The Other Ganesh

Last Sunday I was invited to my first Indian birthday celebration.

It was Ganesh's birthday, no - not the Hindu Ganesh god (see post Tuesday, 1 September 'Jai Ganesh'), but Ganesh the assistant manager of the apartments where I live.

He's from Bangalore and has only lived and worked in Hyderabad for a month.

He basically works all the time and hasn't had a chance to make any friends since he's been here.

Isn't he cute!?!? He's kind, works hard and is very (very) fit. Doesn't he have lovely teeth? When we were relaxing at the bar, I think I talked about how lovely his teeth were for about 5 minutes.

He didn't seem to mind. Actually his smile became brighter the more I discussed it.

He's looking for a Dutch wife by the way. Very tall ones are particularly interesting for him. So, if there are any single tall Dutch women reading this, please send me your credentials and I'll arrange everything!

He also invited Mr. Gomes. Mr. Gomes is the apartment manager. I have no idea what his first name is. I call Ganesh, Ganesh. I call Mr. Gomes, Mr. Gomes. And, they both call me 'Sir', which I like very much and is not so difficult for me to get used to.

Ganesh, Mr. Gomes and Sir (me), on a Sunday afternoon, met up at Bar One.

It is currently my favourite bar in Hyderabad.

We all ordered our first round of drinks.

I found a new favourite drink which I've only seen at Bar One called a Gimlet.

Apparently it's a pretty popular drink known all over the world consisting of gin and lime juice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimlet_(cocktail)

Bar One makes its own version that is very delicious with some other things in it and crushed ice so it's presented more as a margarita. I tried to remember the other things that are added, but for obvious reasons - you'll find out why as you read further - I completely forgot.

As our birthday present to Ganesh, we would treat him. However, typically Indian, Mr. Gomes insisted that he would pay for everything... we like Mr. Gomes!

Mr. Gomes, being the hospitable type, ordered some Indian nuts and fries, of course we needed another round of drinks to wash them down, and I was enjoying my next gimlet.

We were having a great time talking and before I knew it, Mr. Gomes had sneaked in another round of drinks, including a rather tasty gimlet. Ganesh was being very respectable and was ordering cola.

It was now our time to sample some Indian hors d'oeuvres (hors d'oeuvres = fancy way to say snacks/appetizers).

Mr. Gomes ordered a few things. Don't ask me to repeat the names of everything; it's all a blur, especially after 'fun with gimlets'.

He wanted to see how spicy I could go, considering I keep telling everyone that I want to be as Indian as possible when I'm here.

So he ordered some spicy chicken, and another round of drinks, including my 5th gimlet and by now Ganesh decided he was missing out, so he ordered a beer.

The hors d'oeuvres came out and everything tasted really good. The chicken seemed to be fried and in small pieces. It was red with a lot of herbs and sauces on it.

In the beginning it wasn't so spicy, and I was really enjoying it, so I started to dig in and devour the platter. Suddenly I started feeling a tingling feeling on my lips, and before I knew it my lips were burning hot!

I asked for some yoghurt which helped a lot (tip: if you eat spicy foods and you want to cool down, yoghurt works great!). However, it did not completely cool me down, so I needed another gimlet to help with the cooling.

We had finished all our food and drinks and I thought we were getting ready to leave. Mr. Gomes asked if we were ready to go, and we said we were, so he did what all Indians are supposed to do, he ordered one more for the road.

In this last photo, you see that my face is rather red. It's not what you think!

It's not from the gimlets or the spicy chicken, my face was still coloured from my Ganesh procession adventure the night before.

I happily slurped down my last gimlet for the day and we left.

It was a very simple and small birthday gathering, but Ganesh said that he really enjoyed the afternoon.

Ganesh and I met up the next day and he repeated his enthusiasm so I think that Mr. Gomes and I did an ok job in giving him the birthday he deserves.

BTW, the next day I was still feeling that hot chicken in more ways than one!