she literally walked in as i was finishing last night's blog, and i finally did meet up with my friend and had an amazing night out about town. she took me out of the touristy area i'm staying in, to a place called bandra, near her aunt's home. we started with a stop to have this thick sweet cream with fruit. extremely rich. then we headed off to the busy part of town, which again, reminded me exactly of downtown cairo where they have one shoe store after another, each displaying the store's entire merchandise in the windows. but the better difference was all the indian street food that we tried. we had this amazing little thing called pani puri. it is as entertaining to eat, as it is delicious. the whole thing is a perfectly engineered process too. it's this fried puff of, hmm, i'd say the best comparison is to a taco shell texture and flavor, but i'm not sure what it's made of. so the vendor takes the puff in his right hand and uses his thumb to puncture a hole in the top. with the left hand, he then stuffs it with spiced lentils, and with the right hand, dunks it into two delicious sweet sauces. he hands you your pani puri, all in about 10 seconds. there is a crowd of ppl circling him, and with non stop, fluid motion, he continues to serve each person in the circle. but you better be ready for him when you're up again, or you'll not only get the eyes from him, but you'll get them from the ppl after you, waiting for theirs. you don't want to be the person disrupting the flow. and let me just tell you, when i put it into my mouth and took my first bite, cracking the hard shell, it was like an explosion of pure deliciousness in my mouth. it was like crunchy, sweet, cold juice, lentils... i mean, i have never had anything quite like it. we had maybe 2 too many (you buy them in rounds of 6), and followed that with some more snacks including gulab jamoun, my friend's favorite. it is like a small fried dumpling tasting just like a pancake, completely soaked in syrup. it takes like a little bite of brunch. we ate way too much that night.
back at her aunt's home, we spent a really lovely time with the family, including trying on traditional dresses, and talking about bollywood stars. her aunt is the sweetest lady in the world, a homeopathic doctor. she was so kind to put indian oil in my hair, and while doing that, made a comment that i have a lot of heat coming from my head, which apparently means there's a lot of tension. no, really? what's even more amazing is that when i decided to spend the night with them, she booked a woman to come in the morning to give me a massage. how incredibly nice and sweet!? and the massage was fabulous! i'm still all oiled up! if you lit a match in my presence, i would combust into flames and leave behind a heaping pile of ashes.
i admit that i was feeling really selfish about disrupting my "schedule". i wanted to go to the market and get this and that done, but i was impatient about things taking longer than i wanted them to. because in exchange, i had a fabulous experience instead, met her adorable family and spent some quality time in someone's home. i felt like i learned so much from meeting them, and i hope i will see them before i go. so i think that instead of taking my 24 hour sleeper train to agra, i'll be flying there instead, saving me an entire extra day here in mumbai, and hopefully another opportunity to see her family.
actually, a funny side-note. when i finally did get back to my hotel in the morning, the men were very worried and upset that i didnt get back last night. they expected me to call to tell them i wasn't coming, and instead waited by the door all night! imagine!? my hotel! i actually felt really bad and i think they're still a bit hurt by it, but come ON, i am just a guest at your hotel! really??
india is incredible.
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