Blog

So this week a friend needed some help ramping up their marketing and PR so we decided to turn it into a working dinner at Hypnos, a cool lounge restaurant downtown. When I heard they served Lebanese food I was on it! And funny thing, they do indeed serve a sort of Greek/Lebanese mix. I ordered lamb sausages that were truly to-die-for. But they also do this funky Indian thing where they can’t just stick to the regional cuisine that the restaurant is based on. Haha Nope. They had lasagna, and other Italian dishes. And if I am not mistaken they had tikka chicken, too! I have seen this now time again here but I swear to you that I just don’t get it. The Italian restaurant Little Italy on 100 Feet Road does indeed serve Italian food. But they also serve some Indian dishes and a little Mexican. Seriously, WTF? Haha

So there we were working. I was clicking away at the keyboard taking notes like a good girl. And my mate had the great idea to order up a Hookah. Now, I have seen them in Turkey, in Tunisia and also in Morocco. But until last night I had never tried it. And I really thought it was pretty progressive for a Hookah to be on order in conservative Bangalore. I mean, don’t they contain something like a super-charged tobacco to give you a good solid buzz? It turns out, NO! I really thought that these things were filled with something really naughty like hash or at least some crazy back-alley tobacco. But there at Hypnos I was told they serve up some derivative of fruit pulp. Excuse me? Yep, they have a laundry list of different flavors like apple, double green apple (I am interested to compare those two, haha), and what we selected by the recommendation of the manager was grape.

The manager (or at least I think he was the manager) actually brought over the Hookah himself, lit a piece of coal that basically keeps the thing lit non-stop, and then started to smoke our Hookah!! I couldn’t believe it but there he was there toke toke tok’ing on our Hookah to get it started. WTF? Hahha Seems a bit odd but my mate didn’t flinch so I just rode that wave and watched him!

We put on a small plastic bit onto the end of the pipe (for health reasons) and I took my first drag, still bummed that there was no naughty’ness built into what I was smoking from the Hookah. But damn was it good. It didn’t have that same “guilty pleasure” allure after I realized that it was bloody fruit pulp and not something forbidden or illegal but it was still amazing. But this was truly AMAZING! After only a couple of drags the air was filled with the sweet smell of grapes. And then it was all over my hands and it was a really strong, wonderful smell. And it lasted for hours! I swear I must have looked like a complete idiot smelling my hands every few minutes but I didn’t care. I smelled GOOD. I don’t think I have to go back again soon just to have it but I certainly won’t say no if anyone ever offers it up in the future. Good stuff.

So, as for me, every day that passes I feel more and more at home here in Bangalore. Well, I say that, but I also still feel like I am on holiday here and still am amazed every day when I see cows, auto rickshaws and women in beautiful sari’s riding side-saddle on the back of her man’s moped. But the fact that I have friends now and can make plans, eat cheese with people at places like Skyye and head out into the world with someone really makes this adventure start to seem more like real life.

XOXO from Bangalore

© Angela Carson, Angela’s Adventures in Bangalore blog and photos, 2011