants and shirt had been completed from last week. Mehnoush got very excited when she saw this store: bolts of fabric lining the walls, suiting and shirt cotton, all looking very friendly and inviting saying “Come, make something with me, I’m lonely here on the shelves...” So, I tried on my shirt, which was totally awesome: exactly my size, with sleeves that were long enough and shoulders that weren’t drooping over. Probably the best shirt I’ve ever had: sewing cost was 200 rupees (normal conversion, $4; “lunch-style” conversion, about 5 or 6 lunches). The fabric we had to pay for separately and it was about 500 rupees; totalled it was about 700-750 after tax. So that’s about US$18 for real, and about 20 lunches! Wow - really good deal for me using a US credit card, but maybe a bit expensive for a homeboy paying in rupees and comparing it to the number of lunches in the cafeteria.

Anyway, I was really pleased with both the shirt (it really fit perfectly) and the price, so we ordered a couple more: Mehnoush and I looked through all the bolts of cloth in the store - so many good blues, but I didn’t want to get them all that color. In the end we settled on a slightly funky off-blue/grey and a plain white cotton. They did not have the deep red we were looking for. While in the fitting room, Mehnoush saw the tailoring price list: full suit, 3500 rupees, or about $75. So we went through all the dark black suit fabrics too - and decided on one with light pinstripes. And at this point, the fun began. See, I just walked in and bought the shirt on my first time I’d been here. I did ask the guy if there was a discount for buying more than one, and he said “no, there was no discount - compare the shirt price to an off the shelf one! It’s even cheaper and it fits you!” Since I’d just been shopping, I knew that the MSRP on Dockers shirts of this exact same style was 900 rupees, and since they were giving me a custom shirt for less, I thought that was fine.

Mehnoush, although she hates to bargain and barter, knows that it has to be done. After all was said and done, she’d negotiated about 25% off the price of the suit and shirts, and also ordered a pair of pants for herself! Not too bad at it. I think the total for my two piece suit will be about US$244 in a light wool fabric. You can find suits for that price in the US - but not if you’re 6’5” and skinny. Well, I used to be skinny - definitely putting on the weight here!

Next came the black shoe search. Up and down the street, every shoe store carried the largest of size 11! Since I’m a 14, that’s going to be a bit of an issue! I’ll have these new pants, suit, etc. - and won’t be able to wear them with brown shoes. I’m not sure what’s in store for me here, but evidently you can also get custom-made *shoes* in this area as well! This just seems *nuts* (but really, really cool!) to this “gee I hate shopping so let’s just go to Hechts when they have their midnight sale and get it over with” kind of guy. I have to admit that it was kind of fun to go hang out in that fabric shop and try on all the different shirt fabrics - lots of stuff there, most of it too loud and bright for my taste, but still...

We had arranged to meet Babu in front of the Sarafina Plaza, just a short walk from Commercial Street, so we headed there, passing through a predominantly Muslim area with a small mosque with the towering minaret. A very beautiful building - and in the shops next door, lots of plastic Christmas trees were for sale - Mehnoush *really* wants one for some reason! I really don’t see it as a sign of Christmas (more the commercial aspect of it) but what the heck. Anyway, a quick jog around the packed shops at Sarafina and we called Babu - he pulled up outside, and then tried to reverse so that the door would be right in front of us - and bumped into a pedestrian group of women who had moved in behind him! Jeez! We apologized, and fortunately no one was really hurt, they had seen him in time to start moving out of the way.

Mehnoush had some things to return at the Bangalore Center, a large very westernized shopping mall (today even complete with a Santa’s Village and screaming children) so that was next on our list. By this point, my introvert nature is screaming and I think that Mehnoush can see the whites of my wide, staring eyes and tells Babu “just 20 minutes” - and off we go. Of course, the return is not simple: only store credit! So now we have to go buy something - and what do I need *most* of all? Of course, more ties to go with these shirts! This trip is gonna kill me! Three trips around all the tie sections and we can’t find anything matching (I’d brought a little swatch of fabric in with us). We buy the most likely of the bunch (495 rupees - more than half the cost of the shirt). So we go to the top floor grocery store to try to spend her return money there - now, I’m not sure if I described my last visit to the grocery here in India, but it was vastly preferable to this place. Our cart was tiny, and fortunately all 4 wheels swiveled so you can slide it around at will - and that’s a really good thing, because the aisles were about 1 foot wide, and the place was absolutely packed with shoppers. I don’t know how their prices compare because I haven’t done enough shopping here, but the newest milk in the cooler had expired in October! The juices all showed “best before” September and October also. They did have fresh fruits and veggies, but no lettuce which Mehnoush wanted for some salads. Truthfully, the market completely did me in - and Mehnoush recognized that and abandoned the hope of shopping for a Christmas tree and just told Babu to take us home!

Hurrah! Warmed up biryani from Hyderabad is great after an exhausting day, and we even turned on the TV for the first time since I’ve been here. Mehnoush wasn’t thrilled, since we came to an action movie (Terminator 2) and I just left it there. I can’t believe that guy is the governor of California! Simply blows my mind! A little reading, a little writing and we’re off to sleep - we had a great day today, just relaxing and not doing anything - it was just the last hour or so that stressed me out, so overall I am very relaxed and ready to go get back on the bus in the morning!