Another Day in Delhi

Today is post number 30. Wow, a whole month and I only missed one day. But I can make that up by writing two posts.

Today was interesting. I realized that there is something wrong with me. I am usually patient and try to be kind, but it wasn't working today. Impatient, short with people. Maybe I need more sleep.

 Rama at the Coffee Shop

I promised to take Rama shopping today and then we'd have lunch together. She looks forward to that every time I come. So the taxi driver came at 10:30 and off we went to the local mall. There are five malls now, huge malls, filled with shops that charge twice to three times as much for the exact same thing being sold down the street at one of the old shops. It used to be that one of the differences between the goods in the mall and those in the shops was the degree of cleanliness. No longer, my hands were black with dust by the time I finished shopping at the mall.

Now the differences in the mall are the high prices and there are no beggars hanging on you as you try to shop. Oh yes, the prices are set, so no bargaining. This takes away the fun for some people, but not for me. I hate haggling.

Rama wanted a new suit, that means a Punjabi suit, which consists of a longish dress over balloon pants. I don't like this outfit. I hate the longish dress, because it reaches to mid calf, and the pants make you look like the elephant man---hmm, the legs look like that anyway.

So we went to the store called Westside, but they don't open until 11 and we had 2 minutes. So I suggested the coffee shop. And there we found this:

That sign was on every table. Have you ever had coffee with olive oil, herbs and garlic?  I'm willling to try just about anything, but I draw the line on that kind of coffee. When I was ready to order, I asked the barister about it. "Oh, no," he said, "that is for the pasta we serve."  I don't know about you, but the sign looks very much like they are serving up very odd tasting coffee to me. I ordered coffee latte and Rama drank nutty chocolate milk, very hot. We went and bought her a suit.

Then we had lunch at the Taste of India.  I ate tandoori paneer (roasted cheese with spices) and tandoori aloo (these were potatoes rolled in sesame
seeds, filled with raisons, cashew nuts and something ground up I can't place. Both plates had onions and mint sauce.

Rama went one farther and had all that I had, which I couldn't finish and tandoori vegetables as well. This was the infamous Tandoori Platter. I could put that photo on  the post too, but it's just more of the same.

After that I took Rama home and went off to the jeweler. I had an appointment and I usually buy my daughter and daughters-in-law a piece of jewelery for Christmas. (I've mentioned that before).

I really look forward to going through the boxes, because this jeweler never changes his prices and I find pieces that still carry the price tag from ten to fifteen years ago. Occasionally I find a real winner, something unusual that is no longer made.  That's how I got a blue opal for a thousand dollars, which was valued at three thousand dollars in the US.  It is always fun until pay time comes.

First of all my credit card never works in his shop, because it is from a small credit union and the Indian bank the jeweler works with doesn't honor it. Therefore I brought my American Express card, but sweet Mr. Jain is having problems with them because a client of Amex won't pay the credit card company. Really way too boring to  go into. On the other hand, I trust this guy. We have developed a relationship over the years.  So I will have to pull a lot of cash from the ATM.