Hard to believe that we are beginning to pack up as we leave for Mumbai this Sunday and will be home a week from today. The weather here has been very unseasonal with quite a bit of heavy rain, spectacular lightening and rolling thunder. We've spend our time reading and playing Indian Rummy, a card game we learned from the beach shack waiters.
Gotta love India because:
At the bookstore named Golden Harvest Barbara bought a book to be read to our grandchildren. The book "The Sun Fairies" is about clouds and rain created by the fairies. When we went to pay the owner got very excited, said he loved the book. When Barbara said it was for our grandchildren he returned the price of the book and said it was his present.
We asked in a restaurant what the ingredients of a particular dish was. When the waiter finished explaining the dish Barbara said, "Oh that's interesting. They put curry powder in the dish." "Curry powder," I said, "I thought he said cauliflower." We didn't order the dish and it remains a mystery.
On the train from Kolkatta we had hired a porter to carry our unwieldy bags (mentioned in a previous story) to the train. After we had settled and had a snack (never travel without food) I went to look for a garbage pail to dispose of the wrappings etc. We were still in the station and I encountered the porter standing at the end of the car. He asked if he could help and I said that I was looking for a garbage pail. He put out his hand and asked for the wrappings which I gave to him. He then flung it out of the carriage door onto the platform.
We asked a waiter what was in the dish "Handi Chicken". He said it was chicken with a sauce. "What kind of sauce?" we asked. "Sauce in a bowl. Brown." It was delicious.
We on occasion went to a small restaurant for Idly. A breakfast dish of curry and steamed rice paddies. I asked to owner where I can buy an Idly maker and when he answered I jokingly said that I may set up an Idly stand outside of his restaurant. He was unphased. "Everyone needs to make a living," he said.
There is a very popular dish called a Sizzler which is a meat dish on a very hot iron platter onto which they pour a mixture of water and oil. This creates a cloud of unpleasant (to us) smoke and a sizzling sound. On one occasion the platter must have been too hot and the dish went up on fire as the waiter was carrying it to the table. Two other waiter ran over and helped him blow out the flames. There they stood in the middle of the restaurant huffing and puffing until the flames went out. Then the dish was served, with a smile.
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