East and West

What a great weekend! The lazy kind with a movie date night and al fresco dining and lots of cricket. I still cannot get over how 'posh' cinema halls have become in India. Multiplexes with fancy food counters (hot dogs with mustard..since when did mustard replace chutney, and more importantly perhaps, why?), ushers, unbelievably comfortable seats, Dolby surround sound and so on. All this with a hefty price tag..Rs. 530 for 2 tickets. In real terms, that's about 12 USD, and possibly $25 in PPP terms. Not cheap by any measure. The average urban middle-class Indian spends a significant portion of disposable income on such evenings, in addition to expenses on food and drink.

If we could move so far ahead in setting up and embracing this spanking new movie viewing experience, how about changing our mindset and subsequently our behaviour a little bit? Its really a pet peeve with me. In recent times, I have never watched a film in India without being disturbed by the incessant phone ringing that goes on in the hall. Followed by either obnoxiously loud chatter or the hasty whisper "mein cinema mein hoon, baad mein  phone karta hoon"...err, seriously? Worse still, you politely ask somebody to zip it and they respond with a  standard 'amagancy hai'.  Aarrggghhh. Whatever happened to common decency? Its getting better though...the last time, a lady was actually reprimanded by her fellow movie goers for yapping away. We saw Hurt Locker which opened here this past weekend. I enjoyed it, but didn't really think of it as a film, its more in the docu-drama category. That was my 'West fix' for the day. Funny how my Hollywood connection is getting weaker and weaker - the last time I watched an English movie (Inglorious Basterds with the brilliant Brad Pitt) was last October. Its Bollywood with a Bang these days. When in da Rome, do the Romans :)

We tried out a relatively new restaurant 'Emperor's Kitchen' for dinner. The name conjured up mouthwatering images of steaming, light dimsums, scented jasmine rice, duck curry, green tea. Whoever said location is everything knew what they were talking about. Its in the green and quiet 'Mahrauli' neighbourhood with the Qutab Minar for company. We got a table in the courtyard right by a giant TV screen beaming the Mumbai Indians / Rajasthan Royals game. Unfortunately, the menu turned out to be more Thai than Chinese (I love Thai food, but Thai High is an excellent restaurant in the same locality for this cuisine!). Decent appetizers, mediocre entrees, lovely dessert (you can't go very wrong with creme brulee). The service was almost too eager to please. India has come a long way since our Veg-Nonveg-Mughlai-Chinese phase and the dining scene in Delhi is indeed second to none, but this place needs more work. The lamb was perfect in bits but chewy and rubbery in others. And the rice..can we please get over our Basmati fixation when pairing it with exotic non-Indian dishes? It just doesn't click. But my 'East fix' wasn't all bad; our drinks were refreshing and it was a fun couple of hours. I love watching people and post 9.00 pm is the time when Dilli ke dilwale step out in all their finery. Mummy, Papa, Bua, Tauji, Chachu, little Chintu, Bunty, etc. etc. One BIG happy family. There's a lot of wealth in this city and people aren't afraid to flaunt it. The Mercedes C class, parked next to the BMW which was next to the Audi Q7 all bore testimony to this fact. East and West converged that evening, proof that we are riding the wave of change.