Thali

Today I had the most frustrating dinner experience I can ever recall having. Why? Because it was so wonderful!

I went to see a movie in Mumbai and when it was done it was about dinner time and I was starting to get hungry. I knew I would pass several restaurants along the way back to the hotel, so I didn’t see the need to go out of my way to find a decent place to eat. I walked by several places that didn’t look tempting, but ended up stopping at a place which was filled with mostly Indians, but I could also spot some white heads amongst the Indians. The place looked quite nice and I feared that it would turn out to be pricy. I found a table in the AC section upstairs which was filled with the same mix of ppl. I almost feel overwhelmed when I see the Indian menus because there are usually somewhere close to 200 dishes to choose from and the combinations even more numerous. I thought I’d make it simple and go with a dinner thali, which to my surprise was no more than Rs 100 (14 NOK). Little did I know that this was going to be my highlight mealwize in India.

When they brought the platter out my facial expression must have given away my surprise since the waiter asked me in an uncertain tone “Ma’am, this was what you ordered, right?” I nodded and smiled. Before me was a huge round plate with nine small bowls on it. In the middle lay a papadum and a spare place arrived with three rotis. Before I could get started yet to more bowls arrived. The dishes consisted of one curd, one soup, one sweet, one fruit salad, one mix veg salad, two masalas, one curry, one dal, one paneer, rice palau, papadum and rotis. Needless to say the dish was huge and I had no idea where to start.

I gave everything a taste and for every bite I took the more frustrated I got. It all tasted so wonderful and I couldn’t believe that I was sitting eating alone with no-one to express my joy to. I felt like singing, chatting and laughing which would have complemented such a great meal perfectly. The waiters kept looking at me trying to decide whether I was displeased or stunned speechless by the taste of my food. The more I ate the more annoyed I got because I wouldn’t be able to finish even half of the meal. There was so much food and even thou I was hungry, I’d had to skip lunch and coffee if I would stand any chance of finishing the thali. Also I wished that I had my camera with me (not allowed to bring to movies so I left it at the hotel) to capture and savor this wonderful meal to show and tell and as a heavenly memory. I paid and chewed on the mouth-cleansing combination of aniseeds and sugar which they usually give you when you pay the check. I’ll bring my camera tomorrow because I’m coming back.

I needn’t worry about where to have dinner the following days, which are also my last days in India. Why change a winning team?