western malls eastern food
Today we visited this gigantic mall, the Great India Place. There were a few US and UK stores and of course many I hadn't heard of. There are big malls that have sprung up and I mean they're BIG, bigger than what we're used to... for the Chicagoans think Woodfield but somewhat vertical. This place was 4 tall floors and the length of, I don't know, a couple football fields? Insane. It was great to breathe some filtered air for awhile though, I can't lie. Everything was of great quality there but it was so expensive it was pretty much on par with American prices... to give you an idea of what prices we're looking for... we went to a market the other day and Ankit helped me reduce the price of the shirt I was looking at from 225 rupees to 100 ($2 US). So clothes that are the equivalent of $20 just aren't that appealing :) We stopped for some food in the food court and tried some of the Indian fast food. We had pani puri, which Ankit is a big fan of- I can't really describe it, it's something you have to try if you're adventurous- I hope many are looking up anything they don't recognize to learn more as I tell you my stories- and then tried a sizzler- basically a hot plate of grilled veggies and rice with a sauce drizzled over. The food court was easily the most "crowded" part of the mall, given the prices of everything else inside. I also got a kick out of the music- the department stores were playing RHCP, Kravitz, Faith No More... I was rocking out there- some of the songs were exact covers with different singers. I even heard Roxette's "Joyride." WOW! The tunes really took me back.
Note to Ben: guess what? THERE IS A GIANT SHIVA HERE TOO!!! Saw it from the road somewhere across from the mall. 100% guarantee we will go there- I need pics!! This one might even be bigger than the one in Haridwar... I can't wait to go toe to toe with him!!
It was Sakshi's birthday today so per her wishes we did a "chat party" in the evening. We went to Haldiram's restaurant in the "Spice World" (hahaha) mall. Haldiram's is a food empire and a lot of their snacks available in the Indian stores in the states. This restaurant had many types of snacks and of course SWEETS too. We sampled some different chats and tried their famous jalebi, a must for any proper sweet tooth, and were stuffed to contentment.
Tomorrow will likely be shopping and preparing for the pre-wedding stuff, and attending a performance by the kids at Ankit's mom's school across the street- it's a Catholic/Christian school- we have heard the rehearsals going on all week and it promises to be SUPER cute- the kids are very little. More later!
Note to Ben: guess what? THERE IS A GIANT SHIVA HERE TOO!!! Saw it from the road somewhere across from the mall. 100% guarantee we will go there- I need pics!! This one might even be bigger than the one in Haridwar... I can't wait to go toe to toe with him!!
It was Sakshi's birthday today so per her wishes we did a "chat party" in the evening. We went to Haldiram's restaurant in the "Spice World" (hahaha) mall. Haldiram's is a food empire and a lot of their snacks available in the Indian stores in the states. This restaurant had many types of snacks and of course SWEETS too. We sampled some different chats and tried their famous jalebi, a must for any proper sweet tooth, and were stuffed to contentment.
Tomorrow will likely be shopping and preparing for the pre-wedding stuff, and attending a performance by the kids at Ankit's mom's school across the street- it's a Catholic/Christian school- we have heard the rehearsals going on all week and it promises to be SUPER cute- the kids are very little. More later!