Out of the Box

We were going to see it again after close to two months and the imminent encounter had been causing us some sleepless nights of late. How do you tell your stuff when it arrives at your new home that you have not actually missed it and could have managed perfectly well without it? And how would our relationship with it unfold in the days to come? Would we be able to tame it and keep it contained or would it take over our new space just as it did our old one? On moving day, when a smallish truck pulled up in front of our three-bedroom rental house, we exhaled slowly. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all. Unfortunately this was just one of two trucks that were bringing all our worldly possessions home to us. It took the crew the better part of the day to unload everything. Still when we surveyed the final scene with the boxes neatly stacked in block tower formations in each room, we felt like we were in control and that we could handle it. But once we started opening boxes, it was like unleashing the monster within. Packing paper covered the floor and books, toys and clothes spilled out in every direction. Finally though, after five days, we were able to conquer the beast but that's when a lot of packer's regret set in for me. In hindsight, there were so many things we should have done differently when it came to boxing our belongings. Why, for instance, did I bring my countertop-hogging dosa grinder when you can get perfectly good ready-made batter in any store in town? Where can I find the local equivalent of a sturdy Rubbermaid laundry basket and what induced me to leave all of mine behind? Why does my Indian clothing collection fill two closets and include so many pieces that look like makeshift tents?
Once emptied, our boxes eventually fed the local economy when the household help and neighborhood cleaners who passed by picked them up and sold them to the raddiwala in the village just outside the gated community where we now live.

Idli... Sambar... Waffles?

Well, one thing I can say about India is that the food is really good! However, I do miss my Eggo Chocolate Chip waffles in the morning. Ever since we moved here, our family has been eating out alot. (a minimum of once a week) What I have discovered is that there are a ton of Chinese restaurants here, as well as Indian (Duh!) There are also different classes of restaurants. The top notch, 5 star restaurants are located near, or in, UB City*. In UB City, there are lots of different restaurants like:
1. Tasty Tangles (this place serves Chinese food; I give it 5 stars!)
2. Toscano (Italian food; I would say it is 4 stars)
3. Rajdhani (Rajasthani + Gujarati food. I have not eaten at the UB City Rajdhani, i have eaten at the one at the mall, and the Chole Bhature had SO much oil, it made me SICK!)
Okay, so these are all the restaurants I know of in UB City, other than this place that serves Bisibele Bhath that Daddy gets in his office for 20 rupees!
So that's it for the fancy restaurants, but there are some pretty good places that are not as formal. (or as expensive) For example, take Wazir's, a restaurant that's close to where we are now staying. You can carry out a full meal from there for about Rs. 230. That's less than $5 I think. And their Baingan ka Salan (see picture) is AMAZING!

* UB City is a huge place that consists of a number of office buildings,
and has a large middle block that has shops and a beautiful open middle square. This square has fountains, and restaurants. (see post for restaurant details)

Where To Go. And What To Do

YAWN! I woke up to a late start today. We were going to look for houses for the 100th time this month! But I am not going to tell you about that because that’s not today’s news. Well, actually what I’m going to tell you and looking for houses actually happened on the same day. Anyhoo, I am going to tell you about Hippocampus. I know it sounded silly as I said it but Hippocampus is actually REALLY COOL! There are sooooo many books. I wish I could have been there all day. I read Mary Kate and Ashley and I read Nancy Drew.
And at Hippocampus there are games and really comfy bean bag chairs. Its SOOOOOO peaceful at Hippocampus. You can probably sit there for days for days without noticing it. You would be so busy reading books you wouldn’t notice a thing. Wait sorry got to go. Bye.