Miscellaneous Sundry

Here are some pics from our insurance team celebration lunch at Khansama at the UB City Complex.





Narendra is the guy sitting beside me at the table. He is the proud new father of a baby girl, born last Monday. No pictures to share, as in Indian tradition, they do not take pictures of the mother or newborn until the 11th day (which will be Thursday). Also, another fact interesting and unique is the laws against sex determination in India. It is against the law, and has strict punishments attached, for doctors informing the parents the sex of the baby. The traditions are certainly much different over here in terms of continuing family names, etc.

As mentioned in "Boom Goes the Dynamite", the power outages have been extremely bad this week. And yes, everytime the power goes out, I utter the words, "and boom goes the dynamite!" They say it is because of the lack of rainfall recently that the hydroelectric power is not fully being utilized. We did receive a little rainfall on Wednesday, so hopefully it will improve as the week goes on.

I've mentioned in a few posts about all the marble and granite that I see EVERYWHERE. Driving through a new part of the city the other day, I think I've discovered the source. I kid you not, literally for about a 2 mile stretch on this road, every place I saw on both sides of the road was a marble/granite shop. And the amount of marble and granite in the fenced in spaces beside each and every business was by far the most marble and granite I've ever seen in my life. No matter how fast this city develops, demand of marble/granite will NEVER exceed supply. Due to the excess supply, the prices have to be reasonable, and probably the reason why it is used so often.


On Monday evening, Reggie and I had previously spotted an Italian restaurant in Koramangala, Fiorano Restaurante, and decided to give it a try. Some of the best Italian food I've ever had. Reggie agrees, and he frequents the North End when he works in Boston several weeks during the year. After the fact, I looked this place up to see the reviews (why I didn't do this prior to eating there I still don't know). This place apparently is a very popular spot in Bangalore, and some have rated it in the top three restaurants in the city. It is odd 1)that it is a top restaurant and is not even Indian cuisine and 2)that we spotted it without someone mentioning it to us first. I had a spaghetti dish with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes with a light sauce that had a little kick to it. For dessert I had the chocolate trio, which was basically a layer of white, dark, and milk chocolate mousse. I will certainly make a return trip to this place before I leave. Probably wait a few weeks until I am really tired of all the Indian food, as it will be an excellent escape.