Cost-benefit, food.

Last night the group went to a Tapas Bar. Ana, one of the volunteers, had read in Time Out magazine that a famed house-music DJ (aparently that's a european term, I had never heard of it although the other American had) would be playing, but apparently he was scheduled for Wednesday adn Saturday night. Time Out magazine is a rival and competitior of Travel and Shop magazine (where I'm placed) so the situation put a smile on my face. I actually saw several copies of the Travel and Shop magazine on a display table at the bar. I saw from the cover that they were the current issue which I was published in--needless to say I defentiely got a rush from that! But more about that later... I had planned to go to a movie last night, but the group decided to go to one on Monday night instead. I didn't get a cell phone here because I wanted to go in-congito and be able to just put my head down and go un-noticed but that plan has seemed to backfire on a number of occasions, India is certainly wired. I suspect living with the group of volunteers is good preperation for the five room mates I will have come September (that's less that a month away!) at GW. I actually originally had a single, but decided that not only did I want room mates as part of the college experience (and it seems that once you're a sophmore you would pick your roomates as opposed to be thrown in with someone random which I think is half the fun) and didn't want to find myself alone at night, who knows what I would have ended up doing. While I certainly like to plan stuff and am defenitely comfortable going off on my own, having a defult group is a nice safety net. After all going to a resutrant alone can not only be akward but lonely as well. But having room mates means that I have to go with the flow a lot of the time and not just expect to do what I want to do. So after sitting cramed in a 30 minute auto rickshaw ride with five other people, we make it to the Tapas Bar.

The first menu to come is the drink menu which I suppose makes sense. There was a specialty lassi on the menu, but the waitor said they didn't have it so he made me a kiwi smoothie instead. For the drink I paid 110 rupees. At the local juice bar I pay 10 rupees for a drink. So what did I pay a hundred extra rupees for? For starters there is the option of starters. The bar was also a resturant so I could have food at my convience, which I did (fuselli arabia and unlike in Hampei the tomato sauce was not just ketchup, and then there was the key lime pie which for some reason was drizzled in honey which didn't quite work). But okay at the juice bar I can turn around and get 5 pani poori for 5 rupees or walk a block up the street and get 7 or 8 on a plate with a spoon and my choice of pani or sweet sauce for 13 rupees. And talk about convience, the latter is in an Indian sweet shop so I can get gulab jamin for just a few rupees (minus the plate and presentation, but who wants drizzled honey anways?)