Zoo

At last a break from work an a little bit of time to write about the life I might be having in in fact I were having a life. I have, however had a few breaks here and there. Last Friday night found Manuel and I out to dinner with, surprise, Pierre and Stephen and their friend David at Smokehouse Grill. That spice martini was like coming home and after a stressful day at the office, I found myself melting into the chair and settling in for a nice dinner seasoned with the occasional call from the office. I scoured the menu looking and notice something missing. The smoked ash sole. Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine it was that popular. I love a bit of sole, but ash sole is another thing entirely and in my opinion has no place on the menu in an establishment with a reputable reputation.

After we had wolfed down out filet mignons, espressos and after dinner drinks, we were off to the Ivy for music, martinis and suddenly I felt the smile of Ganesh as I spotted the bottle of Veuve Cliquot and ordered one up for us all.

Sunday Manual and I went to the Delhi Zoo completely unaware that we would be the most popular attraction. We would be looking at the lion or the elephant and the crowds would be looking at us. It was definately a case of "Goras on Parade". I am completely used to it now when out in public, but I was surprised that people paid money to look at the animals and it was all eyes on the foreigners. The Delhi Zoo is the only zoo I have ever visited that does not have the normal monkey cage, but instead signs all over warning people to beware of the stray monkeys. I guess it would be like having a pigeon in a New York zoo... Why bother?

Whenever we are out in public, Manuel and I find ourselves in one of the following conversations:

"Hello, sir, what country you from?
"Holland"
"Holland. Very nice country!"
"Have you been there?"
"No. Very nice country"

Manuel has taken to saying he is from China which seems to confuse people in a rather funny way as they are not sure how to respond.

I have doe a bit of exploring since living here in New Friends Colony and have discovered that I live around the corner from the Apollo Chest Pain Center where one can not only go for the treatment of chest pain, but can also get one's teeth whitened. At first I thought it silly but then I realized that if the big one is coming, it would be nice to be confident in one's dental brilliance.