The only interesting thing about this morning was that I once again locked myself inside the apartment. I don't know what is wrong with this key, but it lets me lock the door and unlock it from the outside, but almost always refuses to let me out in the morning. Dave's brilliant idea—because eventually I will be alone and won't have his help—is to leave the key in the lock after I've locked it from the inside. Theory being that if it's already turned once and hasn't moved, it should work again. We're testing this tonight. Will update tomorrow.
Traffic was awful this morning. No cows impeding our transit, but a couple wild boars and tuk-tuks were making passing a bit more difficult. Also, I think Suresh is really baffled by the fact that I never get a ride home in the evening. Almost every night, Nidhi and Vikram drive me home. I think he's so used to having people to pick up each night, he doesn't know what to do with me.
Once at work, I began reading through all the e-mails I had received from the evening before. The team started filtering in and I felt the need to regale them with my insane shopping spree from the previous night. They were so amused by my antics and I couldn't stop laughing while explaining my motives behind each purchase. I insisted on showing everyone the picture of me in the store with my shopping bags, which made me dissolve into laughter again. I think, secretly, they were hedging bets about how much I will to end up spending while here in India.
Mid-morning I took one of the teams to Costa Coffee. I was so excited for my extra-large latté, I couldn't even think straight. The team all got medium iced cappuccinos, which they drank half of and then shared with the others once they got back. However, there was no sharing happening on my end. As soon as that giant bowl-of-a-coffee cup was set down, I looked at it and said "I love you." Ruchika then said "You're so excited about being here. It's so funny." and I looked at her and said "Yeah, um, this is how I normally act." Then I decided to just start asking questions at random and managed to embarrass Vivek by asking his age. I think he was mostly embarrassed that I was directing a question solely at him—he's so shy—but he blushed and it was so adorable! It's fantastic getting to know everyone outside of just proofing their work. I just can't get over how sweet and fun each of these people are.
After the long day, Nidhi and Vikram yet again took me out shopping. Today it was the Metropolitan Mall. This one was a bit more Western, boasting brand names like Lacoste and the United Colors of Benetton. Somehow, I had lost my shopping bug from the night before and could not find any short kurtas that I liked! Everything was so-so, which is completely unlike me. I longed for the wonderfulness of Fabindia. I must go there again! Before we made it up to the fourth floor for dinner, Nidhi and Vikram insisted we visit one of the cushion stores. And voila, shopping bug was resurrected. After much deliberation, I settled on two patchwork designs and two plain silk fabrics. My taupe couch is going to be so excited.
All during the day today, I was craving Mexican. I could not have missed Chipotle more. Luckily, there was a restaurant in the mall called Rodeo—the first-ever Mexican restaurant in India (opened in 1994). The servers were dressed as cowboys and the bar stools were saddles. The music, however, was an eclectic mix of the Bee Gees, Britney Spears, and Buffalo Springfield. I ordered some nachos (which Nidhi insisted wasn't enough) and to appease her, ordered an enchilada as well. The fillings to choose from were a little too far off the Mexican good mark for me, so I requested some refried beans and cheese. I'm fairly certain this was their first request for this sort of food combination ever. The poor server was so confused, he just kept asking me if I was sure I didn't want vegetables or chicken or something besides beans. Mexican food with an Indian twist—it'll never be the same again.
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