Cafe crawl

Today was the much anticipated, much delayed “culinary tour”, as it was first described to me, with a fairly typical over-elaborate use of words.  To an English ear, that made it sound far more high-falutin’ than it is, as though we would be touring a series of Michelin star restaurants.  When it was explained to me, I quickly realised it was just a pub crawl without booze, moving from café to café; the crucial difference being that one was looking for a different dish, experience, ambience each time.  Whereas a pub crawl pretty much looks to replicate the same experience again and again (the change here being in the progressive drunkenness.)

I also took the opportunity to have Mohit guide me on a short shopping trip.  He was slightly concerned that this might take quite a bit of time, so I reassured him that actually I don’t do shopping, I do buying.  First stop was the tailor’s, for I had decided to have another jacket made.  As I expected, they started pulling bolt after bolt of cloth off the shelf, though I quickly established that I did not want masses of choice, and was able to identify the cloth I wanted.  The next decision was style – once again done quickly; the friendly tailor soon recognised that I wanted a “classic” style, with no additional frills (I could have had my name stitched inside, for example.)  The fitting was fun, I paid a deposit for the cloth, and we were out again.

I also needed a new glass for my watch, partially smashed in my fall all those weeks ago, and it was as well that Mohit was there, for we were sent on quite a merry Hindi dance.  But that too ended well – a new glass, the watch cleaned up, and costing something like £1.50.

The crawl began with tea, out of the same sort of clay cups I remembered from 84, recycled when done by dropping them on the ground, and the tea spicy but delicious.  In an urban setting, the cups were dropped in a bin, which was a shame.  Met up with Kubar, one of the Drama students (the one who played Wolf) and then Rohit and Vikash at the first café, with kebabs, mutton and buffalo, and then chicken.  Clearly quite the meaty place, but definitely not the place for a beer; a sign on the wall said NO alcohol, and also that people should not arrive drunk.  The conversation was excellent, with lots of laughter as well as thoughtful analysis of last night’s production, which everyone but Mohit had seen.

Onto another café, but in another part of town, so far fro the “walk and eat” I had been promised; three of us with Himanshu, while the other two came on Rohit’s bike.  A sort of mutton stew with a flaky pastry sort of bread this time, then a stroll through a narrow shopping street, me shaking hands with various people on motor-bikes. “Where from?”  “UK!”

Final stop was an Indian-style ice cream with corn starch noodles; actually far nicer than it sounds.  Even nicer was the fact that Himanshu was invited to join us, and accepted; that would never have happened if we hadn’t had Hindi speakers there.

It had been a thoroughly pleasant and much welcome social occasion; without Val I have been pretty much on my own throughput, except when working.  One of the observations we made was the tendency to invite you for dinner, without actually following that up with an actual date.  (I think there have been four such occasions so far this trip.)  But still.  I chatted a lot with Kubar (who has promised me a part in a short movie he is shooting.  And it might actually happen; he has won national prizes for his short films.)  He is self-conscious about his English, but it is simply a matter of lack of opportunities for practice; by the end of the evening he was chattering away quite happily.  A splendid young man.

All in all, a much needed, and much enjoyed, evening out; I rarely venture out after dark.