so my birthday dinner turned out to be much better than my birthday lunch. the hotel where i'm staying has a restaurant downstairs. it's an open air place (most restaurants in india are) with a vine canopy covering the entire place. so in the evening it's dark and candle-lit. also they have live music in the evenings.
so i went down and took a table. and since it was my birthday and i was alone i decided to splurge a bit. for a starter i had french fries. and they actually had *real* ketchup! (it's very common for them to give a immitation ketchup that is perhaps more similar to chinese duck sauce than to true ketchup) i had a beer. i ordered my dinner - palak paneer and garlic naan - and a pack of cigarettes (marlboro lights which cost me 45 rupees - that's about $1 folks) just as the band started to play.
the band consisted of 3 guys, one with some little bongo-style drums, one with itty-bitty guitar, and one with some sort of flat looking thing that i couldn't quite figure out. they played sort of traditional indian sounding music which was very groovy. so they played and i ate. and i had another beer and they played more. all in all this meal cost me (including the cigarettes and a bottle of water to take up to my room) 300 rupees.
so then i went back up to my room to read and was pleased that i could still hear the band since my room is right above the restaurant. when the band stopped they started to play U2's pop album - from the beginning - and i nearly died! it was like the knew it was my birthday! however, they stopped about 3 songs in and put something else on.
so today my plans are to sort out a train to cochin for tomorrow (mysore is much like every other city i've seen so far...), see the maharaja's palace and buy a sari. i think i'll definitely be eating at the hotel restaurant again tonight.
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