Thursday, August 03, 2006

Random Observations

I have quickly realized I took a few things for granted at home, not the least was my access to inexpensive wine. I remembered on my last trip here that the wine was pricey, but not until last night did I realize the magnitude of this issue. As I waited for a former work colleague to join me in the hotel bar, I scanned the wine list. Out jumped what has to be the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen: 2005 Corbett Canyon Cab - 2500 rupees. Kids, that translates to about $55. This is the same wine you can buy at Safeway for $6 a bottle or at the Embassy Suites in Lubbock, TX for $18 (I swear, I looked it up).

Next problem: coffee. I tried in vane to order a plain old cup of black coffee this morning. The poor woman looked at me like I'd ordered crack pancakes for breakfast. Me: "Can I have a large coffee?" Her: "Cappucino?" Me: "No, coffee, black, tall." Her: "Cappucino?" Me: "Sure, sounds great!" Good part of the exchange was it only cost me 50 cents for the fresh cup of what I will now call "coffee" but really is a tall cappucino.

For those of you who expressed fear that I was going to be spending time here, rest assured. I promise I will never try to cross the street unless atop an elephant or in a car, nor will I ever try to drive a car. Besides the fact they drive on the wrong side of the road (thanks Queen Victoria!), they also adhere to a very bizarre ritual of not using signals or lanes and using their horns as a method of communicating. They also think nothing of cutting each other off at high speeds and passing in between lanes. Explains why they have about 85,000 road fatalities a year here. I might start wearing a helmet in the car just to be safe.

2 comments:

UGD said...

Does India have indigeneous beer? how about Americano coffee? I think (not sure) that it's an espresso shot in a lot of hot water...

Anonymous said...

Ahh the joys of driving in India.

We went out to Satyam from the airport and I took the front seat. NEVER AGAIN, it was like almost dying every 100 feet. Autoricksaws, cows, pedastrians and other cars would just come right out in front of you, and in some cases right at you.

From then on, I sat in the back seat and looked out the side window.