12 dancing ladies

This past weekend in Bombay was both relaxing and exhilarating. On Saturday I met up with some friends for brunch. We walked from their apartment to the restaurant and it was an abbreviated way to see Bombay’s two-facedness within a 10-minute timeframe. On our walk, we navigated through traffic, puddles, trash mounds, people and even a family of rats feasting on something in the street. Ick. We arrived flustered, damp and ready for some good food. Walking into the restaurant, the Tasting Room, it was like stepping into a different world. Plush couches lined the walls, sangria flowed freely and it was open, comfortable and pretty much the stark opposite from the world just outside the doors. My friends in Bombay are total foodies and having done some serious traveling in their lives, they have learned how to quickly navigate to the best food a city has to offer. Their restaurant choice did not disappoint! The Tasting Room imports many of its meats and cheeses from Europe. They offer creative dishes that are exquisitely served. We were seated on some purple couches and I felt right at home! We ordered up some incredible tapas: watermelon with feta, fingerling potatoes, vegetable mac and cheese, skewers of chicken, hummus, mushrooms in a divine sauce and so on. Am I really in India, I thought? Unfortunately, my upset stomach from days past hadn’t fully worked its course, so we left after lunch and went back to relax a bit. Given my ailments, they were the best doctors a girl could ask for and set me up with some medication that really helped out. I returned to the hotel with some Indian ramen noodles (totally yummy!) and saltines and took it easy to prepare for the week. I hope we’ll make it back to the Tasting Room once more before I leave Bombay because it was such a diamond in the ruff!

One of our dishes at the Tasting Room 

Eating with Mel and Imran

The following evening, our group was invited to dinner at the home of Netra, the woman who was our right-hand lady in Bombay in scheduling our buses and helping us navigate the city. She lives in a lovely home just on the outskirts of the city. Her mother had prepared a feast for us and it was delicious! We sat out on their balcony and soon became the talk of the neighborhood. What were all these white people doing at Netra’s house? Perhaps what was even better than the food was the pre-dinner performance. Netra’s sister is a minor celebrity here in India because of her dance career. She practices traditional Indian dance and has traveled the world performing. She and a few of her friends performed one of their most famous dances and it was amazing! I mean, amazing. They moved so eloquently and in synch. Even their eye movements were in unison and portrayed with such intensity that you couldn’t help but get chills when watching. Then they invited all of us in a circle and showed us some Bollywood dance moves. Now, I am not much of a dancer, but I sure as heck tried! Dasi girl, anyone?! We danced around laughing and singing as a group. All of the harsh realities we had been trying to process from the week melted away and in that moment we felt like anything was possible – carefree laugher filled the balcony! It was probably one of the happiest moments I’ve had on this trip and a wonderful way to get to know some of my fellow students. I can only hope that if Netra and her family ever make it to DC someday that we could show them half as much fun and hospitality as they showed to us!

Learning some Bollywood moves!