You know, these are the lunches at the most expensive restaurants in the best of hotels, where you go as a part of professional obligations/duties :). The celebratory lunches and dinners.....;).The kinds, where the ambience promises to be great, but the dining leaves a lot to be desired-both in terms of whats on your platter and the conversations during food. Read on, this desi first asked some silent questions and .....got asked the most brilliant question ever!
And so, my lunch and dinner today was at two 'great' restaurants in Santa Monica in two adjoining hotels facing the beach-after a marathon session of presentations and discussions. I totally love this place-ideal setting:beach, sun and warmth.....
The lunch, well, was a buffet: one salad, breads, cous-cous, ravioli, fish and chicken. Yummy, yeah :)). If only you knew that salad was just arugula leaves with the blandest possible dressing, cous-cous didn't taste like cous-cous and rest everything was not my cup of tea since i am a vegetarian. Colleagues informed that rest of the stuff could probably count as one of their least memorable outings! If only money could buy flavor and taste.....The dinner was more expensive, with fewer vegetarian choices (one salad and a ravioli). The food was fine, OK Some discussion with colleagues and some senior people, very interesting thoughts and experiences exchanged while waiting for the main course.
but here are my questions: 1. Why can't such places provide better quality food for the exorbitant prices they charge. 2. Why does the vegetarian choice end at either a very rich ravioli or a very light salad (indeed, this has been my experience at the so called fine dining places). The learned and experienced chefs can do wonders (hopefully) with meat, poultry and fish-does it really take a lot else to dish up something vegetarian thats innovative, delicious and fulfilling.
And as they say, save the best for the last: so here comes the masala. During the dinner, the gentleman sitting next to me was chatting with me. He looked Indian (but he wasn't)-and asked where i was from. After talking about tons of things, including how difficult it must have been for me to be away from home all by myself (really, i get this a lot)-he popped the question :)). No, not THAT question, silly. What is the best thing anyone ask an Indian-any guesses?
" Do you still have elephants roaming around on streets in India".....(swoon).....
i am charmed.....the wit, the intelligence.....ah! my dil goes ummmmmmmmmm ;)
do you have any answers.....
i thought of this ;)
and this :)).
PS: Don't believe it? I felt may be i was hallucinating! but no, other people heard it too and were shocked beyond their wits.....and i thought such stuff existed only in bad comedies.....guys, i need a chai.....(rushes to the kitchen). Let these pictures soothe a hurting desi dil.
....
6 comments:
Musical, great post. A few things:
1. "Chefs can do wonders (hopefully) with meat, poultry and fish-does it really take a lot else to dish up something vegetarian thats innovative, delicious and fulfilling." LOL this is so true!
2. What ethnicity was that guy who asked you the elephant question?
3. And what's with "are there STILL elephants roaming around?" as though there ever were stampedes of elephants roaming the streets. how would he even know, has he been to india???
4. Your photos are great!
Coming to think of it, yes they do...rarely, but yes.
I really don't see why it should matter. After all Americans also see animals roaming the streets...pet dogs, cats ....lets just say we have an appetite for bigger pets ;) ...
I certain'y don't look fwd to the day when I go back to India, and it looks like a bad copy of America.
Sbkt, i haven't seen elephants on the streets the way he said. They are brought out when there is some religious procession. But do you think there are elephants on the streets in Indian Villages-NO! I was born and brought up in a village in Punjab. I have also been to villages in the South, but at no point have i seen elephants on the streets on a regular basis. He used the words "roam around". Cows yes, elephants no! I remember whenever there used to be an elephant in some procession-people would especially take their kids for the same-it was that rare!
I too don't want India to look like a bad copy of any other place, but misconceptions don't do any good. and thats the reason i'm upset. I am upset because people who haven't been to India make idiotic comments about my Country.
"Sbkt, i haven't seen elephants on the streets the way he said. They are brought out when there is some religious procession. But do you think there are elephants on the streets in Indian Villages-NO!"
Ya, I guess you won't see them in Punjab. I spend some of my childhood in east Bihar/Bengal, and you'd see elephants there occasionally. They were used in the logging/timber industry for uprooting trees, etc. I doubt they'd be around anymore, though. My points was that, simply because there are no elephants in the US, does not mean that elephants in India become odd. You do see an occasional wild deer on the highway in the US, no? Then why not an elephant? Americans do have this habit of having a very narrow view of what is 'normal'.
"He used the words "roam around"."
Roam around, of course, is absurd. If anyone ever comes across an elephant without a mahout to control it, they better say their last prayers.
"I am upset because people who haven't been to India make idiotic comments about my Country."
Maximum respect to that. Jai Hind!!
sbkt: "Americans do have this habit of having a very narrow view of what is 'normal'. "
I don't agree-lets not generalize-one person doesn't make the whole nation. Most Americans (except the guy in question-who i am not really sure if he's an American)found the remark silly.
Hey Naina, thanks a ton for your words :).
I am not sure about the ethnicity of the guy. He looked very Indian, but can't be one-he mentioned that one of his desi colleagues keeps talking to him about cricket, but he doesn't know the game-He might/might not be an American with a very global sounding first name. He's never been to India ever-and he still says "still"-i barely held myself together when he said that! There's another post from the story.....
The credit for good pictures goes to God :)-the great scenery and my LG Chocolate camera phone :). All the pictures posted on this blog are courtesy that phone. I heart that phone.
If you have read my new post, you'd know how things are feeling today. Thanks a ton for stopping by and listening to me.
PS: Sorry this comment got moved to a different spot :).
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