Ruminations and Rupees.
In addition to the blog, I'm keeping a separate journal of the personal, somewhat more mundane experiences I'm having in India. After I come home, I plan on melding them together to form the complete record of my experience. However, I realized this morning that I will need to include a lot of the email exchanges I've had with everyone as well. Because I am unable to give regular updates on the phone, a lot of my emails have become these mammoth, detail-centric, personally tailored capsules that will be such an integral part of the complete picture. In addition, a lot of you have given me advice, anecdotes, and suggestions which have been inspirational and helped shape this experience for me. All right, now that that's out of the way, what's going on in India you wonder...
Last night I went down to Colaba with Shana, her boyfriend Amit and their friend Gabriel (who moved here from Sweden three years ago). The drive down there at rush hour takes about an hour, so Shana made us road cocktails (appletinis), which, along with some great iPod music, made the ride very enjoyable (Shana's driver, Bogwan, was driving - he didn't partake in the appletinis though).
Once in Colaba, we had dinner at Indigo (lobster ceviche and seared yellow fin tuna...delicious!), went to some seedy bar for a quick shot, and then ended up at Polly Esther's for a few hours of raucous dancing and boozing. I described this bar during my first week or so in India - it's so collegiate, a total free for all. (They played "Tubthumping" by ChumbaWumba, need I say more?) People just let loose and its so fun.
This morning, I (painfully) woke up around 10 and decided that I wanted a coffee from Mocha. When I went downstairs to catch a rika, I was sort of out of it and the rika driver told me that it would be 150 rupees for a ride to Mocha (which is outrageous). I laughed and told him, no way, 50 rupees (which is ALSO outrageous. um, actually, it's only about a dollar, but that's not the point). However, I should have just told him that I would pay what the meter read. So, we get there and I realized that I only had a 50 rupee note. The meter read 16 rupees and I asked him for 20 back. He told me no, it was 50 rupees. I started to argue and realized that he was totally right - I told him I would pay him 50 rupees. So, I started laughing and told him that I knew what a good deal he got out of me. He told me that he would wait for me while I went into Mocha to get my coffee (who wouldn't when the hungover foreigner is paying almost triple what the ride should be!) I agreed, but told him that on the way back, I would pay the meter price. So, when we got back to the Taj, I realized that I gave Mocha all of my small bills as a tip and only had a 50 to give him. I asked him for change and he started laughing. I started laughing too and told him, yet again, that I knew what a good deal he got out of me...man, I really showed him!
In addition to the blog, I'm keeping a separate journal of the personal, somewhat more mundane experiences I'm having in India. After I come home, I plan on melding them together to form the complete record of my experience. However, I realized this morning that I will need to include a lot of the email exchanges I've had with everyone as well. Because I am unable to give regular updates on the phone, a lot of my emails have become these mammoth, detail-centric, personally tailored capsules that will be such an integral part of the complete picture. In addition, a lot of you have given me advice, anecdotes, and suggestions which have been inspirational and helped shape this experience for me. All right, now that that's out of the way, what's going on in India you wonder...
Last night I went down to Colaba with Shana, her boyfriend Amit and their friend Gabriel (who moved here from Sweden three years ago). The drive down there at rush hour takes about an hour, so Shana made us road cocktails (appletinis), which, along with some great iPod music, made the ride very enjoyable (Shana's driver, Bogwan, was driving - he didn't partake in the appletinis though).
Once in Colaba, we had dinner at Indigo (lobster ceviche and seared yellow fin tuna...delicious!), went to some seedy bar for a quick shot, and then ended up at Polly Esther's for a few hours of raucous dancing and boozing. I described this bar during my first week or so in India - it's so collegiate, a total free for all. (They played "Tubthumping" by ChumbaWumba, need I say more?) People just let loose and its so fun.
This morning, I (painfully) woke up around 10 and decided that I wanted a coffee from Mocha. When I went downstairs to catch a rika, I was sort of out of it and the rika driver told me that it would be 150 rupees for a ride to Mocha (which is outrageous). I laughed and told him, no way, 50 rupees (which is ALSO outrageous. um, actually, it's only about a dollar, but that's not the point). However, I should have just told him that I would pay what the meter read. So, we get there and I realized that I only had a 50 rupee note. The meter read 16 rupees and I asked him for 20 back. He told me no, it was 50 rupees. I started to argue and realized that he was totally right - I told him I would pay him 50 rupees. So, I started laughing and told him that I knew what a good deal he got out of me. He told me that he would wait for me while I went into Mocha to get my coffee (who wouldn't when the hungover foreigner is paying almost triple what the ride should be!) I agreed, but told him that on the way back, I would pay the meter price. So, when we got back to the Taj, I realized that I gave Mocha all of my small bills as a tip and only had a 50 to give him. I asked him for change and he started laughing. I started laughing too and told him, yet again, that I knew what a good deal he got out of me...man, I really showed him!
posted by Steven | 12:22 PM
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