Saturday was one of those days that felt like 3 days in one. In many ways it was a very western day, but at the same time with an "only in India" twist. It started at a local spa. Spa isn't exactly the right word, it was in a house, just a few rooms with no frills but amazing service. I went with 2 friends (one of whom speaks Hindi fluently which was good because the girls there spoke almost no English).
I got a scalp massage (sounds weird but they know all the right pressure points here to relax you and it was awesome) and they did this hair mask thingy made with all natural ingredients including a raw egg (they whipped it up right then and there) which I must say has made my hair much happier in the past few days, and a facial and a manicure all for the whopping total of $30.
Yes, $30. I think I'll have to do this once a month 'til I go.
Then it was lunch (yummy South Indian food) and off to the book fair. The book fair was a bit overwhelming, sooo many books, it was hard to focus. I bought only two...but each of us bought 1 or 2 with a plan to lend them to each other after we are done. But it wouldn't be India if it was just another day at a book fair. Oh no. There was a book that had just been released that is apparently quite controversial and it is about the founder of Pakistan and the partition of India and Pakistan. I don't know all the details and was interested in buying it but every time we picked up the book to look at it these photographers swarmed around taking pictures of us. The author was coming later for a book signing. They were more interested in my friend (of Indian heritage) looking at the book than me, but it was still unnerving to be swarmed like that. I searched on-line to see if there were any articles about it in relation to the book fair but didn't find any.
And finally the day ended with a nice cold beer. We went to a new place (well new to me) and it was so western, the closest I've seen to a real western type bar/pub since I've gotten here. All good music (per my definition), good atmosphere too. There were tons of foreigners in there, we definitely outnumbers the Indians - they had an 'ex-pat' discount - they even served Budweiser (don't worry dad, I didn't order that).
So all in all an odd day that really could have happened anywhere but with just a few little bits of India in each place; like my 'spa' trip would have probably cost at least $150 back home; I would not have been swarmed by 4 photographers at once for picking up a book; and, well, the end was totally normal, almost too normally really, to the point where I kind of forgot that I was in India.
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