Misunderstandings

The experiences so far in India are many and varied and two dining ones stick in my mind. Our first night out in Bangalore we headed off out to look for something to eat. You may think that with such a population the choices would be many and varied but not so, in our part of town anyway. After circling around the back streets we opted for a 'Family Restaurant' up some stairs. There were lots of tables and a waiter came straight to us but after getting him to repeat himself 3 times I realised he was saying "No women allowed!!" We were embaressed and they tried to help by offering us a room separate off to the side and were hurriedly wiping the tables and getting us better chairs. They gave us the 'menu' but it only had drinks and we'd already had a beer at the hotel. We asked about food - they asked what we would like! No menu. Mmmm....time to extract ourselves gracefully and I think they were relieved as well. We still have no idea, nor did our driver, what sort of place we had entered but they were trying to be helpful. Not a good start.

You just never know here what to expect even if you think the smiling wobbling "yes" leads you to think you have it sorted. We had experienced the buffet type breakfasts at our last hotel. They always have noodles, soups and spicy stuff available. With our Bed and Breakfast we asked if we could please have only toast and an omelette. Shame to waste any other dishes on us. Out came the toast and omelette and you guessed it......followed by the hearty soup and rice cakes!! At lunch I had had a black tea so when we ordered coffees for breakfast he said "black Madame?" I wrongly said " White please...I only have black tea" I got black tea and Rob got white TEA!! You can only smile and carry on.

One very impressive thing that this country has revealed to us is their smoking policy. For the past five years it has been illegal in all of India to smoke in public places......that is, in all public places. Introducing this piece of legislature in NZ by 2020 seems as though it is far more realistic when a country of over a billion people can do it. There are still a few people seen in the street smoking but everyone knows they are breaking the law.

 

Posted with Blogsy