Having subjected ourselves to untold hours of tortuous labor beneath the unforgiving sun and strangled by the suffocating dust, Sandra, the FFC director, benevolently decided to reward the boys who were consistently and loyally filed into our ranks in this perpetual conflict. Food is a wonderful reward for everyone, and she let us decided when and where. We deliberated carefully on our limited choices. The Residency is a posh western hotel complete with several dining options. We have to be careful where we go, not everywhere, I should say almost nowhere, has a raw food menu, but of course the reward was for the boys. Who knows they might have wanted raw food. So off we go to the Residency.
After the most relaxing taxi drive I have had in India, and I am not joking, we made it there. We traveled in a big SUV type vehicle with AC and soft music playing. It was something else, as was the anticipation.
It was as I feared. The only raw food available was the fruit and vegetable bar. They do not even know what a salad bar is. Determined to make the most of our all you can eat for 13 dollar, we almost literally piled into the fruits and vegetables. The mango tray, especially, was filled at least three times. Somehow, as soon as the tray was filled it would be empty in two minutes. Strange phenomena.
Look at what we had to compete with. At first they were shy and uncertain what to eat and seeing their "guides" hitting the fruit bar like crazy they followed suit. Explaining to them that they could eat any thing they eventually ventured into the enticing aisles of savory aromas and beckoning tidbits that appealed to all our senses.
As we munched and chrunched, they were chomping, gulping, devouring, and bringing plate after plate from the dozens of dishes and diversities there available. We had to forcefully turn away our eyes and convince ourselves that their steaming, mouth watering, fragrant, gourmet food was really not what we wanted.
Then they really took revenge on us and started dishing out the ice cream. Now, I am sure it was not that good. It could not have been as wonderful, cool, refreshing, and sweet and it pretended to be. Could it?
When you have spent long hours in the squelching sun, and then torture yourself in the A/C atmosphere of temptations palace, you can lose control over certain body parts.
When the boys were not looking insanity gripped us and we almost gave in. Almost, that is until we recollected are senses and saw that the waiters had refilled the mango tray, thus saving us from a disastrous mistake.
Successful? That largely depends on what you mean by success. If it is success is measured in terms of how much you eat then we were champions. In spite of having eaten at home only a few short hours before, we managed to pack it in until it hurt. The effects of this night's excursion, for me, carried over into the next day.
The moral of the story should be, when stuffing yourself sick, do not laugh, it borders unbearable. If you already know that then try not having anything in excessive amounts, even if it good, like a good laugh, better, like fresh raw vegetables, and best , like the Residency full of mangoes. I half hope we never have to do this again, but if we do, I just might repeat it all over again.
The Post Host, as you know, is me...David, and although I do much better at hosting dinner parties just keep snacks handy because you never know when I will post again.
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