tuesday

Woke up and did the usual – delicious pineapple, cornflakes, shower. The showerhead has been replaced, which means I no longer need to squat gnome-like under a spigot to bathe. Things are looking up.

We took an incredibly long rickshaw ride to work. Traffic was absolutely vile and we ended up running out of things to say to each other, breaking out our Ipods almost simultaneously. I ended up consoling myself with Ziggy Stardust as I sucked down exhaust fumes.

We arrived at the office and I kept on thumping away at the World Music page – I think I’ll discuss the new Bob Marley documentary and Damon Albran’s new African music collaboration. Well, it’s interesting to me.

Due to the office move, the internet was shut down after noon, so I decided to grab some fruit at the friendly neighborhood Juice Junction and head home early. I hopped in a rickshaw and went back to Thippasandra.

On the way, I saw Raul – the guy who invited me to his afterparty last Wednesday – again, riding to work on his motorbike. I explained why we didn’t show at The Beach on Saturday (Two words: torrential rains), and he gave me his phone number and told us we should give him a call tomorrow and see what’s up. Perhaps I will do that. He also gave me a lift back to the villa on his motorbike. I love motorbikes.

I took a long and deeply satisfying nap when I returned. Just finished David Lodge’s hilarious “Trading Places” and have moved on to the very interesting “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk, centering on a rash of female suicides in a backwater Turkish town. Not exactly uplifting but fascinating reading on the modern Islamic movement. (Dork.)

We left to have dinner at the Oasis restaurant at 6:00, meeting Aneesa and Adam. The food was even better then the first time. We began with channa aloo chaat, a cold dish of chickpeas and potato tossed with a salty, piquant mix of onions, tomato, mint and lemon. Chris tried the chili squid, which was as tasty and pungent as before. Aneesa and I went with the whole tandoori pomfret – a whole fish rubbed with spices and roasted to perfection, sweet meat lifting nicely off the bone. Lorraine’s fried pomfret was also delicious, crispy and not too greasy. We also tried the gobi tandoor (cauliflower) which was fabulous – roasted cauliflower tossed in some sort of slightly cheesy spice mixture, served with a fresh relish and some coriander and mint sauce. Adam also had spicy fried squid – grease free and not too chewy. The Oasis is definitely a must-eat if you’re in Bangalore. Only complaint: the service is perhaps over-eager, waiters lunging at you with desperation in their eyes if you even attempt to serve yourself something off a communal plate They will do it for you. They MUST do it for you.

We adjourned to the usual comforting skankiness of the Guzzlers Inn, then popped into NASA for a lark – the infamous space themed pub that was probably super cool 30 years ago. It’s now almost intolerably outdated, pounding, bubble-gum techno assaulting your innocent ears as old businessmen sip beer and wish there were more women present. I was happy to leave.